IDENTIFICATION METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTABLISHING HOST IDENTITY PROTOCOL (HIP) CONNECTIONS BETWEEN LEGACY AND HIP NODES

摘要

A method is provided of using the Host Identity Protocol (HIP) to at least partially secure communications between a first host (102) operating in a first network environment and a second, HIP-enabled, host (122) operating in a second network environment, with a gateway node (114) forming a gateway between the two environments. In the method, an identifier is associated with the first host (102), stored at the gateway node (114), and sent to the first host (102). The identifier is then used as a source address in a subsequent session initiation message sent from the first host (102) to the gateway node (114), having an indication that the destination of the message is the second host (122). The stored identifier at the gateway node is then used to negotiate a secure HIP connection to the second host. The first network environment may bc a UMTS or GPRS environment, in which case the gateway node may be a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN).