Authentication mechanisms for wireless networks

Wireless network authentication mechanism

AUTHENTICATION MECHANISMS FOR WIRELESS NETWORKS

The invention relates to a verification mechanism for a wireless network.

The conventional web-based advertisement architecture basically transmits advertisements to a web-based service consumer via the connection of the client device to a server hosting one of the web-based services through a network. For example, a server owner/manager can configure the server to transmit in response to a user of a client device entering a global resource locator (URL, "Uniform Resource Locator") onto the client device. Go to the client device a web page with an advertisement. The type of the advertisement may be text/video/video/audio material, and may be embedded in the webpage, or may be displayed to one of the user's initial webpages before displaying the webpage accessed by the client device.

In such an advertising architecture, an advertisement can be exchanged between a web-based service (eg, a website) and a user of the web-based service. A network to which a user's client device is connected, and thereby accessing the web-based service by the client device, has limited participation in controlling the content of the web page, and thus has limited ability to provide advertisements to the client The user of the end device. In addition, some networks implement other complementary advertising architectures, such as the architecture of a user who transmits a web page containing advertisements to client devices connected to the network. For example, an advertising architecture implemented by these networks may require a user of the network to view an initial web page when first connecting to the network, or may periodically transmit a web page containing the advertisement to use the network. Client device.

The advertising architecture of conventional wireless networks is limited by their ability to deliver advertisements to users because such advertisements can only be transmitted to the client device using an established connection to the wireless network, and/or Wireless network request data. If an advertisement can be delivered to a client device that is not connected to a wireless network, then the advertisement can reach more users, and the advertising company can attract more customers and more revenue.

However, open unsolicited content that allows client devices to accept networks that they are not connected to may expose users of such devices to many risks. For example, unwanted advertisements (eg, pornographic advertisements) may be transmitted by an organization that the user is not interested in, or by a malicious party pretending to be an organization that the user is interested in. Without any security mechanism and/or method of identifying the network that delivers advertisements and other content, such unwanted advertisements are received by a client device and displayed to the user, and Violation or offense.

Architectures other than advertising architectures may also benefit from delivering unsolicited content to client devices, and thus these client devices may have a security mechanism and/or method for identifying networks that transmit unsolicited content. benefit. For example, wireless access points can transmit their own location profiles to client devices to track their location, and confirm that the identification of these wireless access points prevents malicious persons from broadcasting fraud location data.

The disclosure herein is directed to various principles of security mechanisms and security techniques for transmitting wireless networks such as advertising content. According to some of these exemplary techniques, control messages containing unsolicited content (e.g., advertising material) may be transmitted in response to a request from a client device, while in other exemplary techniques, such control messages may be Any request from a client device is transmitted. In some exemplary implementations, a security mechanism such as a public key encryption algorithm can be used to make the transmission secure. In some of these techniques for implementing public key cryptography, a user may need to obtain a public key from a source other than the wireless access point transmitting the encrypted advertisement (eg, a logo in a business entity that transmits the advertisements) Or the terminal, or from a web service, so that the user can confirm that the encrypted content is from a source that matches the obtained public key, so that the authenticity of a wireless access point can be confirmed.

In a specific embodiment, a method of operating a client device to display advertising information about a business service is provided. The method includes obtaining trust information of a wireless access point, verifying the authenticity of the control transmission from the wireless access point based on the trust information, and selectively displaying to a user based on the verification action at least Control at least one commercial service advertisement within the message.

In another embodiment, at least one computer readable medium is provided that utilizes computer executable instruction encoding that, when executed, causes a computer to perform a method to confirm control from a wireless access point associated with a body The authenticity of the transmission. The method includes obtaining trust information for the individual, using the trust information to verify the authenticity of the control transmission from the wireless access point, and selectively using the content of the control transmission based at least in part on the verification action.

In yet another embodiment, an apparatus for transmitting control messages in a wireless network is provided. The device includes at least one data store storing trust information and content, and at least one processor configured to construct one of the content to control transmission, and use the trust information to encrypt at least a portion of the control transmission, and a communication circuit To transfer the control transmission.

Applicants have learned that both businesses and consumers can benefit from a simple mechanism for making computer-like advertisements that can be used in close proximity to, for example, consumers who can use advertising services. For example, a user may know an auction or special offer offered by a business. At the same time, the user can know the services provided by a business to determine whether the user is interested in the services provided by the business before entering the business premises.

Conversely, advertisers can focus on potential customers whose ads are close to their premises and are therefore most likely to make a purchase. For example, a restaurant with a wireless network may seek to attract more customers by transmitting a description of the restaurant's daily specials for the client devices within range. The custom advertising architecture cannot deliver advertisements in this way. When capable of delivering advertisements to a large number of users, the conventional architecture is limited to displaying advertisements to users of client devices that have been connected to a wireless network via a wireless access point, which can request data from the wireless network. This conventional architecture is not capable of displaying advertisements to users who are not connected to the wireless network, or for alerting users who do not know the commercial offer advertisements that are requested to be approached.

Applicants have learned that there is a need for a commercial advertising service such as a service that sells one or more products to a user who is not connected to a client device of a wireless network operated by the business. If businesses are able to advertise their products or services to all client devices within their wireless network, rather than just client-side annotations connected to those wireless networks, then such ads will be able to reach a wider range. Audience, and the business can attract more customers and more income. Moreover, users of client devices within the scope of the wireless network become the most likely group of potential customers as they receive the transmitted advertisements as they approach the businesses.

However, the Applicant has additionally learned that the client device can receive open content from a nearby network and display the content to a user without verifying the authenticity of the network and/or content to expose the user. For a variety of risks. For example, an advertisement that a user is not interested in may be displayed, and/or an advertisement that is invasive to a user may be displayed. For example, a user who passes through a shopping mall will go to the commercial area where the product that the user finds is not needed (eg, pornography), and the user may find any advertisements for unwanted or invasive businesses. Furthermore, if a client device displays all received advertisements to a user, a malicious third party can set up a fraudulent wireless network and transmit an advertisement on the surface that is legally sourced, but is actually invasive or unwanted. The image and/or text is automatically displayed to the user by the client device.

