WO2019140385A1 - Method and architectures for handling transport layer security sessions between edge protocol points - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and architecture uses a first Edge Termination Point (ETP) to receive an IP application flow, determine a requested fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the IP flow, and determine whether the IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow. The method and architecture further determine (406) whether the ETP has a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN. In response to a determination that the ETP has an HTTPS certificate, the ETP terminates the TLS session, extracting an HTTP stream using decryption, and forwarding the HTTP stream to a second ETP to establish a new TLS session with a server (408). In response to a determination that the ETP does not have an HTTPS certificate, the ETP maintains a TLS layer and routes an encrypted HTTP stream to the second ETP based on the FQDN to establish an end-to-end TLS session (407).

Description

METHOD AND ARCHITECTURES FOR HANDLING TRANSPORT LAYER SECURITY SESSIONS BETWEEN EDGE PROTOCOL POINTS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/616,535, filed January 12, 2018, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Information-centric networking (ICN) constitutes a new paradigm in which content is exchanged by means of information addressing, while connecting appropriate networked entities that are suitable to act as a source of information towards the networked entity that requested the content. Novel architectures proposed in this space require the partial replacement of current network infrastructure in order to realize the desired network-level functions of these solutions. Migration scenarios foresee that the new proposed architectures could be realized as an overlay over existing (e.g., IP or local Ethernet-based) architectures. Such migration, however, would still require the transition of the wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) to an ICN-based solution.

[0003] With IP-based applications providing a broad range of Internet services in use nowadays, transitioning all of these applications can easily been seen as a much harder task than the pure transition of the network-level functionality, (e.g., protocol stack implementation), in the WTRU since it also requires the transition of the server-side components (e.g., e-shopping web-servers and alike). Hence, it is assumed that IP-based services, and with it purely IP-based UEs, will continue to exist for some time to come. In addition, so-called dual-stack WTRUs may emerge that would allow operations over standard IP bearers or so-called non-IP bearers (as foreseen since Rel. 15 of 3GPP). In those cases, protocol stack implementations for such dual-stack WTRUs may be outlined where IP applications being executed on those WTRUs can remain unchanged. The transition to ICN at the network level, on the other hand, shows many benefits, such as increased efficiency through the usage of in-network caches and the general spatial/temporal decoupling of sender/receiver, the utilization of software-defined networking (SDN) upgrades for better flow management, and the like.

SUMMARY

[0004] Described herein is a method and architecture for routing transport layer security (TLS) sessions over a transport network. The method and architecture uses a first Edge Termination Point (ETP) to receive an IP application flow, determine a requested fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the IP flow, and determine whether the IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow. In some embodiments, the FQDN may be identified based on a HTTP request or a TLS client hello message. The method and architecture further determine whether the ETP has a hypertext transfer protocol (FITTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN. In response to a determination that the ETP has an HTTPS certificate, the ETP terminates the TLS session, extracts an HTTP stream using decryption, and forwarding the HTTP stream to a second ETP to establish a new TLS session with a server. In response to a determination that the ETP does not have an HTTPS certificate, the ETP maintains a TLS layer and routes an encrypted HTTP stream to the second ETP based on the FQDN to establish an end-to-end (E2E) TLS session. The ETP may be found in a network attachment point (NAP) or within a convergence layer of a dual-stack terminal. The ETP may also be found in a cellular Node B or a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0005] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals in the figures indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0006] FIG. 1 A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0007] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment;

[0008] FIG. 1 C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0009] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment;

[0010] FIG. 2 shows an example architecture for a system of ETPs connected via an SDN-based L2 network;

[001 1] FIG. 3 demonstrates both TLS endpoint and TLS proxy modes of operation as implemented in the example architecture of FIG. 2. [0012] FIG. 4 is a flowchart describing the handling of incoming TCP connections at the ETP; and [0013] FIG. 5 shows the resulting message sequence chart for the TLS endpoint operation.

[0014]

EXAMPLE NETWORKS FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0015] FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word discrete Fourier transform Spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S-OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (ON) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 1 10, and other networks 1 12, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a station (STA), may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE. [0017] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and/or a base station 1 14b. Each of the base stations 1 14a, 1 14b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 1 10, and/or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 1 14a, 1 14b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB, an eNode B (eNB), a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a next generation NodeB, such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 1 14a, 1 14b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 1 14a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.

