ULTRA-WIDE BAND PROTECTED FRAME

Description

1 / 109 ULTRA-WIDEBAND PROTECTED FRAME

[0001] Examples of embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications and, in particular, to methods, devices, apparatus and a computer-readable storage medium for protected ultra-wideband frames. BACKGROUND

[0002] One of the main goals of the enhancement is to increase the accuracy of range measurement in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.15.4z standard. A block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe can be used in the range.

[0003] An authenticated encryption security operation with associated data (AEAD) is proposed in the scope. An important input for the AEAD security operation is a unique nonce. However, how to construct the nonce still needs further study. SUMMARY

[0004] In general, examples of embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for protected frames in ultra-wideband.

[0005] In a first aspect, a method is provided comprising: generating a first protected frame to be transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce being constructed based on Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 8 / 151 2 / 109 identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, the round index being an index of the first round, and the block index being an index of the first block; and transmit the first protected frame. In this way, the security operation can be performed and the communication can be guaranteed as protected.

[0006] In some examples, the identification information comprises a slot index, and the slot index is a slot index in which the first protected frame is transmitted. Because the first protected frame is transmitted in a specific slot, the first nonce can be used to protect the first protected frame.

[0007] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits carrying the slot index. In some examples, the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity. If the first quantity can be predefined, the agreement between the transmitter and receiver can be simplified. If the first quantity is a variable, there may be some bits remaining in the first nonce that can be used for other information.

[0008] In some examples, the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), where the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. Because the first PN is specific to the first protected frame, the first nonce can be used to protect the first protected frame.

[0009] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first bit quantity carrying the first PN. In some examples, the first quantity is a predefined first quantity. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 9 / 151 3 / 109

[0010] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second number of bits carrying the round index, and a third field with a third number of bits carrying the block index.

[0011] In some examples, the second quantity is determined based on the number of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity. In some examples, the third quantity is a predefined third quantity.

[0012] In some examples, the sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity equals a predefined total quantity.

[0013] Thus, the first nonce can be constructed comprising the identification information, the round index, and the block index. Consequently, the first nonce can be used to protect the first protected frame.

[0014] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a fourth field with a fourth bit quantity carrying a cycle index, wherein the cycle index is an index of a cycle comprising a plurality of blocks with the first block in it. Thus, a cycle index can be used additionally to construct the first nonce and, consequently, a security key can be used for a longer time.

[0015] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first block indicator indicating that the first protected frame is transmitted based on the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[0016] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the block index and the round index. Thus, the first protected frame may include the block index and the round index, allowing the receiver to correctly construct a nonce to deprotect. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 10 / 151 4 / 109

[0017] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises: a first block index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first block index, and a first round index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first round index. If the block index or round index is a default value, the block index or round index may not be transmitted, and thus the signaling overhead may be reduced.

[0018] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected. Therefore, the security of a frame can be determined based on a security indicator.

[0019] In some examples, the method further comprises: generating a second protected frame to be transmitted, wherein the second protected frame is protected by a second nonce constructed based on a second PN, wherein the second PN is a packet number of the second protected frame; and transmitting the second protected frame. Thus, a PN can be used to construct a nonce for a frame that is not based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure.

[0020] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a field with a predefined number of octets that carry the second PN.

[0021] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a second block indicator indicating that the second protected frame is transmitted outside the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[0022] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a PN field that carries the second PN. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 11 / 151 5 / 109

[0023] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a second security indicator that indicates that the second protected frame is protected.

[0024] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a protected payload, and wherein the protected payload comprises: a second block index presence indicator indicating whether a second block index is included, a second round index presence indicator indicating whether a second round index is included, and a second slot index presence indicator indicating whether a second slot index is included.

[0025] In some examples, the protected payload comprises: the block index if the second block index presence indicator indicates that the second block index is included, the round index if the second round index presence indicator indicates that the second round index is included, and the slot index if the second slot index presence indicator indicates that the second slot index is included.

[0026] In some examples, at least one of the second block index presence indicator, the second round index presence indicator, or the second slot index presence indicator indicates that a matching index is not included, and implicitly indicates that the matching index is a standard index.

[0027] In a second aspect, a method is provided comprising: receiving a first protected frame transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe, wherein the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprising a plurality of rounds, Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 12 / 151 6 / 109 each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots; and unprotect the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on the identifying information associated with the first protected frame, a round index, and a block index, wherein the round index is an index of the first round, and the block index is an index of the first block.

[0028] In some examples, the identification information comprises a slot index, and the slot index is a slot index in which the first protected frame is transmitted.

[0029] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits carrying the slot index. In some examples, the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[0030] In some examples, the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), wherein the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first bit quantity bearing the first PN. In some examples, the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[0031] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second number of bits carrying the round index, and a third field with a third number of bits carrying the block index.

[0032] In some examples, the second quantity is determined based on the number of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity. In some examples, the third quantity is a predefined third quantity. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 13 / 151 7 / 109

[0033] In some examples, the sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity equals a predefined total quantity.

[0034] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a fourth field with a fourth bit quantity bearing a cycle index, wherein the cycle index is an index of a cycle comprising a plurality of blocks with the first block in it.

[0035] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first block indicator indicating that the first protected frame is transmitted based on the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[0036] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the block index and therefore the round index.

[0037] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises: a first block index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first block index, and a first round index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first round index.

[0038] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[0039] In some examples, the method further comprises: receiving a second protected frame transmitted not based on the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe; and unprotecting the second protected frame based on a second nonce constructed based on a second PN, wherein the second PN is a packet number of the second protected frame.

[0040] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a field with a predefined number of octets that carry the second PN.

[0041] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a second block indicator indicating that the second frame is Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 14 / 151 8 / 109 transmitted outside of the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[0042] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a PN field that carries the second PN.

[0043] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a second security indicator that indicates that the second protected frame is protected.

[0044] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a protected payload, wherein the unprotection of the second protected frame comprises the unprotection of the protected payload based on the second nonce, and wherein the protected payload comprises: a second block index presence indicator indicating whether a second block index is included, a second round index presence indicator indicating whether a second round index is included, and a second slot index presence indicator indicating whether a second slot index is included.

[0045] In some examples, the protected payload comprises: the block index if the second block index presence indicator indicates that the second block index is included, the round index if the second round index presence indicator indicates that the second round index is included, and the slot index if the second slot index presence indicator indicates that the second slot index is included.

[0046] In some examples, the method further comprises: according to a determination that at least one of the second block index presence indicator, the second round index presence indicator, or the second slot index presence indicator indicates that a corresponding index is not included, determining that the corresponding index is a standard index. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 15 / 151 9 / 109

[0047] In a third aspect, an apparatus is provided comprising: a generation module, configured to generate, a first protected frame to be transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce being constructed based on identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, the round index being an index of the first round, and the block index being an index of the first block;and a transmission module, configured to transmit the first protected frame.

[0048] The device may comprise respective modules to implement the methods of the first aspect. For the sake of brevity, the detailed description will not be listed here.