In addition, applicants have learned that architectures other than ad infrastructure can benefit from unsolicited content via wireless networks to client devices, and those client devices can benefit from identifying those networks before accepting the content. Identification. For example, broadcasting a wireless access point representing data at the location of the wireless access point can facilitate a client device attempting to confirm its location within the range of the wireless access point. However, there is currently no technology to confirm the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network, in which the client device is open to accept fraudulent location data from a malicious third party. Other architectures that wirelessly exchange information with client devices can similarly benefit from the techniques disclosed herein.

Applicants have therefore learned that they need a security mechanism for the wireless network so that the client device can confirm the identification of the wireless network before accepting unsolicited information from the wireless network. The security mechanism may allow a user and/or a client device to verify the authenticity of control messages from a wireless access point containing content (eg, advertisements, location profiles, or other information). Additionally or additionally, the security mechanism can be used to verify the authenticity of the wireless network including one of the transmission control messages or one of the plurality of wireless access points before the content is displayed to the user, or any suitable architecture Other ingredients. In addition, the security mechanism may allow a user to limit what the user wants the client device to use (eg, to select content to display to the user).

From the foregoing, techniques have been developed to confirm the security mechanism for the identification of wireless networks. In an exemplary technique, a user receives trust information of one or more business entities, verifies the authenticity of one or more network components that control transmission or use of the trust information, and selectively selects based on the success of the verification. The content contained in the one or more control transmissions from those commercial entities is displayed.

Any suitable transmission may be a control transmission in accordance with one or more of the principles described herein. For example, Layer 2 control transmissions, such as announcement transmissions, may include any suitable information about a wireless access point that includes one or more network characteristics such that a client receives the control transmission to open a connection to The wireless access point. An announcement transmission may be, for example, a beacon of the IEEE ("Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers") 802.11 wireless protocol, which is periodically broadcast by a wireless access point to all within the range of the wireless access point. The client device transmits a response to one of the client devices in response to a request for control information transmitted by the client device, or any other appropriate announcement transmission transmitted by a wireless access point. The control transmission transmitted by a client device to a wireless access point may be any suitable transmission, such as a wireless network for detecting request control information and/or possibly containing test data for one of the wireless access points, which may be any An appropriate type of authentication test message, and/or any other suitable transmission.

In some but not all implementations of the techniques described herein, the security mechanism can be implemented as a one-way or two-way public key encryption algorithm. In implementations using public key cryptography, any suitable public key algorithm may be used, such as the common Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) public key algorithm, although the invention is not limited to implementing any particular security technique or any special Public key algorithm.

In some implementations, such as implementing a public key cryptographer, a user or a client device can include trust information from an "out of band" source (ie, other than the source through the wireless network itself), such as books, Sign, key service, electronic key provider, an interactive kiosk or other device that communicates using one or more protocols, such as Near Field Communication (NFC), or any other suitable source . In some implementations, the trust information can be a public key infrastructure (PKI, "Public Key Infrastructure") credential associated with a wireless network or wireless access point and/or recognized by a credential authority. As described in greater detail below, a client device having trust information for a wireless network or wireless access point can use the trust information in any suitable manner to confirm the wireless access point and/or wireless network. Identification.

For example, in some techniques for implementing some of the principles described herein, a wireless access point may transmit a control transmission encrypted using a private key corresponding to a public key retrieved by the client device as the trust information. One or all of them. In some implementations, the control transmission may be fully encrypted, while in some other transmissions only a portion or all of the control transmission payload (e.g., content such as advertising material, or information elements containing one or more pieces of content) may be transmitted. If the client device is able to correctly decrypt the control message using the public key, the client device can confirm that the control message is encrypted using a private key corresponding to the obtained public key, and thus, transmitting the encrypted control message The wireless access point is the wireless access point that the client device is expected to receive information from.

Additionally or alternatively, in some implementations, the client device can exchange one or more test transmissions as control transmissions to test the authenticity of a wireless access point and/or wireless network. For example, a client device can encrypt the test data using the trust information (eg, the obtained public key) and transmit the encrypted test data to the wireless access point. If the control transmission received in response to the test transmission from the wireless access point includes the correct test material, the client device can confirm that the wireless access point is capable of modifying the decoding of the transmission, and thus the wireless access point has a corresponding The private key of the public key and the wireless access point with which the client device is expected to communicate. More security can be provided by adding other information to the test data. Such other information may be any suitable information, such as a public key of a client device, and the reply transmitted by the wireless access point may be encrypted using the public key of the client device. In addition, the test data can be a temporary usage or other unique symbol (eg, unique text or a transmission time), so even if control from one of the wireless access points is controlled, the transmission is interrupted, recorded, and re-broadcast by a fraudulent device (making The spoofing device appears to be authentic), the client device can detect that the control transmission is "replayed" by using one or more techniques to avoid a reply attack, for example by noticing that the repetition must be a unique symbol or An unusual delay in the transmission time (i.e., an extreme difference between the current time and the claimed transmission time of the control transmission may indicate that the control transmission has been recorded at the transmission time, and later by a fraudulent device Re-broadcast).

It must be understood that these techniques are merely illustrative of techniques that can implement the principles described herein, and that the principles used herein to identify the identification of the wireless network can be implemented in any suitable manner using any suitable security mechanism. The invention is therefore not limited in this respect.

It must be additionally understood that the control transfer can be formatted in any suitable manner to include any suitable type of content (eg, advertising material and/or location material). An exemplary technique for wrapping content in an information component that controls transmission is in the co-pending application 11/973,589 ("Advertising framework for wireless networks") and 11/973,590 ("Wireless Network" Discussed in "Transmitting location data in wireless networks"). These applications are described using information elements in other formats that use the IEEE 802.11 wireless protocol to include control of advertisements and location information in transmissions, such as beacons and probe responses. However, the principles described herein can be implemented using any suitable control transmissions that incorporate content in any manner, and are not limited to the techniques discussed herein.

The techniques described herein can be implemented in any suitable system including one or more wireless networks, each of which includes one or more wireless access points, and any suitable components of the client device to obtain a wireless network Road trust information, and the invention is not limited in this respect. The following are three exemplary systems in which some of the principles described herein can be implemented.

Figure 1A shows an exemplary system in which some of the principles described herein can be performed. It must be understood that the specific embodiments of the present invention can operate in any suitable system and are not limited to being implemented in the exemplary system shown in FIG. 1A.