[0018] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, and the like. The base station 1 14a and/or the base station 1 14b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 1 14a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 1 14a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and/or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0019] The base stations 1 14a, 1 14b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 1 16, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 1 16 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0020] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 1 14a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0021] In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 1 16 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and/or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0022] In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access , which may establish the air interface 1 16 using NR.

[0023] In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and/or transmissions sent to/from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0024] In other embodiments, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0025] The base station 1 14b in FIG. 1 A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.1 1 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 1 14b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 1 14b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 1 14b may have a direct connection to the Internet 1 10. Thus, the base station 1 14b may not be required to access the Internet 1 10 via the CN 106.

[0026] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location- based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and/or perform high- level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 and/or the CN 106 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may be utilizing a NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0027] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/or the other networks 1 12. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 1 10 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and/or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks 1 12 may include wired and/or wireless communications networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 1 12 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0028] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 1 14b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0029] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1 B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any subcombination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0030] The processor 1 18 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 1 18 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 1 18 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1 B depicts the processor 1 18 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 1 18 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0031] The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 1 14a) over the air interface 1 16. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured to transmit and/or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0032] Although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1 B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 1 16.

[0033] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.1 1 , for example. [0034] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 1 18 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 1 18 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), readonly memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 1 18 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0035] The processor 1 18 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and/or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0036] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 1 16 from a base station (e.g., base stations 1 14a, 1 14b) and/or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0037] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality and/or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs and/or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a Virtual Reality and/or Augmented Reality (VR/AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors. The sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, a humidity sensor and the like.

[0038] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and/or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate selfinterference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 1 18). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the DL (e.g., for reception)).

[0039] FIG. 1 C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0040] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 1 16. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and/or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0041] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and/or DL, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0042] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator. [0043] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and/or WCDMA.

[0044] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0045] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 1 10, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0046] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional landline communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service providers.

[0047] Although the WTRU is described in FIGS. 1 A-1 D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0048] In representative embodiments, the other network 1 12 may be a WLAN.

[0049] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired/wireless network that carries traffic in to and/or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and/or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.1 1 e DLS or an 802.11 z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an“ad-hoc” mode of communication.

[0050] When using the 802.1 1 ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) may be implemented, for example in 802.11 systems. For CSMA/CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed/detected and/or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0051] High Throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0052] Very High Throughput (V HT) STAs may support 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and/or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and/or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC). [0053] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.1 1 af and 802.1 1 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11 af and 802.1 1 ah relative to those used in 802.1 1 h, and 802.1 1 ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.1 1 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.1 1 ah may support Meter Type Control/Machine-Type Communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and/or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0054] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.1 1 h, 802.1 1 ac, 802.1 1 af, and 802.1 1 ah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and/or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11 ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and/or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and/or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode) transmitting to the AP, all available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the available frequency bands remains idle.

[0055] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.1 1 ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.1 1 ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0056] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 1 16. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0057] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and/or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and/or gNB 180c).

[0058] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and/or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and/or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., containing a varying number of OFDM symbols and/or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0059] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and/or a non-standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non-standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with/connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with/connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non-standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and/or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0060] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and/or DL, support of network slicing, DC, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0061] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0062] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b in order to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultrareliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, and the like. The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi.

[0063] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N1 1 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP- based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0064] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 1 10, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multihomed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0065] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 1 12, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local DN 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0066] In view of FIGs. 1 A-1 D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1 A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 1 14a-b, eNode-B 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and/or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and/or to simulate network and/or WTRU functions.

[0067] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and/or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and/or deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and/or performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0068] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and/or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and/or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and/or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and/or receive data.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0069] The teachings of U.S.Patent Application No. 15/518,688 describe a method for providing IP-level services over an ICN network, mapping IP packets into appropriate ICN packets published towards appropriate ICN names. For HTTP services, the teachings of U.S. Patent Application No. 15/546,719 present a specific mapping on ICN and allow, among other things, to deliver a single HTTP-level response to more than one requestor in the case of quasi-synchronous requests arriving at the server side. The teachings of U.S. Patent Application No. 62/537,947 place the teachings being realized in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688 and 15/546,719 within a dual-stack WTRU where one stack is foreseen to operate over standard IP protocols and the second to operate over an ICN/L2 network. With the former stack being entirely removed, one can even foresee these teachings of U.S.Patent Application No. 62/537,947 being realized in a novel WTRU that realizes the methods and protocols in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688 and 15/546,719 directly over an L2 network, (e.g., over future 5G non-IP protocol bearers).