[0049] In a fourth aspect, an apparatus is provided comprising: a receiving module, configured to receive a first protected frame transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots; and a deprotecting module, configured to deprotect the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on identification information. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 16 / 151 10 / 109 associated with the first protected frame, a round index, and a block index, where the round index is an index of the first round, and the block index is an index of the first block.

[0050] The device may comprise respective modules to implement the methods of the first aspect. For the sake of brevity, the detailed description will not be listed here.

[0051] In a fifth aspect, a method is provided comprising: generating a first protected frame to be transmitted in a block-based timeframe or in a hyperblock-based timeframe, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce constructed based on a base first packet number (BPN) and a packer first number (PN), the first BPN being associated with an initiator and a responder, and the first PN being a packet number of the first protected frame; and transmitting the first protected frame.

[0052] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[0053] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a first field with a first number of bits carrying the first BPN and a second field with a second number of bits carrying the first PN.

[0054] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first PN field carrying the first PN.

[0055] In some examples, the first protected frame indicates the first BPN.

[0056] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a BPN presence field carrying a BPN presence indicator that indicates whether a BPN field is included. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 17 / 151 11 / 109

[0057] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the BPN field that carries the first BPN if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is included.

[0058] In some examples, the first protected frame indicates that the first BPN is a standard number if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is not included.

[0059] In some examples, the method additionally comprises: storing the first BPN associated with a first communication direction between the initiator and the responder.

[0060] In some examples, the method further comprises: transmitting a second protected frame comprising a second PN smaller than a PN contained in a previous frame of the third protected frame.

[0061] In some examples, the method additionally comprises: transmitting a third protected frame comprising a second BPN.

[0062] In a sixth aspect, a method is provided comprising: receiving a first protected frame transmitted in the block-based timeframe or in the hyperblock-based timeframe; and unprotecting the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on a base first packet number (BPN) and a packer first number (PN), the first BPN is associated with an initiator and a responder, and the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

[0063] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[0064] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a first field with a first number of bits carrying the first BPN and a second field with a second number of bits carrying the first PN. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 18 / 151 12 / 109

[0065] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first PN field carrying the first PN. In some examples, the first protected frame indicates the first BPN.

[0066] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a BPN presence field carrying a BPN presence indicator that indicates whether a BPN field is included.

[0067] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the BPN field that carries the first BPN if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is included.

[0068] In some examples, the first protected frame indicates that the first BPN is a standard number if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is not included.

[0069] In some examples, the method additionally comprises: storing the first BPN associated with a first communication direction between the initiator and the responder.

[0070] In some examples, the method further comprises: receiving a second protected frame containing a second PN; and, according to the determination that the second PN is less than a PN contained in a previous frame of the third protected frame, updating the first BPN by incrementing it by one.

[0071] In some examples, the method further comprises: receiving a third protected frame comprising a second BPN; and replacing the first BPN with the second BPN.

[0072] In a seventh aspect, an apparatus is provided, comprising: a generation module, configured to generate a first protected frame to be transmitted in a block-based timeframe or in a hyperblock-based timeframe, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce constructed based on a base first packet number (BPN) and a packer first number (PN), the first BPN being associated with an initiator and a responder, and Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 19 / 151 13 / 109 the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame; and a transmission module, configured to transmit the first protected frame.

[0073] The device may comprise respective modules for implementing the methods of the fifth aspect. For the sake of brevity, a detailed description will not be listed here.

[0074] In an eighth aspect, an apparatus is provided comprising: a receiving module, configured to receive a first protected frame transmitted in block-based timeframe or hyperblock-based timeframe; and a deprotecting module, configured to deprotect the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on a first base packet number (BPN) and a first packer number (PN), the first BPN is associated with an initiator and a responder, and the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

[0075] The device may comprise respective modules for implementing the methods of the sixth aspect. For the sake of brevity, a detailed description will not be listed here.

[0076] In a ninth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor configured to perform, with a transceiver, at least the method of the first, second, fifth or sixth aspect.

[0077] In a tenth aspect, a system is provided, comprising: an apparatus in the third aspect and an apparatus in the fourth aspect.

[0078] In an eleventh aspect, a system is provided, comprising: an apparatus in the seventh aspect and an apparatus in the eighth aspect.

[0079] In a twelfth aspect, a non-transient, computer-readable means is provided, comprising program instructions for making an apparatus perform at least the method of the first, second, fifth or sixth aspect. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 20 / 151 14 / 109

[0080] In a thirteenth aspect, a computer program is provided comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of the first, second, fifth, or sixth aspect.

[0081] It should be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify major or essential features of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily understandable through the description that follows. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0082] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic diagram of a block-based time structure.

[0083] FIG. 1B illustrates a schematic diagram of a hyperblock-based time structure.

[0084] FIG. 1C illustrates a schematic diagram of an MMS reach session.

[0085] FIG. 1D illustrates a schematic diagram of a compact PSDU format.

[0086] FIG. 1E illustrates a schematic diagram of a compressed header IE-only frame format.

[0087] FIG. 1F illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce format.

[0088] FIG. 2A illustrates an example communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented.

[0089] FIG. 2B illustrates another example communication system in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 21 / 151 15 / 109

[0090] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating the communication process according to some example modalities of the present disclosure.

[0091] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example NBA-MMS reach session in a block-based time structure according to some example modalities of the present disclosure.

[0092] FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling diagram that illustrates a process of an example MMS outreach session according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0093] FIG. 6A illustrates a schematic diagram of a SOR frame format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0094] FIG. 6B illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce format for protecting a transmitted frame in an external block structure according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0095] FIG. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram of a POLL frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0096] FIG. 7B illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce format for protecting an internal frame block structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0097] FIG. 7C illustrates an example of nonce construction for protecting a compressed frame according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0098] FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of another format of a nonce for protecting an internal frame block structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 22 / 151 16 / 109

[0099] FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected SOR frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00100] FIG. 10A illustrates an exemplary session of the initiator with a responder 1 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00101] FIG. 10B illustrates an exemplary session of the initiator with a responder 2 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00102] FIG. 11A illustrates a schematic diagram of a time structure including a cycle according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00103] FIG. 11B illustrates a schematic diagram of a format of another protected SOR frame according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00104] FIG. 11C illustrates a schematic diagram of another format of a nonce for protecting an internal frame block structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00105] FIG. 12A illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce construction in a hyperblock-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00106] FIG. 12B illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce construction in a hyperblock-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00107] FIG. 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of another example of an MMS outreach session in a block-based time structure according to some exemplary modalities of the present disclosure.

[00108] FIG. 14 illustrates a signaling graph illustrating a process from another example of a reach session. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 23 / 151 17 / 109 MMS according to some exemplary modalities of the present disclosure.

[00109] FIG. 15A illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce format for protecting a picture according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00110] FIG. 15B illustrates a schematic diagram of another nonce format for protecting a frame according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00111] FIG. 16A illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected RPRT frame format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00112] FIG. 16B illustrates a schematic diagram of an ADV-POLL frame format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00113] FIG. 17 illustrates an example session of the initiator with a responder 1 and a responder 2 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00114] FIG. 18 illustrates a signaling diagram that illustrates the communication process according to some example modalities of the present disclosure.