The system of Figure 1A includes an exemplary client device 112 within the scope of three wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B. Each wireless access point shown in FIG. 1A is associated with a single entity, such as individual 100, individual 114, and individual 116. In some embodiments of the invention, a body may be a business entity, such as a business, a collection or alliance of businesses, a non-profit/public organization, or other business entity, although it is necessary to understand a particular embodiment of the invention and It is not limited to being implemented using a commercial individual. It must be additionally understood that, as used herein, an "individual" includes a business entity that can be any single individual, such as a person, group, organization, or business, or any combination of any person, group, organization, business. , or any other individual associated with each other in any suitable manner (eg, as a business alliance, or a business group that shares infrastructure, such as in a shopping mall). It must be understood that the various examples described below, for clarity, wherein the system is described as a business entity, such as a store or shopping mall, the invention is not limited to implementation with any particular variety of individuals.

Figure 1A shows an exemplary implementation of an individual 100, including individuals such as individuals 114A and 114B, in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention. A body can include at least one wireless access point 104 communicatively coupled to a data store 106 and to a server 110 associated with the wireless access point 104. The data store 106 can be any suitable computer readable medium and can be a component of the wireless access point 104 or can be coupled to the wireless access point 104 either directly or through any suitable wired and/or wireless communication medium. As shown in FIG. 1A, in some implementations, the data store 106 can store information containing advertising material obtained and transmitted from the wireless access point 104. The advertising material 108 can be any suitable type of material that can be transmitted by a wireless access point 104, such as text describing images, images, audio or video, or any combination thereof. The advertising material 108 may be material describing a single advertisement associated with one or more services of the individual 100, or may be material describing a plurality of advertisements associated with one or more services of the individual 100. As noted above, it must be understood that the advertising material is merely an illustration of the type of material that can be transmitted by the wireless access point of the wireless network, and that it can convey any suitable type of information, and the invention is not limited in this respect.

Server 110 can be any suitable computing device for storing information (e.g., data and/or instructions) for providing to a client device connected to wireless access point 104. 1 shows that the server 110 is separate from the wireless access point 104 and the data store 106. In some embodiments of the present invention, the server 110 may be a component of the wireless access point 104, and/or may be implemented as an electronic device. The device includes a computer readable medium (or computer readable medium) as a server 110 and a data store 106. In the illustrated embodiment, server 110 is coupled to a network accessible to a device once it is associated with wireless access point 104 and has access to the network. However, it must be understood that the system of Figure 1A is merely exemplary, and that the present invention does not require the provision of advertising material or other content. The wireless access point ultimately supports connection to other networked devices.

The information stored by server 110 may, in some implementations, include information about one or more advertisements described by advertisement material 108 stored by data store 106. The information about the one or more advertisements may be any suitable information including one or more web pages describing one or more products or services advertised, for example, by the advertising material 108. In the illustrated embodiment, the data store 106 does not completely define the content of the advertisement described by the advertising material 108. However, these advertisements may contain URLs directed to the server 110 such that a user may choose to connect to the server 110 via the wireless access point 104, or any other suitable network, to obtain information about an advertisement service. .

Wireless access point 104 can be any suitable wireless signal generator that can generate signals in accordance with one or more wireless networking protocols. For example, the wireless access points may be WiFi access points that operate according to the IEEE 802.11 standard of a wireless local area network (WLAN), which may be a cellular wireless access point, depending on any Appropriate wireless wide area network (WWAN, "Wireless Wide Area Network") agreement (such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Personal Area Network (PAN) agreement, For example, Bluetooth, other protocols, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) protocol and the Ultra-wideband (UWB) protocol, or any other suitable wireless protocol. Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN, "Wireless Wide Area" Network"). In an individual with multiple wireless access points, the wireless access points may operate according to the same wireless protocol or may operate according to different wireless protocols.

As described above, a system implementing some of the principles disclosed herein may have methods for obtaining trust information for wireless access points and wireless networks, except through the wireless access points and wireless networks themselves (ie, a band) External source). In some less preferred implementations, the trust information may be obtained from the wireless network itself, but it must be understood that it is preferably an out-of-band source.

In the specific embodiment of Figure 1A, the individual 100 is equipped with an interactive kiosk 102 whereby a client device can obtain trust information. For example, the interactive kiosk 102 can be an electronic device located within or adjacent to the individual 100. In some implementations, the interactive kiosk 102 can be a device installed at a store entrance or a shopping mall entrance, or at a different location throughout the store or shopping mall (eg, mounted on a pillar or wall), The user can access to obtain one or more pieces of trust information for the store or shopping mall. Client device 112 can communicate with interactive kiosk 102 to obtain the trust information in any suitable manner. In some implementations, client device 112 can communicate with interactive kiosk 102 using any suitable wireless protocol, such as a WLAN or PAN protocol, or use any suitable near field communication (NFC, "Near-Field Communication") protocol. (eg radio frequency identification (RFID, "Radio Frequency Identification"), or using any suitable wired or contact communication technology. For example, in some implementations, a user may obtain a memory unit (eg, a memory card) from the interactive kiosk 102 to be inserted into the client. In the device 112, the client device 112 can thereby copy the trust information, or the user maintains the shopping at the store or the shopping mall (or interact with another body). As described above, the self-interactive information station 102 obtains The trust information can be any suitable trust information, such as the public key or PKI credentials of the individual 100.

As shown in FIG. 1A, a client device 112 that receives transmissions from one or more of the wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B can be a laptop personal computer. However, it must be understood that the specific embodiments of the present invention are not limited to being implemented using a laptop personal computer, or may be implemented using any suitable mobile or fixed electronic device, such as a desktop or laptop. Personal computer, personal digital assistant (PDA, "personal digital assistant") or smart phone.

The client device 112 may have connections to one or more of the wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B, but within the scope of each of the wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B, and from the wireless access point 104. , 104A and 104B receive transmissions. As described above, in accordance with a particular embodiment of the present invention, the transmissions received from the wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B can include any suitable information including the advertising material 108 stored by the data store 106. According to some exemplary techniques, the transmissions transmitted by the wireless access points 104, 104A, and 104B and received by the client device 112 may be Layer 2 control transmissions. Layer 2 control transmissions, such as announcement transmissions, may include any suitable information about the wireless access point 104, including one or more network characteristics such that a client device receives the control transmission to open a connection to the wireless memory. Take point 104. As noted above, an announcement transmission, such as a beacon in accordance with the IEEE 802.11 wireless protocol, is periodically broadcast by a wireless access point 104 to all client devices (including clients) within range of the wireless access point 104. The device 112) transmits a probe response to a client device 112 in response to a request for one of the control messages transmitted by the client device 112, or any other appropriate announcement transmission transmitted by a wireless access point 104.