[0070] The disclosures of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and 62/537,947 are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

[0071] While previous technology outlines the general working of the IP/HTTP mapping onto an ICN-based exchange, it does not provide insights or embodiments for the handling of secure transactions. In other words, previous technology only describes insecure transactions either at the IP/TCP or HTTP level. However, with the move to securing most if not all HTTP-based transactions, the proliferation of TLS (transport layer security) as the ubiquitous method of securely transferring transactions in an end-to-end manner needs a solution.

[0072] Methods and architectures for providing a handling of secure transactions at the various levels of the IP protocol stack that minimizes additional complexity, while still being able to utilize prior technology and its benefits, are desired. More specifically, it is desirable to use the prior technology to support HTTPS, (i.e., originally encrypted HTTP traffic), with all benefits enabled by the prior work. [0073] A solution to this problem goes beyond the use case of IP/HTTP-over-ICN, (i.e., other possible mappings may take place at points at the edge of the network), which will face a similar edge TCP flow handling challenge. One such mapping might be that of Service Function Chaining, (i.e., functions being realized over an overlay transport network based on mechanisms developed in Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Service Function Chaining (SFC) working group (WG) or over a Bit Indexed Explicit Replication (BIER) overlay network).

[0074] Methods and architectures that provide such TCP flow handling integrating secure flows for communication in known systems (such as the ones described in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688 and 15/546,719) but also for SFC or BIER, among others, are disclosed herein. The teachings disclosed herein may be applied in dedicated network elements or could be integrated into dual-stack or future single-stack WTRUs, such as those described in U.S. Application No. 62/537,947.

[0075] The teachings disclosed herein may be implemented in so-called Edge Termination Points (ETP), which terminate one or more IP-level relationships and translate the latter into relationships between said ETPs. The communication between two ETPs is realized through a flow-based forwarding where suitable ETP node identification is used to establish such long-term flow relationship between two or more ETPs. In one embodiment based on an L2 transport network that realizes the communication between those ETPs, a network may use Ethernet-based Software- defined Networking (SDN) technology and forwarding rules. In another embodiment, the transport between the ETPs may be IP-based, and thereby the teachings disclosed herein may be an overlay. Furthermore, BIER and SFC may work within the overlay network to provide another suitable communication platform between ETPs.

[0076] FIG. 2 shows an example architecture for a system of ETPs connected via an SDN-based L2 network. The dotted lines show the local IP path, while the solid lines outline the L2 (in this example) flow throughout the network. As shown in FIG. 2, an ETP 220 described in any of the above embodiments may communicate with one or more communication elements 230, 231 , 232, 233, or 234 (e.g., L2 switches, in the network between ETPs) while it communicates through a suitable IP-level interface to an IP application 210. With the latter, the ETP may be realized in: a network attachment point (NAP) akin to those utilized in U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688 and 15/546,719; or within a WTRU as part of a revised protocol stack, such as a proposed dual stack as described in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/537,947. In the latter case, one embodiment for sending traffic from a dual-stack WTRU towards a switched environment is through non-IP bearers in Rel. 15 and beyond 3GPP systems. The architecture may also include an ETP 221 that communicates over an IP-level interface to an IP application 21 1 , providing an egress for traffic flowing from the ETP 220 over the L2 network.

[0077] In an embodiment, special handling is provided to some TCP flows. Some examples of special handling that may be required are any one or a combination of the following: sending the flow to a destination different from the one selected by the client (for sending the information to a so- called alternative service endpoint or service surrogate); and using new protocols to route the flow differently over L2 networks.

[0078] Generally, to accomplish this, the end-to-end (E2E) TCP connection on these flows at the ETPs 220 and 221 of FIG. 2 is broken. Such breaking of the E2E TCP connection is necessary since otherwise the content of a TCP-based session would be opaque to the underlying ICN network, (i.e., only IP address and port information would be visible). Without breaking the E2E TCP connection, all TCP traffic would need to be sent via IP methods as described in U.S. Patent Application No. 15/518,688 since the methods in U.S. Patent Application No. 15/546,719 (and for dual-stack UEs, the methods described in U.S. Patent Application No. 62/537,947) would require visibility of the payload. In other words, when an E2E TCP connection is not broken, the incoming traffic is interpreted purely as an incoming IP packet from the WTRU (or server) with the ETP then publishing the appropriate ICN message to the L2 (ICN) network.