[00115] FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic diagram of an MMS outreach session according to some example modalities of the present disclosure.

[00116] FIG. 20 illustrates a signaling chart that illustrates a process of an example MMS outreach session according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00117] FIG. 21A illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected frame format during an initialization and configuration phase according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 24 / 151 18 / 109

[00118] FIG. 21B illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected frame format during a measurement cycle according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00119] FIG. 21C illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected SOR frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00120] FIG. 21D illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected PRM-REQ or PRM-RESP frame format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00121] FIG. 21E illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00122] FIG. 22A illustrates an example of a downward link session from the initiator to a responder 1 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00123] FIG. 22B illustrates an example of an upward linking session from responder 2 to the initiator according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00124] FIG. 23 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a communication device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00125] FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a block diagram of another communication device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure; and

[00126] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a device that can be used to implement some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00127] In all drawings, the same reference numbers or similar numbers represent the same elements or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[00128] The principle of the present revelation will now be described with reference to some exemplary forms. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 25 / 151 19 / 109 It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and assist those skilled in the art in understanding and implementing this disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in a number of ways other than those described below.

[00129] Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology has been used for indoor positioning and other location services, such as access control and asset tracking. In addition to dedicated devices and tags, UWB radios are becoming increasingly common in next-generation smartphones. A working group to improve UWB technology is underway.

[00130] UWB technology has been used in a variety of use cases, such as device-free detection, downlink time difference of arrival (DL-TDOA), long-range reach, etc. Multi-millisecond reach (MMS) was introduced to address the long-range reach use case. The main idea behind MMS reach is to distribute UWB reach frames into multiple fragments, where each fragment is transmitted over multiple milliseconds (ms), thus overcoming the emitted energy limit of 37 nJ / ms. Narrowband assisted MMS reach (NBA), which can be considered an enhancement of MMS reach, is proposed by a high-performance narrowband (NB) radio, which is used to provide time synchronization for the UWB radio and to control signaling.In MMS ranging, the number of fragments required for the range depends on the range being measured, as well as the channel conditions, and therefore can be dynamically adjusted even within the same ranging session.

[00131] FIG. 1A illustrates a schematic diagram of a block-based time structure 110. As shown in FIG. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 26 / 151 20 / 109 In 1A, each block includes multiple rounds, and each round includes multiple slots. The 110-block-based time structure can be used for the block-based range mode. The block-based mode can use a structured timeline, where the 110-block-based time structure is periodic by default. In some examples, a block can also be called a range block, a round can also be called a range round, and a slot can also be called a range slot.

[00132] A range round is a period of time long enough to complete a full range measurement cycle involving the set of ERDEVs participating in the range exchange. A range slot is a period of time long enough for the transmission of at least one frame. As shown in FIG. 1A, the start of a frame can be aligned with the start of a slot, or a transmission offset can be applied from the start of a slot to the start of a frame.

[00133] The 110-block-based time structure can be predetermined and remain unchanged during a reach session. It is important to understand that the 110-block-based time structure may not be suitable for the NBA-MMS reach use case, where a round duration can change dynamically.

[00134] FIG. 1B illustrates a schematic diagram of a time structure based on a 120 hyperblock. As shown in FIG. 1B, each hyperblock includes multiple blocks. Different blocks within a hyperblock can have different configurations, such as block duration, block length, slot duration, number of rounds in a block, number of slots in a round. For example, hyperblock K in FIG. 1B includes block 0, block 1, and block 2, where block 0 includes 2 rounds, block 1 includes 7 rounds, and block 2 includes 3 rounds.

[00135] In some examples, different blocks in a hyperblock can be used for different purposes. For example, Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 27 / 151 21 / 109 Block 0 can be used for DL-TDOA, Block 1 can be used for ranging, and Block 2 can be used for detection. In some other examples, different blocks in a hyperblock can be used for different scenarios in the same use case. For example, Block 0, Block 1, and Block 2 are all used for NBA-MMS ranging, but Block 1 can be used for one-to-one ranging in good channel conditions, Block 0 can be used for one-to-many ranging, and Block 2 can be used for one-to-one ranging in poor channel conditions, etc.

[00136] FIG. 1C illustrates a schematic diagram of an MMS 130 reach session. The MMS 130 reach session includes an initialization and configuration phase 131 and one or more measurement cycles 132. The MMS 130 reach session involves an initiator and a responder. It should be understood that the initiator can be a device that initiates a UWB exchange by transmitting the first message, while the responder can be a device that receives and responds to the initiator's first message.

[00137] In some examples, frames are transmitted on a startup channel during the initialization and configuration phase 131, and frames are transmitted on a range channel during one or more measurement cycles 132. In some examples, the same channel can be used as both the startup channel and the range channel, for example, a well-known channel can be used.

[00138] During the initialization and configuration phase 131, the initiator and responder may negotiate a reach configuration. Specifically, the initiator opportunistically transmits an advertising poll frame (ADV-POLL) at times and intervals at its discretion. The responder may opportunistically listen to the received ADV-POLL frame and respond with an advertising response frame (ADV-RESP) if it wishes to participate in a measurement session with the initiator. After the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 28 / 151 22 / 109 initiator receives the ADV-RESP frame, it transmits a range start frame (SOR) that provides a time offset at which the first measurement cycle will begin.

[00139] A measurement cycle, also known as a range measurement cycle, includes a control phase, a range measurement phase, and an optional measurement reporting phase. The control phase (or also called the range control phase) begins at the start of a range measurement cycle. The initiator starts the range control phase by transmitting a POLL frame to the responder at the beginning of the first range interval of a range round. The responder that receives the POLL frame successfully transmits a RESP frame back to the initiator. The POLL and RESP frames allow the initiator and responder to achieve time and frequency synchronization. In some examples, other control information may also be included in the POLL frame.

[00140] In the range phase, the initiator and responder may exchange zero or more UWB range sequence fragments (RSFs) and, optionally, one or more UWB range integrity fragments (RIFs). RSFs are used to perform range measurements, while RIFs are used to verify the integrity of the range measurements.

[00141] The measurement reporting phase can begin after the initiator or responder completes receiving all UWB fragments for the reach phase. In the measurement reporting phase, the initiator or responder can generate a reach measurement report, and transmit a reach packet report frame (RPRT) carrying the measurement report to the peer device.

[00142] Control phase frames and range phase frames are transmitted using UWB for MMS range. Control phase frames are transmitted using NB and the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 29 / 151 23 / 109 frames in the range phase are transmitted using UWB for NBA-MMS range.

[00143] To provide more space for the information carried in the frames, a compressed physical service data unit (PHY) is introduced. FIG. 1D illustrates a schematic diagram of a compressed 140 PSDU format. The compressed 140 PSDU can be used for NB control frames. As shown in FIG. 1D, the compressed 140 PSDU includes a 1-octet identifier (ID) field, a 2-octet address field, a variable-length payload field, and a 2-octet cyclic redundancy check (CRC) field.