In some embodiments of the invention, a wireless access point 104 can encode the advertising material 108 stored by the data store 106 in a controlled transmission. As described in greater detail below, a client device 112 can be configured to receive the control transmission, including content (e.g., advertising material 108 or any other suitable content), and reading the content from the control transmission. Once read, the content can be processed in any suitable manner, such as providing the advertisements described by the advertising material 108 via one of the appropriate user interfaces to one of the client devices 112. In some advertising architectures that may implement the techniques described herein for security, a user may then view the advertisements and may indicate to the client device 112 that he or she would like to be described by the advertisements. More information on products or services. The client device can then establish a connection to a wireless access point that transmits the advertisement, wherein the user indicates that he or she is interested (if the client device 112 does not yet have an open connection to the wireless access point), And obtain any appropriate additional information from one or more of the services described by the advertisement. The additional information may include one or more web pages containing more information about the services or one or more web pages, whereby the user may subscribe to or subscribe to the services. However, it must be understood that in some advertising architectures implementing the techniques described herein, the additional information may not be one or more web pages, and may be any suitable additional information that may be provided to a client device. User.

It must be understood that the exemplary computer system in FIG. 1A is merely exemplary, and that particular embodiments of the present invention can operate in any suitable computer system including any suitable number of client devices, individuals, and wireless storage. Take a point. In addition, it must be understood that the individual and wireless access points are not limited to being implemented as shown in the example of FIG. 1A, as embodiments of the present invention may utilize any suitable hardware and/or software to utilize any suitable entity. Implementation.

Figures 1B and 1C show other systems in which techniques for implementing some of the principles described herein can be performed. As shown in Figures 1B and 1C, individuals 100' and 114A' are substantially similar to the individuals shown in Figure 1A, but such individuals are not shown to include an interactive kiosk 102. Rather, in FIG. 1B, a server 116 is shown communicatively coupled to the client device 112 via a communication network 118, including any suitable wired and/or wireless communication medium or medium. Server 116 may be a server that provides one or more individual trust information in any suitable manner, such as via a website or web service, such as MSN or Windows available from Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, USA. The Live service, which can be used as a credential for issuing PKI credentials, and/or as a repository for any kind of trust information. A website that acts as a repository for trust information can be built into an online catalog of individual trust information, similar to an online catalog of phone numbers. In a technique operating in a system such as the system of FIG. 1B, a user of client device 112 may obtain trust information for a body (eg, individual 100' or individual 114A') prior to visiting the individual. The user does not need to obtain the trust information from the interactive kiosk 102, or the individual does not need to provide the interactive kiosk 102. In addition, the client device can obtain the trust information by accessing the server when visiting the individual (for example, shopping in a store), which is via a wireless and/or wired network different from the wireless access point 104. The server 116 is accessed (e.g., by accessing a WWAN network).

The server 116 may have a data store 120 containing one or more pieces of trust information 122 of one or more individuals (illustrated as a "key" in FIG. 1B, but is not limited thereto). In some techniques operating in this system, a user may request an individual key from one of the other individuals at server 116, or may request multiple keys in any suitable group, such as in a geographic location. Individuals, or individuals within a certain geographic location, an individual, and/or associated with each other in some way (eg, all stores within a designated shopping mall).

The system of Figure 1C shows another method in which a client device 112 can obtain trust information for one or more individuals. In the system of FIG. 1C, the user 124 of the client device 112 can use an entity directory 126 to retrieve trust information for one or more individuals 100' and then manually enter the trust information via any suitable user interface. In the client device 112. The directory may be constructed in any suitable manner, such as in a book format similar to a conventional phone book (as shown in FIG. 1C), or as a logo that may be displayed within or adjacent to the individual. Trust information (for example, installed on a wall) (for example, similar to the format of a floor plan in a shopping mall or as a sign at the entrance to a store). Directory 126 can provide trust information for one or more individuals. If the catalog 126 provides information for a plurality of individuals, the listed individuals may be those in any suitable group, such as an individual of a particular category or classes, individuals within a geographic region, or according to any other Grouping. A user 124 can use the directory 126 to obtain a piece of trust information prior to visiting the individual (e.g., if the directory 126 is constructed to resemble a phone book), or can use the directory 126 when visiting the individual (e.g., if a directory 126 For a sign).

It must be understood that in some implementations a variety of techniques for allowing a client device to obtain trust information can be implemented in a system. For example, a body may make its trust information available through a web service and/or a directory, and additionally provide one or more interactive information stations, thereby obtaining trust information and implementing any other suitable Technology, as the invention is not limited to the implementation of any single technology for providing or obtaining trust information, either alone or in combination with any other technology. It is also to be understood that the invention is not limited to the implementation of the above-described exemplary techniques for obtaining trust information, as any suitable technique for obtaining trust information can be implemented in accordance with the principles described herein.

2 is an exemplary process 200 that can implement the principles described herein for transferring content between a wireless access point 104 of a body 100 and a client device 112 (eg, by advertising) Form information about products and / or services). It must be understood that the program 200 is merely exemplary, and that the invention is not limited to implementing any particular program or programs for exchanging content between a wireless access point and a client device. As noted above, it must be understood that when the program 200 is described as cooperating with an advertisement, such content is merely exemplary, as the invention is not limited to the exchange of any particular type of content.

The process 200 begins at block 202 where a body (or any person or device associated with a body) specifies advertising information regarding one or more services associated with the individual. The one or more services may be a commercial service as shown in FIG. 2, such as sales of products via any service that may be performed by the individual. For example, if the individual is a restaurant, a business service provided by the individual can provide food, and an advertisement for the service can describe a special day meal provided by the restaurant. The term "commercial service" as used herein is not limited to services provided by an individual for profit. Business services may include announcements of events by non-profit or government groups, such as free concerts.

In accordance with some techniques for implementing the principles described herein, the specifying advertisement information in block 202 can include encoding in a profile associated with the wireless access point material that describes one or more advertisements for the designated business service, In other implementations that specify the business service, it may include selecting those products and/or services from a list of pre-configured products and/or services to be the designated business service.

