Communications methods and apparatus for use in communicating with communications peers

摘要

Methods and apparatus related to the determination of the trustworthiness of information communicated in a message and/or the exchange of trust information are described. Various described methods and apparatus are well suited to peer to peer wireless communications in an ad-hoc network. At a given time, a communications device may have a trust relationship with a first set of devices. A first communications device determines trustworthiness of a received message from a second device, which is not a member of the first set of devices, based on information received from a third device which is a member of the first set of devices. The first communications device makes an informed decision as to whether or not to act upon the first message based upon its trustworthiness determination.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
operating a first communications node including a processor to receive a first message comprising a multicast message from a second communications node, said first message communicating information; operating the first communications node to receive a second message from a third communications node with which there is a trust relationship, wherein the third communications node is within a particular range of a location indicated by the first message, the second message including message source verification information and information for verifying that the information communicated by the first message comprising the multicast message has not been altered; and operating the first communications node to determine the trustworthiness of the information communicated by the first message based on information communicated by the second message.