[00144] Similarly, a compressed header information element (IE)-only frame is also introduced. FIG. 1E illustrates a schematic diagram of a compressed header IE-only frame format. The compressed header IE-only frame can be used for broadcast traffic. As shown in FIG. 1E, the compressed header IE-only frame includes a frame control field with 1 or 2 octets, an address field with 2 octets, a header IE message ID field with 1 octet, a payload field with variable length, and a CRC field with 2 octets.

[00145] Both compressed PSDU 140 and compressed header IE-only frame 150 can be ported in an 802.15.4ab Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU). It is also possible that a conventional 802.15.4 frame ported in an 802.15.4ab Physical Protocol Data Unit (PPDU) can be used for MMS reach and the frame may not carry the auxiliary security header field (and therefore not carry the frame counter field).

[00146] As mentioned above, an AEAD security operation is proposed. The AEAD security operation uses an extension Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 30 / 151 24 / 109 of the cryptography in counter mode and authentication code of cipher block chaining messages. In addition to a security key, an important input for each AEAD security operation is a unique Nonce. FIG. 1F illustrates a schematic diagram of a 160 nonce format. The 160 nonce can be used for a time slotless channel hopping (TSCH) mode. As shown in FIG. 1F, the 160 nonce includes an 8-octet source address field, a 4-octet frame counter field, and a 1-octet nonce security level field.

[00147] If an AEAD security operation is applied to a compressed header IE-only frame or compressed PSDU, or to an 802.15.4 frame that does not contain the frame counter field, the nonce construction should be studied in more detail.

[00148] The embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for a protected frame in ultra-wideband. In some embodiments, a protected frame can be generated based on a nonce, where the nonce is constructed based on the identification information associated with the protected frame, a block index and a round index associated with a round and a block in which the first protected frame was transmitted. In this way, the security operation can be performed and the communication can be guaranteed as protected. The principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

[00149] FIG. 2A illustrates an example communication system 200 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The communication system 200 includes a controller 210, a controlled 220-1 and a controlled 220-2, where the controlled 220-1 and 220-2 can be collectively or separately referred to as controlled 220. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 31 / 151 25 / 109

[00150] In the present disclosure, controller 210 may be a device that controls the UWB session and sets the session parameters, and the controlled device 220 may be a device that uses the session parameters received from controller 210 to participate in the UWB session.

[00151] A UWB session can also be called a UWB exchange. During participation in a UWB session, controller 210 can be an initiator and controlled 220 can be a responder, or controlled 220 can be an initiator and controller 210 can be a responder.

[00152] FIG. 2B illustrates another example of a communication system 250 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. The communication system 250 includes an initiator 260, a responder 270-1 and a responder 270-2, where responders 270-1 and 270-2 can be collectively or separately referred to as responder 270.

[00153] In the present disclosure, initiator 260 may be a device that follows the instruction(s) of a controller. Initiator 260 may initiate a UWB exchange by sending the first message of the exchange to responder 270. Responder 270 may be a device that responds to the first message received from initiator 260 and participates in the UWB exchange.

[00154] In the 250 system, a link from the initiator 260 to the responder 270 is called a downlink (DL), while a link from the responder 270 to the initiator 260 is called an uplink (UL). In the downlink, the initiator 260 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the responder 270 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In the uplink, the responder 270 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the initiator 260 is an RX device (or a receiver).

[00155] It should be understood that a controller or a controlled entity can be the initiator 260; similarly, a controlled entity or a controlled entity Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 32 / 151 26 / 109 controller can be responder 270. As a specific example, initiator 260 is controller 210, responder 270-1 is controlled 220-1, and responder 270-2 is controlled 220-2. However, it should be understood that this is only for illustrative purposes and does not limit the scope of protection.

[00156] The device in the present disclosure, such as the controller 210 or the controlled 220 in FIG. 2A or the initiator 260 or the responder 270 in FIG. 2B, can be implemented as a tag, a mobile device, a key fob, a vehicle, a door lock or similar, wherein the mobile device may include, among others, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop, a tablet, a wearable device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) device, etc.

[00157] It should be understood that the number of devices and their connection relationships and types shown in FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B are for illustrative purposes only, without suggesting any limitation. System 200 or 250 may include any suitable number of devices adapted to implement the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00158] Further reference is made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating the communication process 300 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The process 300 may involve a transmitter 301 and a receiver 302. It is understood that the transmitter 301 may be the controller 210 or the controlled 220, and the receiver 302 may be the controlled 220 or the controller 210, with reference to FIG. 2A. It is understood that the transmitter 301 may be the initiator 260 or the responder 270, and the receiver 302 may be the responder 270 or the initiator 260, with reference to FIG. 2B.

[00159] Transmitter 301 generates 310 a first protected frame. The first protected frame must be transmitted in a slot (as a first slot) in a first round, where the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 33 / 151 27 / 109 The first round is in a first block. Either a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure can be used, where each block includes multiple rounds, and each round includes multiple slots. In some examples, if a block-based time structure is used, different blocks include the same number of rounds, and different rounds include the same number of slots. In other examples, if a hyperblock-based time structure is used, different blocks may include the same number of rounds or different numbers of rounds, and different rounds may include the same number of slots or different numbers of slots.The first protected frame can be protected by a first nonce, where the first nonce is constructed based on identification information associated with the first protected frame, in a round index and a block index; the round index is an index of the first round, and the block index is an index of the first block. In some embodiments, the 301 transmitter can construct the first nonce and then generate the first protected frame. In some examples, the identification information associated with the first protected frame may include a slot index or a first PN, which will be described in detail below.

[00160] In some embodiments, the first protected frame may be transmitted during a measurement cycle. In some embodiments, the first nonce is constructed based on a slot index, a round index, and a block index. For example, the identification information includes the slot index. The slot index is an index of the first slot in which the first protected frame was transmitted, the round index is an index of the first round to which the first slot belongs, and the block index is an index of the first block to which the first round belongs. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 34 / 151 28 / 109

[00161] The first nonce may include a first field bearing the slot index, a second field bearing the round index, and a third field bearing the block index. The length of the first field may be equal to a first quantity, the length of the second field may be equal to a second quantity, and the length of the third field may be equal to a third quantity.

[00162] In some examples, the first quantity may be a predefined first quantity, such as 8 bits, 10 bits, or another value. In some examples, the first quantity may be determined by the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit. For example, the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit of the first field may be predefined. In some other examples, the first quantity may be associated with a length of the first round, for example, the number of slots in the first round. For example, the first quantity may be M bits, where M is an integer that can be determined by Equation (1): M = [iog2( 'round duration slot duration (1) where [X] refers to a ceiling function of a variable X, i.e., the smallest integer that is not less than (>) X, “block duration in Equation (1) refers to a time length of the first round, “slot duration in Equation (1) refers to a time length of the first slot and 'round duration slot duration Λ 17 ~ I in Equation (1) is the number of slots per round (represented as “NumSlots”). For example, a starting bit location of the first field can be predefined, and a ending bit location of the first field can be determined based on M.

[00163] In some examples, the second quantity may be a predefined second quantity, such as 15 bits, or 13 bits, or another value. In some examples, the second quantity may be determined by the location of an initial bit and the location Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 35 / 151 29 / 109 of a final bit. For example, the location of a start bit and the location of a final bit of the second field can be predefined. In some other examples, the second quantity may be associated with a length of the first block, for example, a number of rounds in the first block. For example, the second quantity may be N bits, where n is an integer that can be determined by Equation (2) [l°g2( block duration round duration )1 (2) where “block duration in Equation (2) refers to a length of time of the first round, “block duration in Equation (2) refers to a length of time of the first block. Block duration round duration in Equation (2) is the number of rounds per block (represented as “NumRounds”). For example, a starting bit location of the second field could be the bit after the first field, and a final bit location of the second field could be determined based on N.

[00164] In some examples, the third quantity may be a predefined third quantity, such as 16 bits, 18 bits, or another value. In some other examples, the third quantity may be determined based on at least one of the first and second quantities. For example, a sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity may equal a predefined total quantity, therefore the third quantity may be determined based on the predefined total quantity, the first quantity, and the second quantity. For example, the predefined total quantity may be 39 bits, 35 bits, or another value. Alternatively, a combination of the first field, the second field, and the third field may be considered as a frame counter field, for example, with a length of a predefined total quantity.

[00165] In the first nonce, the first field, the second field, and the third field can be consecutive, for example, the second Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 36 / 151 The 30 / 109 field is located after the first field, while the third field is located after the second field. However, it should be understood that this disclosure does not limit this aspect; for example, there may be one or more reserved bits or one or more other fields between the first field and the second field; for example, the third field may be located before the first field, etc., and this disclosure will not list these aspects here.

[00166] Furthermore, the first nonce may include a fourth field bearing a cycle index. The length of the fourth field may be equal to a fourth quantity. In the present disclosure, a cycle may be defined again, where a cycle includes one or more blocks. The cycle index is an index of a cycle that includes the first block. In some instances, the fourth quantity may be a predefined fourth quantity, such as 6 bits, 7 bits, 8 bits, or another value. In some other instances, the fourth quantity may be determined based on at least one of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity. For example, the sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, the third quantity, and the fourth quantity may be equal to a predefined total quantity; therefore, the fourth quantity may be determined based on the predefined total quantity, the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity.Alternatively, a combination of the first field, the second field, the third field, and the fourth field can be considered a frame counter field, for example, with a length of a predefined total quantity.

[00167] The first nonce includes a first block indicator, where the first block indicator may indicate that the first protected frame is transmitted based on the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe. For example, the first nonce may include a field Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 37 / 151 31 / 109 carrying the first block indicator, for example, a block indicator field. In some examples, the term based on the block-based time structure or hyperblock-based time structure may be called an internal block structure. The term internal block structure may refer to a time period in which the block-based time structure or hyperblock-based time structure is known by both the transmitter 301 and the receiver 302. A length of the field carrying the first block indicator may be predefined, such as 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value. If the first block indicator is equal to a first value, this may indicate that the first protected frame is in an internal block structure. For example, the first value may be 1 or 0. In some examples, the field carrying a first block indicator may be located at a predefined location of the first nonce, for example, at the end of the first nonce.

[00168] The first nonce includes a source address. For example, the first nonce may include a field bearing the source address, for example, a source address field. A length of the field bearing the source address may be predefined, such as 8 octets, 10 octets, or another value. The field bearing the source address may be located in a predefined location of the first nonce, for example, at the beginning of the first nonce. The source address may be an extended address of the device originating the first protected frame, i.e., the address of transmitter 301.

[00169] In some example modes, the first protected frame may be transmitted during a measurement cycle. As some examples, the first protected frame may be any of the following: protected POLL, protected RESP, or protected RPRT.

[00170] The first protected frame may include a first block index presence indicator and a first round index presence indicator. The first presence indicator Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 38 / 151 The 32 / 109 block index can indicate whether there is a block index in the first protected frame. The first round index presence indicator can indicate whether there is a round index in the first protected frame. For example, the first block index presence indicator is equal to a first value to indicate that there is a block index in the first protected frame, or it is equal to a second value to indicate that there is no block index in the first protected frame. For example, the first round index presence indicator is equal to a first value to indicate that there is a round index in the first protected frame, or it is equal to a second value to indicate that there is no round index in the first protected frame. The first value is 1 and the second value is 0, or the first value is 0 and the second value is 1.

[00171] For example, the first protected frame may include a first block-index presence field bearing a first block-index presence indicator and a first round-index presence field bearing a first round-index presence indicator. Alternatively, the first protected frame may include a presence control field (with a predefined length, such as 1 octet) that includes the first block-index presence field and the first round-index presence field. In some examples, the length of the first block-index presence field may be 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value, and the length of the first round-index presence field may be 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value.

[00172] The first protected frame may include the block index. For example, if the first block index presence indicator indicates the presence of the block index, for example, the first block index presence indicator will be equal to a first value. For example, the first protected frame may include a first block index field carrying the index. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 39 / 151 33 / 109 of block. Alternatively, a length for the first block index field can be predefined, such as 2 octets, 15 bits, or another value. It is understood that there is no first block index field included if the first block index presence indicator is equal to a second value, that is, a length for the first block index field is 0.

[00173] The first protected frame may include the round index. For example, if the first round index presence indicator shows the presence of the round index, for example, the first round index presence indicator is equal to a first value. For example, the first protected frame may include a first block index field carrying the block index. Alternatively, a length of the first round index field may be predefined, such as 2 octets, 15 bits, or another value. It is understood that there is no first round index field included if the first round index presence indicator is equal to a second value, i.e., a length of the first round index field is 0.

[00174] Alternatively, the first protected frame may include an open payload, which includes the first block index presence field, the first round index presence field, the first block index field (if it exists), and the first round index field (if it exists).

[00175] The first protected frame may include a first security indicator. For example, the first protected frame may include a field carrying the first security indicator, for example, a security indicator field. The first security indicator may indicate that the first protected frame is protected. For example, a length of the field carrying the first security indicator may be predefined, such as 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 40 / 151 34 / 109

[00176] The first protected frame may additionally include one or more of the following: a field bearing an ID, a field bearing an address, a field bearing a protected payload, and a field bearing a message integrity check (MIC). The protected payload in the first protected frame may be generated based on the first nonce. In some examples, a security key may be used to generate the protected payload in the first protected frame.

[00177] Transmitter 301 sends 320 the first protected frame 322 to receiver 302. And receiver 302 receives 324 the first protected frame 322. Receiver 302 unprotects 330 the first protected frame 322. Specifically, receiver 302 unprotects the first protected frame 322 by means of a nonce constructed based on a round index and a block index.

[00178] It must be understood that transmitter 301 and receiver 302 must have a consistent pattern for constructing the nonce; in other words, the nonce constructed by receiver 302 must be the same as the first nonce used to protect the first protected frame constructed by transmitter 301. If the nonce constructed by receiver 302 is different from the first nonce used to protect the first protected frame constructed by transmitter 301, the unprotection of the first protected frame will fail.