In block 204, the wireless access point transmits advertising material regarding the designated advertising information for the business service. In some implementations, the transmission transmitted by block 204 can be part of a control transmission transmitted by the wireless access point and can be an announcement transmission according to some exemplary techniques for transmitting unsolicited content, such as A beacon is periodically broadcast to all client devices within range of the wireless access point. The advertising material may be added to the control transmission in any suitable manner. For example, in a technology implemented in an IEEE 802.11 wireless network, the advertising material may be included in a beacon or probe response information element, although the invention is not limited to this exemplary technique and the content is added in any suitable manner. Control transmission.

In block 206, a client device obtains the individual's trust information (eg, a public key or PKI credential) (ie, for the wireless network including the wireless access point and/or the wireless access point). This may be accomplished in parallel with actions 202 and 204 using the trust information obtained while the advertisement information was being designated and transmitted, or may be completed at any suitable time after actions 202 and 204 have been completed. Acquiring trust information can be accomplished in any suitable manner, such as by the illustrative techniques described above. The trust information may be obtained from an interactive kiosk, a server that maintains one or more pieces of trust information, a directory of trusted information, and/or any other "out-of-band" source of appropriate trust information.

In block 208, client device 112 retrieves the control transmission of block 204, which contains the advertising material, and performs any suitable processing on the transmission. In accordance with the principles described herein, the program includes using the trust information in block 210 to confirm the identification of the wireless access point and/or the wireless network to which the wireless access point is connected. The program of block 210 can be accomplished in any suitable manner, including any of the programs 300, 400, and 500 described in greater detail below.

In block 212, after the validation process of block 210, the program 200 branches according to whether the wireless access point is a wireless access point that receives the control transmission, which is a wireless access point that the client device 112 expects to receive content. (eg, whether the wireless access point is trusted or fraudulent). If it determines that the wireless access point is the intended wireless access point, then in block 214, the client device utilizes the content of the control message by, for example, submitting advertising material via the appropriate user interface to the A user of the client device, and the process 200 ends. However, if in block 212 the wireless access point is determined not to be the intended wireless access point, then in block 216 the wireless access point (and the control message transmitted by it) is ignored for an appropriate period of time (eg, Minutes, days, until the client leaves the range of the wireless access point until new trust information is obtained, forever, or any appropriate time period).

It must be understood that the program 200 is merely an illustrative technique for implementing some of the principles described herein, and that the invention is not limited to implementing a program such as the program 200, or any particular program that performs one or more of the acts of the program 200. Any suitable technique for exchanging information about products and/or services between a wireless access point associated with a body and a client device, and a client device can be implemented in accordance with the principles described herein . For example, in other techniques, when FIG. 2 illustrates a procedure 200 using a commercial service advertised by a business entity, embodiments of the invention may be practiced by an individual who is not a business entity, and thus associated with the individual Products and / or services may not be commercial services. In addition, it must be understood that some other techniques may implement the actions as shown in Figure 2 in a different order. For example, in some techniques that operate in accordance with the principles described herein, a client device 112 can confirm the identification of a wireless access point 102 prior to receiving any control transmissions containing advertising content (or other content) such that The act of identifying the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network (i.e., acts 210 and 212) may be performed prior to the act 208.

As described above in connection with procedure 200, the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network (e.g., block 210 of program 200) can be accomplished in any suitable manner. The following discussion in conjunction with Figures 3 through 5 is an illustrative technique for identifying the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network. However, it must be understood that these techniques are merely examples of these kinds of techniques, which may be implemented in accordance with the principles described herein or other possible techniques.

Figure 3 shows an exemplary process 300 that can identify the identification of a wireless access point. As noted above, Figure 3 is discussed in conjunction with advertising and business individuals, however, any suitable type of content may be used.

The process 300 begins at block 302 where the client device obtains trust information for one or more business entities. The trust information may contain one of the individual's public keys and/or PKI credentials and may be obtained in any suitable manner, such as from an interactive kiosk associated with the individual. In block 304, the client device detects that it is within range of one of the wireless access points with trusted information (eg, by comparing the detected wireless access point identification code with the identification of the trusted information) code). In block 306, the client device transmits a test control transmission to the wireless access point, which uses the trust information to encrypt. The test control transmission can include any suitable information and can include a challenge phase and/or temporary usage. Any suitable message can be used for the test control transmission (eg, a random or virtual random bit string, a unique text like "Red trees are blue", transmission time and/or transmission location, or any other suitable material). In some techniques that operate according to the example of FIG. 3, the payload of the test control transmission may also include trust information of the client device 112, such as the public key/PKI credentials of the client device and/or the public of the user. Key/PKI credentials (for clarity, collectively referred to as the client trust information below).

In block 308, the client device receives a control transmission from the wireless access point in response to the test control message. The response control transmission may include the content of the test control transmission, which is transmitted in an unencrypted manner, or in the implementation of the test control message additionally including client trust information, the content of the response control message may use the client The end trust information is encrypted and sent back. If the client device determines that the content conforms to the encrypted and transmitted person (e.g., the content of the test control transmission) when the response control transmission is received (i.e., decrypted in some techniques), the client device can assume The wireless access point maintains a private key corresponding to the public key, whereby the content of the test control transmission is encrypted, so the wireless access point used by the client to exchange messages is the intended wireless access point.

In block 310, if the wireless access point is the intended wireless access point (eg, if the wireless access point is reliable), the client device can receive all future transmissions from the wireless access point. The content of the control message is reliable and free to use (eg, an advertisement from the wireless access point can be displayed to the user) and the process ends. But if the wireless access point is determined not to be the intended wireless access point in block 310, then in block 314 the client device can ignore the wireless access point and receive the wireless access point during any suitable time period. Take control of the transfer.

In some implementations of the techniques operating in accordance with the example of FIG. 3, control messages containing content (eg, advertising material) are not transmitted encrypted, but are transmitted in an undecrypted manner. In some other implementations, after the authentication technique of the program 300, the wireless access point, as other or additional to the broadcast control message, can transmit control messages to the client device that use the client trust information to encrypt. In other embodiments, the control messages containing all or part of the content transmitted by the wireless access point are encrypted using the trust information of the wireless access point, and the client device is using the content Each message is decrypted using the trust information (eg, displaying the content to a user).