[0079] In an embodiment, the decision to break the E2E TCP connection is made on the first packet, before the TCP handshake occurs. As noted above, the only information available at this point is the IP 5-tuple (destination address & port, source address and port, and protocol). In some instances, it is possible to identify traffic flows based on the 5-tuple by way of assumption. For instance, it may be safe to treat all TCP flows to or from ports 80 and 8080 as HTTP. Generally, however, it is problematic to identify traffic flows based solely on the 5-tuple. For example, some web services will use alternative ports and an opportunity to provide better service to those flows will be missed. As another example, some handling may only be applicable to specific service providers (i.e., FQDN’s). In addition, there may be issues mapping a destination IP address to an FQDN: an FQDN may resolve to multiple IP addresses, and the list may change. To stay up to date, a reverse DNS query (or multiple forward DNS queries) is needed at the beginning of each flow. The larger issue is that, as in the case of a content delivery network (CDN), multiple FQDN’s may resolve to the same IP address, making the reverse mapping, and therefore correct flow FQDN identification, impossible. This is especially true without control of how a client will resolve an FQDN to an IP address and/or which address it will use. [0080] To solve these issues, all traffic is directed within the client-facing ETP 220 in FIG. 2, the ETP 220 therefore effectively acts as a TCP proxy. Now, the 5-tuple may be examined and a second TCP connection to the original destination may be created. Alternatively, a different destination may be chosen for the second TCP connection, due to proximity, load balancing, or any number of factors.

[0081] In another embodiment, in order to make a better decision about both the destination and the routing/handling towards the ICN-facing interface of the ETP, it may be desirable to receive some amount of the incoming stream from the client at the IP-facing interface of the ETP. For example, if the start of the stream follows the standard for an HTTP Request Pleader, an HTTP flow may be identified and the requested FQDN and URL, in addition to the tuple, may be used to route the stream. If instead the stream follows the standard for a TLS Client Hello, a TLS flow may be identified and the stream may be checked for a server field and again use the FQDN as an additional factor for routing. If the stream type is unable to be detected, the ETP 220 may fall back to routing based solely on the tuple.

[0082] These operations enable the delivery of IP and HTTP services, including the delivery of IP and HTTP services for secure TCP connections without any special consideration for secure transactions or for cases where no certificates exist at the ETP for handling the TLS connection.

This mode of operation may be called‘opaque mode’ since it directly applies the teachings of U.S. Patent Application No. 15/546,719 on the fully encrypted content.

[0083] Specifically, the HTTP-level payload may be retrieved from the incoming TLS connection at the ETP in order to determine the CID and rCID, according to the teachings of U.S. Patent Application No. 15/546,719, which in turn can be used to publish the appropriate message to the L2 (i.e., the ICN) network.

[0084] For this, there may be two modes of operation at the incoming (client-facing) ETP. In a first mode, the ETP acts as a TLS endpoint, terminating the TLS session and establishing a new TLS session with the server. In a second mode, the ETP leaves the TLS layer intact and routes the HTTP stream, instead acting as a TLS Proxy.

[0085] FIG. 3 depicts both modes of operation as implemented in the example architecture of FIG. 2. In the first mode, a client-facing ETP 320 may receive an HTTP request from IP application 310. For this, once the requested FQDN is extracted following the aforementioned TCP-level termination, a determination may be made regarding whether the FQDN to which the request is sent (in FIG. 2., for example,“foo.com”) is one for which there is a (server) certificate/key locally at the ETP. If the certificate is available at the ETP, the TLS session may be terminated and the HTTP stream may be extracted through decryption by using the certificate and available credentials. After this, the teachings of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and 62/537,947 may be applied for advanced routing, (i.e., calculate the appropriate CID and rCID (through hashing of appropriate HTTP header information) as well as determining the so-called proxy rule ID (PRID) for publication of an ICN message to the L2 (ICN) network). It is noted that the transfer of messages from incoming to outgoing ETP 321 (and back) may be separately encrypted (with credentials associated with the transport network provider, not the content provider) although such encryption is orthogonal to the original TLS encryption. At the outgoing (server-facing) ETP 321 (which has previously subscribed to the appropriate CID, and therefore acts as a subscriber to the ICN message sent by the incoming ETP 320), a second TLS connection may be created, creating the perception of an E2E TLS connection from the ETP 320 to the server upon which IP application 31 1 is running. For any return traffic, both end-to-ETP connections may be used.