[00179] In some embodiments, receiver 302 can construct the first nonce and then unprotect the first protected frame 322. The first nonce constructed by receiver 302 is similar to that described above, i.e., constructed by the transmitter, and will not be described in detail for ease of understanding.

[00180] As mentioned, the first nonce may include three fields bearing a slot index, a round index, and a block index, respectively. In some other examples, the first nonce may include two fields, one of which bears Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 41 / 151 35 / 109 one of the slot index, the round index, and the block index, and the other carrying a combination of the other two of the slot index, the round index, and the block index. For example, one field of the first nonce carries the slot index, and another field of the first nonce carries a function of the round index and the block index. In some other examples, the first nonce may include a field carrying a value (such as a frame counter (FC)) that is a function of the slot index, the round index, and the block index. It should be understood that the first nonce may be determined based on the slot index, the round index, and the block index in another way; the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00181] In addition, transmitter 301 can generate a second protected frame. The second protected frame will be transmitted not based on the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure; in other words, the second protected frame will be transmitted in a non-block-based time structure or a non-hyperblock-based time structure or another structure. In some examples, the term non-block-based time structure or non-block-based time structure or non-hyperblock-based time structure or non-hyperblock-based time structure may be called an external block structure. The term external block structure may refer to a time period in which the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure is not known by transmitter 301 or receiver 302.

[00182] The second protected frame can be protected by a second nonce, where the second nonce is constructed based on a second packet number (PN), the second PN being a packet number of the second protected frame. In some embodiments, transmitter 301 can construct the second nonce and then generate the second protected frame. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 42 / 151 36 / 109

[00183] In some examples, the second nonce may include a field that carries the second PN. The length of the field that carries the second PN may be equal to a predefined quantity, such as 4 octets, 3 octets, or another value.

[00184] The second nonce includes a field carrying a second block indicator, where the second block indicator can indicate that the second protected frame is transmitted in the outer block structure. A length of the field carrying the second block indicator can be predefined, such as 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value. If the second block indicator is equal to a second value, this can indicate that the second protected frame is in an outer block structure. For example, the second value can be different from a first value of the first block indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is in an inner block structure. For example, the first value is 1 and the second value is 0. In another example, the first value is 0 and the second value is 1. In some examples, the field carrying a second block indicator can be located in a predefined location of the second nonce, for example, at the end of the second nonce.

[00185] The second nonce includes a field that carries a source address. The length of the field carrying the source address can be predefined, such as 8 octets, 7 octets, or another value. The field carrying the source address can be located in a predefined location within the second nonce, for example, at the beginning of the second nonce. The source address can be an extended address of the device originating the second protected frame, i.e., the address of transmitter 301.

[00186] In some example modes, the second protected frame may be transmitted during an initialization and configuration phase. As some examples, the second protected frame may be either: protected ADV-RESP or protected SOR. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 43 / 151 37 / 109

[00187] The second protected frame may include a PN field carrying the second PN. A length of the PN field in the second protected frame may be predefined, such as 4 octets, 3 octets, or another value.

[00188] The second protected frame may include a field carrying a second security indicator. The second security indicator may indicate that the second protected frame is protected. For example, the length of the field carrying the second security indicator may be predefined, such as 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value.

[00189] The second protected frame may additionally include one or more of the following: a field bearing an ID, a field bearing an address, a field bearing a security level, a field bearing a protected payload, and a field bearing a MIC. The protected payload in the second protected frame may be generated based on the second nonce. In some examples, a security key may be used to generate the protected payload in the second protected frame.

[00190] In some examples, the protected payload may include a second block index presence field bearing a second block index presence indicator, a second round index presence field bearing a second round index presence indicator, and a second slot index presence field bearing a second slot index presence indicator. The second block index presence indicator may indicate whether there is a second block index field. The second round index presence indicator may indicate whether there is a second round index field. The second slot index presence indicator may indicate whether there is a second slot index field.

[00191] For example, the second block index presence indicator is equal to a first value to indicate that there is a second block index field in the protected payload, or Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 44 / 151 38 / 109 equals a second value to indicate that there is no second block index field in the protected payload. For example, the second round index presence indicator equals a first value to indicate that there is a second round index field in the protected payload, or it equals a second value to indicate that there is no second round index field in the protected payload. For example, the second slot index presence indicator equals a first value to indicate that there is a second slot index field in the protected payload, or it equals a second value to indicate that there is no second slot index field in the protected payload. The first value is 1 and the second value is 0, or the first value is 0 and the second value is 1.Alternatively, the protected payload may include a presence control field (with a predefined length, such as 1 octet) that includes the second block-index presence field, the second round-index presence field, and the second slot-index presence field. In some examples, the length of the second block-index presence field may be 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value; the length of the second round-index presence field may be 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value; and the length of the second slot-index presence field may be 1 bit, 2 bits, or another value.

[00192] The protected payload may include a second block index field carrying a block index. For example, if the second block index presence indicator in the second block index presence field indicates the presence of the second block index field, for example, if the second block index presence indicator is equal to a first value, then the second block index field carrying the block index exists. Alternatively, a length for the second block index field may be predefined, such as 2 octets, 15 bits, or another value. It is understood that there is no second field of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 45 / 151 39 / 109 Block index included if the second block index presence indicator is equal to a second value, i.e., the length of the second block index field is 0.

[00193] The protected payload may include a second round index field carrying a round index. For example, if the second round index presence indicator in the second round index presence field indicates the presence of the second round index field, for example, if the second round index presence indicator is equal to a first value, then the second round index field carrying the round index exists. Alternatively, a length for the second round index field may be predefined, such as 2 octets, 15 bits, or another value. It is understood that there is no second round index field included if the second round index presence indicator is equal to a second value; in other words, a length for the second round index field is 0.

[00194] The protected payload may include a second slot index field carrying a slot index. For example, if the second slot index presence indicator in the second slot index presence field indicates the presence of the second slot index field, for example, if the second slot index presence indicator is equal to a first value, then the second slot index field carrying the slot index exists. Alternatively, a length for the second slot index field may be predefined, such as 2 octets, 15 bits, or another value. It is understood that there is no second slot index field included if the second slot index presence indicator is equal to a second value, that is, if a length for the second slot index field is 0.

[00195] Transmitter 301 sends the second protected frame to receiver 302. And receiver 302 receives the second protected frame. Receiver 302 unprotects the second protected frame. Specifically, receiver 302 unprotects the second frame. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 46 / 151 40 / 109 protected by means of a nonce constructed based on a second PN.

[00196] As mentioned above, transmitter 301 and receiver 302 must have a consistent pattern for constructing the nonce; in other words, the nonce constructed by receiver 302 must be the same as the second nonce used to protect the second protected frame constructed by transmitter 301. If the nonce constructed by receiver 302, used to unprotect the second protected frame, is different from the second nonce used to protect the second protected frame constructed by transmitter 301, the unprotection of the second protected frame will fail.

[00197] In some embodiments, the 302 receiver can construct the second nonce and then unprotect the second protected frame. The second nonce constructed by the 302 receiver is similar to that described above, i.e., constructed by the transmitter, and will not be described in detail for ease of understanding.