In some techniques for implementing the principles described herein, the identification of a wireless access point identification may rely solely on the correct decryption of the control message to confirm the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network. Figure 4 shows a procedure 400 for illustrating these techniques. As previously mentioned, the process 400 is discussed below in conjunction with commercial individual advertisements, but techniques implemented in accordance with some of the principles described herein can exchange any suitable type of information as the content of the control message.

The process 400 begins at block 402 where the client device obtains trust information for a business entity. The trust information can be obtained in any suitable manner, such as by reading the trust information from an interactive kiosk associated with the business individual. In block 404, the client detects that it is within range of one of the wireless access points with trusted information (eg, by comparing the detected wireless access point identification code with the identification code of the trusted information) And in block 406, receiving a control transmission from the wireless access point (e.g., a beacon or a response to a probe request transmitted by the client device).

In block 408, the client device 112 processes the control transmission using the trust information retrieved in block 402 to confirm the identification of the wireless access point. Processing the control transmission can include using the trust information to decrypt the control transmission. If the control transmission can be correctly decrypted using the obtained trust information, the client device 112 can assume that the control transmissions are encrypted using a private key corresponding to the public key of the trust information, so the wireless access point is The intended wireless access point and the transmission is reliable.

If it is determined in block 410 that the transmission is reliable, then the content of the control transmission in block 412 can be used in any suitable manner, such as by capturing the advertisement and displaying it to a user, and the process ends. But if the transmission is determined to be unreliable in block 410 (i.e., the transmission cannot be confirmed from the intended wireless access point), then in block 414 the wireless access point is ignored during any appropriate time period and The program ends and does not use the content.

Figure 5 illustrates another routine 500 that operates in accordance with some of the principles disclosed herein. The process 500 begins at block 502 where the client device 112 obtains trust information for a business individual. The trust information may be obtained in any suitable manner, such as by obtaining the trust information from a server such as server 116, which may implement a web service in some implementations of the techniques operating according to the example of FIG. As a credential agency and / or as a storage of trust information. The trust information obtained in block 502 can be a single piece of trust information, or can be multiple pieces of trust information obtained in any suitable grouping. In some implementations, the trust information can be retrieved in response to a user request, and in some implementations, the client device 112 can be used to additionally or additionally automatically respond to any suitable stimulus to obtain the trust information. The stimulus can be time or location (eg, when the client device detects its proximity to a body), detecting a wireless access point associated with a body, and receiving an indication from the server 116 that Previously acquired trust information has been added or changed, or any other appropriate stimulus.

In block 504, the client device 112 detects that it is within range of one of the wireless access points with trusted information (eg, by comparing the detected wireless access point identification code with the identification code of the trusted information) And, in block 506, receiving a control transmission from the wireless access point (e.g., a beacon or a response to a probe request transmitted by the client device).

In block 508, client device 112 processes the control transmission using the trust information retrieved in block 502 to confirm the identification of the wireless access point. Processing the control transmission can include using the trust information to decrypt the control transmission. If the control transmission can be correctly decrypted using the obtained trust information, the client device 112 can assume that the control transmissions are encrypted using a private key corresponding to the public key of the trust information, so the wireless access point is The intended wireless access point and the transmission is reliable.

If it is determined in block 510 that the transmission is reliable, then the content of the control transmission in block 512 can be used in any suitable manner, such as by capturing the advertisement and displaying it to a user, and the process ends. But if the transmission is determined to be unreliable in block 510 (i.e., the transmission cannot be confirmed from the intended wireless access point), then in block 514 the wireless access point is ignored during any appropriate time period. And the program ends and will not use the content.

It must be understood that the techniques described above in conjunction with Figures 3 through 5 are merely examples of such types of techniques that may implement some of the principles described herein to identify wireless networks and/or wireless access points. Identification. It must be understood that the invention is not limited to the implementation of any particulars of these techniques, or to the implementation of any technology, as any suitable technique can be practiced in accordance with the principles disclosed herein.

While the exemplary techniques described above focus on identifying a wireless access point and/or wireless network identification by decrypting control messages encrypted using trusted information, the invention is not limited thereto. Techniques can be implemented to additionally or additionally identify the identification of the wireless network, including the use of environmental information. For example, the trust information of a wireless access point or wireless network may be the expected location of the wireless access point or wireless network, and may be compared to the location of the client when it is within range of the wireless access point. / or include location information in a control transmission from one of the wireless access points. In this manner, if the client device detects that the wireless access point is not in the expected location, or if the location information is not the expected location information in the control transmission, the detected wireless memory Taking points can be fraud. The location information that can be used can be any suitable location information, such as street address, location within a building, longitude/latitude data, and/or any other suitable location information. Additionally or alternatively, the environmental information may include time information for the control transmission. The time information can for example be included in a control transmission describing the time at which the control transmission was first transmitted. When receiving the control transmission, a client device can compare the time information of the control transmission with the trust information including a current time. The trust information can be used to determine if the broadcast time is within a reasonable gap from the current time. For example, if the difference between the broadcast time of a control transmission and the current time is greater than a certain period of time (eg, 10 seconds), the client device may determine that it receives a reply attack from one of the devices of the rebroadcast control transmission, and decides The detected wireless access point is a fraud. Other embodiments may implement other techniques for identifying the identification of a wireless access point and/or wireless network, although the invention is not limited in this respect.

What has been described above is a variety of techniques that can be used by client devices to implement some of the principles described herein. However, it must be understood that in some systems implementing one or more of the principles described herein, one or more components of the wireless network to which a client is connected may perform the techniques in accordance with these principles. Figure 6 shows an exemplary process 600 that can be implemented by a wireless access point in accordance with some of these principles.

The process 600 begins at block 602 where the wireless access point obtains regional trust information from a repository. The regional trust information may contain any suitable trust information, such as a private key, which may be used for a public key encryption algorithm or any other appropriate regional trust information. In block 604, the content is retrieved from the material store 106 and encoded in a control transmission, and the control transmission uses the zone trust information of block 602. The content encrypted in block 604 can be any suitable content, such as advertising material, location material, information describing one or more services (eg, printing services) provided by the wireless access point and/or the wireless network, or Any other kind of information. In block 606, the control transmission is transmitted by the wireless access point. In some implementations, the control transmission can be communicated as a beacon to all client devices within range of the wireless access point, while in other implementations, the control transmission can be treated as being responded to by a client device A probe request received by the wireless access point, or transmitted as any other suitable control transmission.

