Methods and apparatus to discover authentication information in a wireless networking environment
View Patent ↗Example methods and apparatus to discover authentication information in a wireless networking environment are disclosed. A disclosed example method involves transmitting, during network discovery, a Generic Advertisement Services (GAS) request to a network access point, the GAS request requesting authentication information, the authentication information being indicative of a credential required from a wireless terminal. In addition, a response to the GAS request is received from the network access point. The response includes the authentication information.
1. A method for a wireless device, the method comprising:
transmitting, during network discovery and prior to authentication, a Generic Advertisement Services (GAS) request to a network access point, the GAS request requesting authentication information, the authentication information being indicative of an extensible authentication protocol method and indicative of a credential required from a wireless terminal to use for authentication of the wireless terminal, the credential being indicative of a subscriber identity module credential; and
receiving, by the wireless terminal at a media access control layer, a response to the GAS request from the network access point, wherein the response includes the authentication information.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the credential is obtainable by the wireless terminal.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the credential is pre-stored in the wireless terminal.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising sending the credential to the network access point.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response includes second authentication information.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the credential is located in the wireless terminal; and
displaying a service identifier based on the credential being located in the wireless terminal.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless terminal is a mobile communication device.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the credential enables access to a subscription service provider network communicatively coupled to the network access point.
9. An apparatus comprising:
a hardware processor configured to:
transmit, during network discovery and prior to authentication, a Generic Advertisement Services (GAS) request to a network access point, the GAS request requesting authentication information, the authentication information being indicative of an extensible authentication protocol method and indicative of a credential required from a wireless terminal to use for authentication of the wireless terminal, the credential is indicative of a subscriber identity module credential; and
receive, by the wireless terminal at a media access control layer, a response to the GAS request from the network access point, wherein the response includes the authentication information.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the credential is obtainable by the wireless terminal.
11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to send the credential to the network access point.
12. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the credential is locally stored in the wireless terminal.
13. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the response includes second authentication information.
14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
determine that the credential is located in the wireless terminal; and
display a service identifier based on the credential being located in the wireless terminal.
15. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the credential enables access to a subscription service provider network communicatively coupled to the network access point.