[00198] If the second protected frame is not protected by receiver 302, the information in the protected payload of the second protected frame can be obtained by receiver 302. In some examples, if the second block index field, the second round index field, and the second slot index field are included, the ported block index, round index, and slot index can be obtained by receiver 302. In some other examples, if at least one of the block index field, the second round index field, and the second slot index field is not included, receiver 302 can determine a corresponding index on its own. For example, if there is no second block index field included in the protected payload, receiver 302 can determine the block index as a default value, such as block index 0. Therefore, if an index is a default value (such as 0), there is no need to Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 47 / 151 41 / 109 include it in the protected payload, thus saving on signaling overload.

[00199] According to some embodiments described above, different nonces can be used to protect frames during an initialization and configuration phase and measurement cycles. Specifically, a PN can be used to construct a nonce to protect a transmitted frame in the “external block structure”, and a slot index, a round index and a block index can be used to construct a nonce to protect a transmitted frame in the “internal block structure”.

[00200] In some other exemplary embodiments, the first protected frame generated by transmitter 301 in 310 may be transmitted during an initialization and configuration phase or during a measurement cycle. Specifically, the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure may be configured before or at the beginning of the initialization and configuration phase. In this case, a frame transmitted during the initialization and configuration phase is also in the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure.

[00201] The first nonce used to protect the first protected frame is constructed based on a block index, a round index, and a first PN. The round index is an index of the first round in which the first protected frame was transmitted, and the block index is an index of the first block to which the first round belongs. The first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. In other words, the first PN is used to uniquely identify the first protected frame.

[00202] The first nonce may include a first field bearing the first PN, a second field bearing the round index, and a third field bearing the block index. The length of the first field may be equal to a first Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 48 / 151 42 / 109 quantity, a length of the second field can be equal to a second quantity, and a length of the third field can be equal to a third quantity.

[00203] In some examples, the first quantity may be a predefined first quantity, such as 8 bits, 7 bits, or another value. In some examples, the first quantity may be determined by the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit. For example, the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit of the first field may be predefined.

[00204] In some examples, the second quantity may be a predefined second quantity, such as 15 bits, 16 bits, or another value. In some examples, the second quantity may be determined by the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit. For example, the location of a start bit and the location of an end bit of the second field may be predefined. In some other examples, the second quantity may be associated with a length of the first block, for example, a number of rounds in the first block. For example, the second quantity may be N bits, where N is an integer that can be determined by Equation (2) presented above.

[00205] In some examples, the third quantity may be a predefined third quantity, such as 16 bits, 17 bits, or another value. In some other examples, the third quantity may be determined based on at least one of the first and second quantities. For example, a sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity may equal a predefined total quantity, therefore the third quantity may be determined based on the predefined total quantity, the first quantity, and the second quantity. For example, the predefined total quantity may be 40 bits, 39 bits, or another value. Alternatively, a combination of the first field, the second field, and the third Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 49 / 151 The 43 / 109 field can be considered a frame counter field, for example, with a length of a predefined total quantity.

[00206] In the first nonce, the first field, the second field, and the third field may be consecutive, for example, the second field is located after the first field, while the third field is located after the second field. However, it should be understood that the present disclosure does not limit this aspect; for example, there may be one or more reserved bits between the first field and the second field, for example, the third field may be located before the first field, which the present disclosure will not list here.

[00207] The first nonce includes a field carrying a source address. The length of the field carrying the source address can be predefined, such as 8 octets, 7 octets, or another value. The field carrying the source address can be located in a predefined location within the first nonce, for example, at the beginning of the first nonce. The source address can be an extended address of the device originating the first protected frame, i.e., the address of transmitter 301.

[00208] Similarly, transmitter 301 sends 320 the first protected frame 322, which is protected by the first nonce being constructed based on the first PN, round index, and block index. And receiver 302 can receive 324 the first protected frame 322. Receiver 302 unprotects 330 the first protected frame 322. Specifically, receiver 302 can construct the first nonce based on the first PN, round index, and block index, and unprotect the first protected frame 322 using the first nonce.

[00209] As mentioned, the first nonce may include three fields bearing a first PN, a round index, and a block index, respectively. In some other examples, the first nonce may include two fields, one of which bears Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 50 / 151 44 / 109 one of the first PN, the round index, and the block index, and the other carrying a combination of the other two from the first PN, the round index, and the block index. For example, one field of the first nonce carries the first PN, and another field of the first nonce carries a function of the round index and the block index. In some other examples, the first nonce may include a field carrying a value (such as a frame counter (FC)) that is a function of the first PN, the round index, and the block index. It should be understood that the first nonce may be determined based on the first PN, the round index, and the block index in another way; the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00210] According to some modalities described above, if the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure can be configured before or at the beginning of the initialization and configuration phase, a PN, a round index, and a block index can be used to construct a nonce to protect a frame.

[00211] Some embodiments above have described that the identifying information associated with the first protected frame may include a slot index or a first PN. In some other examples, the identifying information associated with the first protected frame may include both the slot index and the first PN. In some other examples, the identifying information associated with the first protected frame may include a specific (or unique) parameter or value for the first protected frame. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00212] In the present disclosure, a protected frame is generated by protecting a compressed frame, where a compressed frame may be a compressed PSDU frame or a frame with a compressed header IE format, as described above. Or the protected frame may be generated by protecting a frame Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 51 / 151 45 / 109 802.15.4 which does not carry the frame counter field. The protection operation can be performed using a cryptographic operation, such as authentication or encryption.

[00213] FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example of an MMS 400 reach session in a block-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the MMS 400 reach session includes an initialization and configuration phase 401 followed by one or more measurement cycles 402.

[00214] During the 401 initialization and configuration phase, a responder may not be aware of the block-based time structure; therefore, the 401 initialization and configuration phase is considered to be an external block structure. During one or more 402 measurement cycles, both the initiator and responder participating in the MMS reach session will be aware of the block-based time structure; therefore, one or more 402 measurement cycles are considered to be an internal block structure.

[00215] As shown in 410, during the initialization and configuration phase 401, a PN is used to construct a nonce. And it is understood that the transmission duration of a frame during the initialization and configuration phase 401 is not necessarily limited to 1 ms.

[00216] During one or more 402 measurement cycles, a transmitter (an initiator or a responder) can transmit only a single frame in a slot; therefore, each frame is uniquely associated with a specific slot. Thus, a slot index, a round index, and a block index can be used to construct a nonce, which is used to protect a frame transmitted in the slot. Because the indices are strictly incremental, it can be guaranteed that the slot index, round index, and block index used to construct the nonce do not become incremental. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 52 / 151 46 / 109 will be repeated in the present block structure and therefore the frame does not need to carry any PN, as shown in FIG. 420.