Techniques for implementing one or more of the principles described herein can be implemented on any of a variety of computer system configurations and are not limited to any particular type of configuration. Figures 7 through 8 illustrate various computer systems in which embodiments of the present invention may be implemented, although other possibilities are possible. It must be understood that Figures 7 through 8 are not intended to be a description or a comprehensive description of the essential components of an operational device operating as a wireless access point or client device.

FIG. 7 shows an exemplary wireless access point 104. The wireless access point 104 includes a processor 702, a network adapter 704, and a computer readable medium 706. Network adapter 704 can be any suitable hardware and/or software to cause wireless access point 104 to communicate with any other suitable computing device over any suitable computing network. The computing network can exchange data between more than two computers, including the Internet, for any suitable wired and/or wireless communication medium or medium. For example, the computing network can be (at least in part) a wireless network operating in accordance with any suitable wireless network protocol, such as IEEE 802.11, GSM, Bluetooth, WiMAX, UWB, and/or any other suitable protocol. In some embodiments of the present invention, the wireless access point 104 can include two network adapters 704 to enable the wireless access point 104 to communicate with two different communication networks, such as a wired computing network and a wireless operation. Network, and exchange data between the two. Computer readable media 706 can be used to store data being processed, and/or instructions executed by processor 702. The processor 702 can perform processing of data and execution of instructions. The data and instructions can be stored on computer readable medium 706 and can communicate, for example, between components of wireless access point 104.

According to some exemplary techniques described herein, the data tiles 106 of FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C can be implemented as computer readable media 706 and stored on computer readable media 706 and The instructions may include an access point firmware 708, which may be software executed by the processor 702, instructing the wireless access point 104 to perform any suitable function, such as fetching content from a material store (e.g., advertising material 710 or other suitable content). For transmission, the content encoded in a control transmission is generated and a control transmission is generated. The computer readable medium 706 can also store content, such as advertising material 710 (ie, advertising material 108). The advertising material 710 can be any suitable type of material that can be transmitted by a wireless access point 104, including, for example, text describing images, images, audio or video, or any combination thereof. The advertising material 710 can be data describing a single advertisement associated with one or more of the services of one of the wireless access points 104, or can be a material describing a plurality of advertisements associated with one or more services of one entity. In a particular embodiment of the invention, the individual may be a business entity (eg, a store) and the service may be a commercial service. As noted above, it must be understood that the advertising material is merely an illustration of the type of content transmitted by a wireless access point 104 in accordance with one or more of the principles described herein.

According to some exemplary techniques described herein, the computer readable medium 706 can additionally store the trust information 712 of the wireless access point 104 and/or a wireless network to which the wireless access point is connected. The trust information 712 can be any suitable trust information, such as a wireless access point 104 and/or a private key of a wireless network in a public key encryption algorithm. However, it must be understood that any appropriate trust information may be used as trust information 712, including, for example, environmental information, as a private key may only be used as an illustration of the type of information of trust information in accordance with the principles described herein.

Figure 8 shows an exemplary client device 112 that can be implemented as one of the client devices in accordance with the principles described herein. As mentioned above, any suitable computing device, action or fixed type can be used as a client device 112. The client device 110 can be an computing device designed for a variety of purposes and used by a user, such as a desktop personal computer, a laptop, a server, a personal digital assistant (PDA, "personal digital assistant"), Smart/mobile phone, or any other suitable electronic device. In addition, client device 110 can be any computing device that is not typically used by a user, or that is intended for a single purpose or limited purpose, such as a server or a track mounted networked device.

The client device 112 includes a processor 802, a network adapter 804, and a computer readable medium 808. Network adapter 804 can be any suitable hardware and/or software to cause client device 112 to communicate with any other suitable computing device over any suitable computing network. The computing network can exchange data between more than two computers, including the Internet, for any suitable wired and/or wireless communication medium or medium. For example, the computing network can be (at least in part) a wireless network operating in accordance with any suitable wireless network protocol, such as IEEE 802.11, GSM, Bluetooth, WiMAX, UWB, and/or any other suitable agreement. The network adapter 804 can also include an application programming interface (API, "Application Programmer Interface") 806 to interact with the network adapter 804 and the application executing on the client device 112. API 806 can provide executable functionality to applications on client device 112 such that the applications can request network adapter 804 to begin monitoring transmissions from wireless access points, providing content from the transmission (eg, advertising material, location) Information, or any other appropriate content, requesting additional information from the wireless access point, or any other suitable function. Computer readable media 806 can be used to store the processed material, and/or instructions executed by processor 802. The processor 802 can perform processing of data and execution of instructions. The data and instructions may be stored on computer readable medium 806 and may, for example, be communicated between components of client device 112.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, the data and instructions stored on the computer readable medium 808 may include a user interface 810, whereby the content transmitted by the network adapter 804 is controlled (eg, advertising materials and/or Or additional information about the product or service being advertised) can be presented to a user. User interface 810 can render content in any suitable format. In some embodiments of the client device 112, the user interface 810 can be a component of the operating system or firmware of the client device 112. In other embodiments of the present invention, the user interface 810 can be a dedicated application. A program or a piece of an application that allows the content to be displayed and used within the application.

The computer readable medium 808 of the client device 112 may further include a profile of the trust information 812 in accordance with one or more of the principles described herein. The trust information 812 can be one or more pieces of trust information for one or more wireless access points and/or wireless networks, and can include any suitable type of trust information. For example, as described above, the trust information may be public keys and/or PKI credentials of the wireless access point and/or wireless network, and/or may be environmental information such as the wireless access points and/or wireless Time or location data for the network.

The computer readable medium 808 can further include a verification module 814 for testing the control information received by the network adapter 804 using the trust information 812 to determine the authenticity of a wireless access point and/or wireless network. The verification module 814 can implement any suitable technique including, but not limited to, any one or more of the exemplary techniques described above. In some implementations, the verification module 814 can be added to an operating system of the client device 112, while in other implementations, the verification module 814 can be implemented independently of the operating system, such as on the client device 112. Execute the proprietary application, or in any other suitable way.

The specific embodiments of the invention described above can be implemented in any number of ways. For example, such specific embodiments can be implemented using hardware, software, or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, the software code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection of processors, whether provided on a single computer or distributed across multiple computers.

