Patent ID: 8245279

Claim:
A method of synchronizing parameters between a sender and at least one recipient in a communication system, said method comprising: said sender preparing a message having a header, wherein said message is divided into at least one frame; said sender determining one or more parameters for each frame of said message on a frame-by-frame basis based on known requirements of the sender and said at least one recipient, wherein said one or more parameters comprises a security level; said sender individually associating with each frame, an indication of said one or more parameters, thereby allowing each frame to indicate different parameters to adapt to the nature of each frame on said frame-by-frame basis; said sender sending each frame of said message to said at least one recipient according to said one or more parameters for that frame; each said at least one recipient: receiving a protected message at a second layer of said recipient corresponding to a second layer of said sender; obtaining an initial message from said protected message using cryptographic processing based on said security level using a shared key; and passing said initial message and an indication of said security level to a first layer of said recipient corresponding to said first layer of said sender for checking that said security level meets predetermined security requirements; and said sender receiving a feedback response from each of said at least one recipient acknowledging receipt of said message, said feedback response being required by said sender from said each of said at least one recipient to confirm receipt of said message, said feedback response further comprising status information regarding said parameters for said each of said at least one recipient to thereby provide said status information to said sender at the same time as an existing acknowledgement required by said sender to confirm receipt of said message without requiring a dedicated channel and without requiring a separate communication.