Patent Document ID: 8037510
Application ID: 11857349
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for selecting security policies to be used between nodes of a mesh network, the method comprising: establishing a link between a local mesh network node and a remote mesh network node, wherein the link comprises a secure link based, at least in part, on an identifier corresponding to the local mesh network node and an identifier corresponding to the remote mesh network node; designating one of the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node as a decision maker; determining, with the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node, an intersection of security policies supported by the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node; selecting one of the intersection of security policies for use in secure communications between the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node, wherein selection of the security policy comprises exchanging four messages having authentication keys and pseudorandom numbers, wherein the four messages comprise overlays for ciphersuite negotiation on top of a mesh four message link establishment protocol, wherein selecting one of the intersection of security policies for use in secure communications between the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node, wherein selection of the security policy comprises exchanging messages having authentication keys and pseudorandom numbers comprises: A→B:MPA∥R A ∥{C}∥L A ∥m K (MPA∥R A ∥{C}∥L A ) B→A:MPB∥R B ∥L A ∥L B ∥m K (MPB∥R B ∥L A ∥L B ) B→A:MPB∥MPA∥R B ∥R A ∥C∥L B ∥m K (MPB∥MPA∥R B ∥R A ∥C∥L B ) A→B:MPA∥MPB ∥R A ∥R B ∥C∥L A ∥m K (MPA∥MPB∥R A ∥R B ∥C∥L A ) where “∥” indicates concatenation, and A→B:M means mesh point A sends message M to mesh point B, “MPA” represents an identifier of mesh point A, “MPB” represents an identifier of mesh point B, “L A ” a list of ciphersuites supported by mesh point A, “L B ” a list of ciphersuites supported by mesh point B, “m K ” represents an authentication key, “R A ” is a random number generated by mesh point A, “R B ” is a random number generated by mesh point B, and “C” represents a chosen ciphersuite; and transmitting data between the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node using the selected security policy, wherein transmitting data between the local mesh network node and the remote mesh network node using the selected security policy comprises IEEE 802.11i-compliant communications.