Furthermore, it must be understood that a computer can be implemented in any of a number of forms, such as a track-mounted computer, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. In addition, a computer can be implemented on a device that cannot be viewed as a computer, but with appropriate processing capabilities, including a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smart phone, or any other suitable portability. Or fixed electronic device.

At the same time, a computer can have one or more input and output devices. These devices can be used to present a user interface in addition to this. Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interface include a printer or display screen, a visual presentation for output, and a horn or other sound producing device for sound presentation of the output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a user interface include a keyboard, and pointing devices such as a mouse, a trackpad, and a tablet. In another example, a computer can receive input information via voice recognition or other sound formats.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in any suitable form, including a regional network or a wide area network, such as a corporate network or the Internet. These networks may operate according to any suitable protocol based on any suitable technology and may include wireless, wired or fiber optic networks.

Also, the various methods described herein can be encoded as software that can be executed on one or more processors utilizing any of a variety of operating systems or platforms. In addition, the software can be written in any suitable stylized language and/or custom stylized or scripted tool, and can be compiled into an executable machine language code or intermediate that can be executed on an architectural or virtual machine. code.

In this aspect, the present invention can be implemented as a computer storage medium (or a plurality of computer readable media) (eg, computer memory, one or more floppy disks, optical disks, magnetic tape, flash memory, in the field) a programmed gate array or computer configuration in other semiconductor devices, etc., encoded as one or more programs that, when executed on one or more computers or other processors, can perform the various embodiments of the invention described above The method of the specific embodiment. The computer readable medium or medium can be transferred such that the program stored thereon can be loaded into one or more different computers or other processors to carry out the various aspects of the invention as described above.

The term "program" or "software" is used herein in a generic sense to refer to any kind of computer code or computer executable instruction set that can be utilized to program a computer or other processor to implement the present invention. A variety of aspects, as described above. In addition, it must be understood that one or more computer programs, when executed, can perform the method of the present invention, which does not need to exist on a single computer or processor, but can be used in accordance with an embodiment of the present embodiment. The method is distributed between a number of different computers or processors to implement various aspects of the present invention.

Computer-executable instructions can be in many forms, such as a program module executed by one or more computers or other devices. In summary, a program module includes routines, programs, objects, components, data structures, etc., which can perform special tasks or implement specific summary data types. Basically, the functionality of the program modules can be combined or dispersed as desired in various embodiments.

The various aspects of the invention may be used alone, in combination, or in various configurations not specifically discussed in the foregoing specific embodiments, and thus are not limited to the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings. The details and configuration of the ingredients. For example, the aspects described in one particular embodiment can be combined in any manner with the aspects described in other specific embodiments.

The vocabulary used in the scope of the patent application, such as "first", "second", "third", etc., to modify a patentable component does not represent any priority between the components of a patent application, Priority or order, or the chronological order in which the actions of a method are performed, but only as an indication to distinguish between a component with one of the names of the patent application and another component with the same name (but used in the vocabulary) ) to distinguish between the components of the patent application scope.

Also, the grammar and vocabulary used herein are for illustrative purposes and should not be considered as limiting. The use of "including", "including" or "having", "including", "involving" and variations thereof as used herein is intended to encompass the items listed below and their equivalents, and additional items.

Having described several aspects of at least one embodiment of the present invention, many variations, modifications, and improvements will be apparent to those skilled in the art. These variations, modifications, and improvements are considered to be part of this specification and are included within the spirit and scope of the present invention. Therefore, the foregoing description and drawings are merely illustrative.

<p>100. . . individual</p><p>100'. . . individual</p><p>102. . . Interactive information station</p><p>104. . . Wireless access point</p><p>104A~B. . . Wireless access point</p><p>106. . . Information shop</p><p>108. . . Advertising materials</p><p>110. . . Client device</p><p>112. . . Client device</p><p>114. . . individual</p><p>114A~B. . . individual</p><p>114A'. . . individual</p><p>116. . . individual</p><p>118. . . Communication network</p><p>120. . . Information shop</p><p>122. . . Key</p><p>124. . . user</p><p>126. . . Entity directory</p><p>702. . . processor</p><p>704. . . Network adapter</p><p>706. . . Computer readable media</p><p>708. . . Access point firmware</p><p>710. . . Advertising materials</p><p>712. . . Trust information</p><p>802. . . processor</p><p>804. . . Network adapter</p><p>806. . . Application programming interface</p><p>808. . . Computer readable media</p><p>810. . . user interface</p><p>812. . . Trust information</p><p>814. . . Verification module</p>

The attached drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In the drawings, each identical or nearly identical component shown in the different figures is represented by a similar number. For the sake of clarity, each component is not labeled in each drawing. In the picture:

1A is a schematic diagram of an exemplary computer system in which some, but not all, of the techniques disclosed herein can be used to transmit, receive, and verify the authenticity of such control messages, and the computer system includes an interactive information station. Can read individual trust information;

1B is a schematic diagram of an exemplary computer system in which some, but not all, of the techniques disclosed herein can be used to transmit, receive, and verify the authenticity of such control messages, and the computer system includes a master control website. a web server, whereby trust information can be obtained;

1C is a schematic diagram of an exemplary computer system in which some, but not all, of the techniques disclosed herein can be used to transmit, receive, and verify the authenticity of such control messages, and the system includes a paper directory. Can obtain trust information;

2 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for implementing some of the principles disclosed herein, which may be implemented by a computer system to exchange information about a business service between a wireless network and a client device;

3 is a flow diagram of an exemplary technique for implementing some of the principles disclosed herein for confirming the authenticity of a wireless access point of a wireless network;

4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary technique for implementing some of the principles disclosed herein for confirming the authenticity of control messages received from a wireless access point of a wireless network;

5 is a flow diagram of another exemplary technique for implementing some of the principles disclosed herein for confirming the authenticity of control messages received from a wireless access point of a wireless network;

6 is a flow diagram of an exemplary technique for implementing some of the principles disclosed herein, which may be used by a wireless access point to transmit control messages;

Figure 7 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless access point implementing some, but not all, of the techniques disclosed herein for transmitting and verifying the authenticity of control messages;

Figure 8 is a block diagram of an exemplary client device implementing some, but not all, of the techniques disclosed herein for receiving and verifying the authenticity of control messages from wireless access points of a wireless network.