System and Method for User Equipment Identification and Communications

1 . A method for managing identities of user devices operating in an inactive mode, the method comprising:

receiving, by a serving device, a first uplink transmission including a user device identifier associated with a user device;

transmitting, by the serving device, a first downlink transmission including an indication of an ephemeral identifier assigned to the user device;

transmitting, by the serving device, a second downlink transmission including data associated with the ephemeral identifier; and

discarding, by the serving device, the ephemeral identifier.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first uplink transmission further comprises user data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, by the serving device, a second uplink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the ephemeral identifier comprises an ephemeral cell radio network temporary identifier (eC-RNTI).

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

fetching, by the serving device, a user device context from an anchor device;

transmitting, by the serving device, a third downlink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier, wherein the third downlink transmission includes an assignment of a persistent identifier of the user device; and

transmitting, by the serving device, a fourth downlink transmission associated with the persistent identifier.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein contents of the third downlink transmission and the fourth downlink transmission are transmitted in a single downlink transmission.

7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein generating the persistent identifier comprises one of promoting the ephemeral identifier to the persistent identifier, or deriving the persistent identifier in accordance with the user device context.

8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the user device context is stored at the serving device after being fetched from the anchor device.

9 . A method for operating a user device in an inactive mode, the method comprising:

transmitting, by the user device, a first uplink transmission including a user device identifier associated with the user device;

starting, by the user device, a listen timer after transmitting the first uplink transmission;

receiving, by the user device, a first downlink transmission including an indication of an ephemeral identifier assigned to the user device;

receiving, by the user device, a second downlink transmission including data associated with the ephemeral identifier; and

discarding, by the user device, the ephemeral identifier, wherein discarding the ephemeral identifier occurs after the listen timer expires.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the first uplink transmission further comprises user data.

11 . (canceled)

12 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

starting, by the user device, a listen timer after transmitting the first uplink transmission;

receiving, by the user device, a third downlink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier, wherein the third downlink transmission includes an assignment of a persistent identifier; and

stopping, by the user device, the listen timer.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising:

deriving, by the user device, a security key in accordance with the third downlink transmission;

verifying, by the user device, an integrity check of at least a portion of the third downlink transmission in accordance with the security key; and

using, by the user device, the persistent identifier when the integrity check passes.

14 . A serving device adapted to manage identities of user devices operating in an inactive mode, the serving device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processors, the programming including instructions to configure the serving device to:

receive a first uplink transmission including a user device identifier associated with a user device,

transmit a first downlink transmission including an indication of an ephemeral identifier assigned to the user device,

transmit a second downlink transmission including data associated with the ephemeral identifier, and

discard the ephemeral identifier.

15 . The serving device of claim 14 , wherein the programming includes instructions to configure the serving device to receive a second uplink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier.

16 . The serving device of claim 14 , wherein the programming includes instructions to configure the serving device to fetch a user device context from an anchor device, transmit a third downlink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier, wherein the third downlink transmission includes an assignment of a persistent identifier of the user device, and transmit a fourth downlink transmission associated with the persistent identifier.

17 . The serving device of claim 16 , wherein the programming includes instructions to configure the serving device to one of promote the ephemeral identifier to the persistent identifier, or derive the persistent identifier in accordance with the user device context.

18 . A user device adapted to operate in an inactive mode, the user device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to configure the user device to:

transmit a first uplink transmission including a user device identifier associated with the user device,

start a listen timer after the first uplink transmission is transmitted,

receive a first downlink transmission including an indication of an ephemeral identifier assigned to the user device,

receive a second downlink transmission including data associated with the ephemeral identifier, and

discard the ephemeral identifier, wherein the ephemeral identifier is discarded after the listen timer expires.

19 . (canceled)

20 . The user device of claim 18 , wherein the programming includes instructions to configure the user device to start a listen timer after transmitting the first uplink transmission, receive a third downlink transmission associated with the ephemeral identifier, wherein the third downlink transmission includes an assignment of a persistent identifier, and stop the listen timer.

21 . The user device of claim 20 , wherein the programming includes instructions to configure the user device to derive a security key in accordance with the third downlink transmission, verify an integrity check of at least a portion of the third downlink transmission in accordance with the security key, and use the persistent identifier when the integrity check passes.

22 . The serving device of claim 14 , wherein the first uplink transmission further comprises user data.

23 . The user device of claim 18 , wherein the first uplink transmission further comprises user data.