[0086] Decryption at the incoming and outgoing ETPs 320 and 321 may be necessary in this mode but the teachings of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and 62/537,947 may be applied to the decrypted data. Furthermore, the decryption can also serve to meet legal interception requirements, recording information about service endpoints and header information from the decrypted HTTP information of the incoming TLS message. When switching service endpoints at the server side from one outgoing ETP to another, the TLS connection establishment may need to be part of the initial connection from the (now new) ETP to the (now new) service endpoint.

[0087] Pertaining to the second mode, a client-facing ETP 322 may receive an HTTP request from IP application 312 (for example, towards the domain name“something.com”). Here, however, it is assumed that the certificate/key for the requested FQDN is not available at the incoming ETP 322. In this case, the TLS layer may remain intact and the encrypted HTTP data may be routed based on the FQDN and tuple to a server, for example, upon which IP application 313 is running. This may be referred to as a TLS proxy mode where the TLS connection (including its session keys and other cryptographic information) is preserved from end-to-end. It is noted that because the ETP 322 has extracted the FQDN from the initial TLS connection setup (i.e., from the TLS hello message), the benefit of surrogacy for the initial request is still received. However, surrogate service endpoints cannot switch throughout the session since this would require a TLS connection reestablishment which would be signaled to the endpoint. However, this mode still represents an improvement over an opaque TCP connection since the latter would purely utilize the teachings of U.S. Patent Application No. 15/518,688, (i.e., the request would be routed over the edge-to-edge network as IP-over-ICN traffic towards the IP address being returned from the DNS). In an embodiment, the request would be sent to the most appropriate service endpoint, not necessarily being located at the DNS-provided IP address. In other words, the TLS proxy realization may still apply (optimal) name-based routing, while the opaque TCP proxy option merely routes on the IP address. In terms of possible legal interception requirements, a minimum of recording the details of the service endpoint information (i.e., the FQDN) could still be met albeit without any more details derived from a decrypted HTTP header.

[0088] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the handling of incoming TCP connections at the client-facing ETP. The incoming TCP connections at the ETP are handled according to the teachings of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and 62/537,947. For example, after the ETP receives a TCP handshake at step 401 , it may determine whether the traffic received is a TLS or HTTP type at step 402. In the event the type of traffic cannot be ascertained, the ETP may encapsulate and route the stream via an ICN based on the IP 5-tuple at step 403. In the event the ETP has identified HTTP traffic at step 404, the ETP may, for example, route the traffic via an ICN based on the FQDN and URL in accordance with U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/546,719 and 62/537,947, shown at step 405.

[0089] At step 406, if the ETP instead has identified TLS traffic, the ETP may determine whether a certificate exists at the ETP for the requested FQDN. If not, at step 407, the ETP may act as a TLS proxy and apply the methods of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/546,719, and 62/537,947 while maintaining encryption of the routed content. If a valid certificate does exist at the ETP, at step 408, the ETP may instead act as a TLS endpoint, first decrypting the stream to extract HTTP information and then applying the advanced routing methods of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/546,719, and 62/537,947.

[0090] FIG. 5 shows an example message sequence chart for the TLS endpoint operation described above, (i.e., the operation which yields the full advantages of applying the teachings of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and 62/537,947. At step 501 , IP Application A and ETP A perform a TLS handshake. At step 502, ETP A receives an HTTP request from IP application A. For purposes of this embodiment, it is assumed at this point that ETP A has terminated the TCP connection, extracted the requested FQDN and determined that a valid server certificate exists for the requested FQDN. At step 503, ETP A terminates the TLS connection and decrypts the HTTP stream. At step 504, ETP A applies the teachings of U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and/or 62/537,947 for advanced routing, publishing an ICN message to the L2 network, to which the server-facing ETP C subscribes and receives the published content. At step 505, ETP C and IP application C perform a TLS handshake, establishing a second TLS connection. At step 506 and 507, encryption of the HTTPs request derived from the L2 network is performed, and the request is forwarded to the IP application corresponding to the FQDN originally derived from the HTTP stream.

