Patent ID: 7436964

Claim:
A method for synchronizing a cryptosystem in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: processing a message for transmission, wherein the message for transmission includes control data and payload data, and wherein the control data is not encrypted and contains a particular control message, and wherein the particular control message indicates that a process of establishing a wireless communication connection is being completed; detecting the particular control message; based on the detecting step, determining the number of control message bytes to be transmitted, loading an encryption synchronization counter with the number of control message bytes to be transmitted and initializing the encryption synchronization counter; when the encryption synchronization counter is decremented to zero, initializing the cryptosystem using a key; using the cryptosystem to encrypt the payload data; creating an encrypted airlink packet for transmission over an airlink; receiving a message, including unencrypted control data and encrypted payload data, over the airlink; parsing the received message to separate the unencrypted control data from the payload data; determining whether the control data contains the particular unencrypted control message; if the unencrypted control data contains the particular unencrypted control message, initializing the cryptosystem using the key; and using the cryptosystem to decrypt the received payload data.