Granted Patent B2

US 12,574,726 · App. 18/551,327 · Granted Mar 10, 2026

Inventors: Andrew Reeves (London, GB); MohammadHossein Zoualfaghari (London, GB); Ian Neild (London, GB)

Assignee: BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS public limited company

H04W12/06H04W12/03H04W12/08H04W48/16H04W84/12

Abstract

Claims (50)

1 . A method of operating a telecommunications network, the telecommunications network comprising: User Equipment (UE); a first Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), identifiable by means of a first network identifier; a hidden WLAN; and a target WLAN; and the method comprising the steps of:

configuring the hidden WLAN so as to have a hidden network identifier that is cryptographically derived from the first network identifier;

by means of the UE:

retrieving, from the first WLAN, the first network identifier;

cryptographically processing the retrieved first network identifier thereby to derive the hidden network identifier;

searching for a WLAN using the derived hidden network identifier; and

requesting a connection to, or via, the target WLAN only after discovering the hidden WLAN; and

the method further comprises the steps of:

retrieving a network device identifier associated with a Wireless Access Point (WAP), wherein said WAP provides the first WLAN; and

further providing the first network identifier so as to comprise an output of an encryption function performed on the network device identifier.

2 . A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of preventing the UE from requesting a connection with the target WLAN in response to the hidden WLAN remaining hidden to the UE.

3 . A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the steps of:

configuring the target WLAN to be accessible to the UE only using access credentials;

providing the first network identifier so as to comprise the output of the encryption function performed on the access credentials;

by means of the UE, in response to retrieving the first network identifier, decoding the first network identifier, thereby to output the access credentials; and

wherein requesting the connection to the target WLAN is performed using the output access credentials.

4 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the target WLAN is connected to a wide area network, and wherein requesting the connection via the target WLAN is performed so as to connect the UE to the wide area network.

5 . A method according to claim 4 , further comprising the steps of:

configuring the wide area network so as to be accessible to the UE via the target WLAN only using access credentials;

providing the first network identifier so as to comprise the output of the encryption function performed on the access credentials;

by means of the UE, in response to retrieving the first network identifier, decoding the first network identifier, thereby to output the access credentials; and

wherein requesting the connection to the wide area network via the target WLAN is performed using the access credentials.

6 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the target WLAN is identifiable by means of a target network identifier, and wherein the first network identifier is provided so as to comprise the target network identifier; and wherein the target network identifier is derived by the UE from the retrieved first network identifier and used by the UE to request the connection to the target WLAN.

7 . A method according to claim 6 , wherein the first network identifier is provided so as to further comprise an output of a cryptographic function performed on the target network identifier; and wherein the target network identifier is derived by the UE performing the cryptographic function upon the first network identifier.

8 . A method according to claim 1 , wherein the target WLAN and the first WLAN are the same.

9 . A method according to claim 1 wherein the target WLAN and the hidden WLAN are the same.

10 . A method according to claim 1 , further comprising the step of changing the network device identifier after establishing a connection between the UE and the target WLAN.

11 . A method of operating User Equipment (UE), the UE forming part of a telecommunications network comprising: a first Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), identifiable by means of a first network identifier; a hidden WLAN having a hidden network identifier that is cryptographically derived from the first network identifier; and a target WLAN that is separate from the hidden WLAN; and the method comprising the steps of:

retrieving, from the first WLAN, the first network identifier;

cryptographically processing the retrieved first network identifier thereby to derive the hidden network identifier;

searching for a WLAN using the derived hidden network identifier; and

requesting a connection to, or via, the target WLAN only after discovering the hidden WLAN; and

the method further comprises the steps of:

retrieving a network device identifier associated with a Wireless Access Point (WAP), wherein said WAP provides the first WLAN; and

further providing the first network identifier so as to comprise an output of an encryption function performed on the network device identifier.

12 . A non-transitory computer-readable carrier medium comprising a computer program, which, when the computer program is executed by a computer, causes the computer to carry out the steps of claim 1 .

13 . User Equipment (UE) configured to access a telecommunications network, the telecommunications network comprising: a first Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), identifiable by means of a first network identifier; a hidden WLAN having a hidden network identifier that is cryptographically derived from the first network identifier; and a target WLAN that is separate from the hidden WLAN; and the UE comprising:

a processor configured to cause the UE to:

retrieve, from the first WLAN, the first network identifier;

cryptographically process the retrieved first network identifier thereby to derive the hidden network identifier;

search for a WLAN using the derived hidden network identifier; and

a controller configured to cause the UE to request a connection to, or via, the target WLAN only after discovering the hidden WLAN;

wherein the UE is configured to:

retrieve a network device identifier associated with a Wireless Access Point (WAP), wherein said WAP provides the first WLAN; and

further provide the first network identifier so as to comprise an output of an encryption function performed on the network device identifier.

14 . A telecommunications system comprising:

User Equipment (UE) according to claim 13 ; and

a set of Wireless Access Points (WAPs).

15 . The method according to claim 11 , further comprising preventing the UE from requesting a connection with the target WLAN in response to the hidden WLAN remaining hidden to the UE.

16 . The UE according to claim 13 , wherein the controller is further configured to cause the UE to prevent the UE from requesting a connection with the target WLAN in response to the hidden WLAN remaining hidden to the UE.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (90)