[0091] As shown in FIG. 5, the server-facing ETP may receive the same HTTP request from another client-facing ETP B. For example, IP application B and ETP B may perform substantially the same procedures performed by IP application A and ETP A in steps 501 through 504. Here, it is assumed that the server-facing ETP C has already subscribed for the content published previously by ETP A, and likewise receives ETP B’s ICN message as a subscriber.

[0092] At step 508, IP application C sends an HTTP response to server-facing ETP C. At steps 509 and 510, ETP C may decrypt the HTTP response and apply methods for advanced routing according to U.S. Patent Application Nos. 15/518,688, 15/546,719, and/or 62/537,947, providing multicast delivery of the HTTP response to ETPs A and B. At steps 51 1 a, 512a, and 51 1 b, and 512b, ETPs A and B perform encryption and deliver the HTTP response respectively to IP applications A and B.

[0093] Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a

WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

CLAIMS What is Claimed:

1. A method for use in an Edge Termination Point (ETP), the method comprising: receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) flow;

determining a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the received IP flow, and determining that the received IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow;

determining whether the ETP has a hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN;

wherein on a condition that the ETP has an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the ETP terminates the TLS session at the ETP by extracting an encrypted HTTP stream from the received IP flow and forwarding the extracted information to a second ETP; and

wherein on a condition that the ETP does not have an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the ETP maintains the TLS session and routes the encrypted HTTPS stream to a second ETP based on the FQDN, thereby establishing an end-to-end TLS session.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ETP is located in a dual-stack WTRU.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ETP is located in a cellular Node B.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ETP is located in a Wireless Local Area

Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the FQDN is determined based on an HTTP request or a TLS client hello message.

6. A dual-stack WTRU comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver;

a processor; and

a memory storage device;

wherein the dual-stack WTRU is configured to:

receive an Internet Protocol (IP) flow;

determine a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the received IP flow, and determine that the received IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow;

determine whether the dual-stack WTRU has, at the memory storage device, a hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN;

wherein on a condition that the dual-stack WTRU has, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the dual-stack WTRU terminates the TLS session at the dual-stack WTRU by extracting an encrypted HTTP stream from the received IP flow and forwards the extracted information to an Edge Termination Point (ETP); and

wherein on a condition that the dual-stack WTRU does not have, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the dual-stack WTRU maintains the TLS session and routes the encrypted HTTPS stream to an ETP based on the FQDN, thereby establishing an end-to-end TLS session.

7. The dual-stack WTRU of claim 6, wherein the dual-stack WTRU determines the FQDN based on an HTTP request or a TLS client hello message.

8. A cellular Node B comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver;

a processor; and

a memory storage device;

wherein the cellular Node B is configured to:

receive an Internet Protocol (IP) flow;

determine a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the received IP flow, and determine that the received IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow;

determine whether the cellular Node B has, at the memory storage device, a hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN;

wherein on a condition that the cellular Node B has, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the cellular Node B terminates the TLS session at the cellular Node B by extracting an encrypted HTTP stream from the received IP flow and forwards the extracted information to an Edge Termination Point (ETP); and

wherein on a condition that the cellular Node B does not have, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the cellular Node B maintains the TLS session and routes the encrypted HTTPS stream to an ETP based on the FQDN, thereby establishing an end-to-end TLS session.

9. The cellular Node B of claim 8, wherein the dual-stack WTRU determines the FQDN based on an HTTP request or a TLS client hello message.

10. A Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) Access Point (AP) comprising:

an antenna;

a transceiver;

a processor; and a memory storage device;

wherein the WLAN AP is configured to:

receive an Internet Protocol (IP) flow;

determine a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) associated with the received IP flow, and determine that the received the received IP flow is a transport layer security (TLS) flow;

determine whether the WLAN AP has, at the memory storage device, a hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) certificate corresponding to the FQDN;

wherein on a condition that the WLAN AP has, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the WLAN AP terminates the TLS session at the WLAN AP by extracting an encrypted HTTPS stream from the received IP flow and forwards the extracted information to an Edge Termination Point (ETP); and

wherein on a condition that the WLAN AP does not have, at the memory storage device, an HTTPS certificate corresponding to the FQDN, the WLAN AP maintains the TLS session and routes the encrypted HTTP stream to an ETP based on the FQDN, thereby establishing an end-to-end TLS session.

1 1. The WLAN AP of claim 1 , wherein the dual-stack WTRU determines the FQDN based on an HTTP request or a TLS client hello message.