[00217] FIG. 5 illustrates a signaling diagram that illustrates a 500 process of an example MMS outreach session according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00218] The 500 process begins with a controller and a controlled party performing a 510 session setup. During the 510 session setup, long-term session parameters, such as a UWB channel number, preamble codes, a default block structure (such as number of blocks, block durations), etc., are negotiated. With reference to FIG. 4, the long-term session parameters include the default values ​​of men, where m is associated with a number of slots in each round (e.g., NumSlots = m+1, as shown in FIG. 4) and en is associated with a number of rounds in each block (e.g., NumRounds = n+1, as shown in FIG. 4). The long-term parameters are not expected to change during the MMS reach session. When security is enabled, at least one security key will also be provided by the controller to the controlled party to protect unicast frames (i.e., frames that are exchanged between the responder and the initiator).If security is also enabled for broadcast frames, a separate security key, common to all responders, will also be provided. For an NBA-MMS range session, parameters related to narrowband (such as NB channel number, etc.) can also be negotiated during 510 session setup.

[00219] Some other parameters, such as the number of MMS fragments, reporting mode, etc., can be considered short-term parameters, since they can be modified during the MMS reach session. The 510 session configuration can be performed out-of-band, for example, using Wi-Fi radio. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 53 / 151 47 / 109 Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or it can also be done within the band, for example, using narrowband or UWB radio.

[00220] Furthermore, the initiator and responder roles are also assigned during session setup 510. As a specific example shown in FIG. 5, it is assumed that the controller assumes the initiator role 260 and the controlled receives the responder role 270. However, it should be understood that it is also possible for the controlled to receive the initiator role while the controller assumes the responder role.

[00221] In 522, initiator 260 transmits ADVPOLL frames opportunistically at times and intervals at its discretion, while responder 270 can opportunistically listen for received ADV-POLL frames. In 524, responder 270 responds with the ADV-RESP frame if it intends to participate in a reach session with initiator 260. If security is enabled, the ADV-RESP frame carries a PN that is used to construct the nonce to protect the ADV-RESP frame. As shown in FIG. 5, a protected ADV-RESP frame can be transmitted from responder 270 to initiator 260.

[00222] In 526, after initiator 260 receives an ADVRESP frame, it transmits the SOR frame which provides a time offset at which the first range measurement cycle will begin. If security is enabled, the SOR frame carries a PN which is used to construct the nonce used to protect the SOR frame. As shown in FIG. 5, a protected SOR frame can be transmitted from initiator 260 to responder 270. It should be noted that the PN for UL and the PN for DL ​​can be used separately; in other words, different number spaces can be used for the PN in the uplink (responder to initiator) and downlink (initiator to responder) directions, and the PN is incremented by one each time a frame carrying the PN is transmitted. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 54 / 151 48 / 109

[00223] In 528, initiator 260 transmits a protected POLL frame to responder 270 at the beginning of the first slot of a round, where the beginning of the first slot is indicated by the time offset in the SOR frame. Initiator 260 may also include other control information in the POLL frame to responder 270. In 530, responder 270 transmits a protected RESP frame back to initiator 260 if it successfully receives the protected POLL frame. The POLL and RESP frames allow initiator 260 and responder 270 to achieve time and frequency synchronization.

[00224] In the range phase, the initiator 260 and the responder 270 can exchange zero or more UWB RSFs and, optionally, one or more UWB RIFs. The RSFs are used to perform range measurements, while the RIFs are used to verify the integrity of the range measurements. Illustratively, the exchange is shown in 532 and 534 in FIG. 5.

[00225] After initiator 260 or responder 270 completes receiving all UWB fragments for the range phase, a reporting phase can be initiated. During the reporting phase, initiator 260 or responder 270 can generate a range measurement report and send a protected RPRT frame carrying the measurement report to the peer device. As shown in FIG. 5, initiator 260 sends a protected RPRT frame to responder 270 at 536, while responder 270 sends a protected RPRT frame to initiator 260 at 538.

[00226] The slot index of the respective slot in which the corresponding frame is transmitted, together with the round and block indices in which the slot is located, can be used to construct the nonce to protect POLL, RESP, and RPRT frames.

[00227] Some examples of frame and nonce formats are shown in the present disclosure with reference to the drawing. However, it should be noted that the examples are provided for Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 55 / 151 49 / 109 for illustrative purposes only, without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. For example, a frame or nonce may include multiple fields, one or more fields may be omitted in some cases, and one or more fields not shown may be included. For example, two or more fields may be combined into a single field. For example, a field may be replaced by one or more different fields. For example, a field carrying information may be divided into two fields, one field carrying the information and the other field being reserved. For example, each length (in units of octets or bits) may be a fixed value or an adjusted value. For example, an arrangement of the fields may be otherwise, for example, in a different order. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00228] FIG. 6A illustrates a schematic diagram of a SOR 610 frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the SOR 610 frame may be a protected SOR frame transmitted in 526 in FIG. 5. Although the SOR 610 frame is shown in compressed PSDU format, the described procedure works even if the frame is ported as a compressed header ID format or even as a conventional 802.15.4 frame.

[00229] As shown in FIG. 6A, the SOR 610 frame includes a field 611 carrying an ID, a field 612 carrying a security indicator, a field 613 carrying an address, a field 614 carrying a PN, a field 615 carrying a security level, a field 616 carrying a protected payload, and a field 617 carrying the MIC. When transmitted as a conventional 802.15.4 frame, the PN field 614 and the security level field 615 can be transmitted within the auxiliary security header field in the MHR.

[00230] Fields 611-615 can be considered as a compressed header (CHR) of the SOR 610 frame, where fields 611-613 are mandatory, while fields 614-165 are Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 56 / 151 50 / 109 optional. For example, if the frame is not protected, field 614 may not be included. For example, if a security level is negotiated beforehand, field 615 may be omitted.

[00231] Field 611 can indicate an identity of the SOR 610 frame, for example, field 611 bearing 0x22, indicating a SOR frame. Field 612 can indicate whether the frame is protected. In some examples, field 612 can be the most significant bit (MSB) of field 611, for example, bearing 1 or 0. For example, 1 indicates that the frame is protected, while 0 indicates that the frame is not protected. As shown in FIG. 6A, the total length of field 611 and field 612 can be 1 octet.

[00232] Field 614 may contain a packet number of the SOR frame 610. In some examples, initiator 260 may maintain a separate numeric space for each responder 270 of a protected compressed frame, in order to ensure that the same nonce is never reused with the same security key. For example, a first numeric space is associated with a responder 270-1 and a second numeric space is associated with a responder 270-2. As shown in FIG. 6A, a length of field 614 may be 4 octets. If the SOR frame is addressed to multiple responders, the PN may be the same for all responders, and a separate security key, negotiated for broadcast transmissions, is used to protect or unprotect the SOR frame.

[00233] Field 615 may indicate a security level applied to the security operation in the frame. Alternatively, if the security level is negotiated during session setup 510 and is considered fixed for the entire reach session, field 615 may be omitted.

[00234] When the SOR 610 frame is encrypted, for example, the security level is 5, 6 or 7, field 616 is protected (i.e., encrypted). For example, field 616 carries a protected payload. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 57 / 151 51 / 109

[00235] Field 617 carries the MIC generated by an AEAD transformation process. The size of the MIC depends on the security level. For example, if the security level is 5 or 6, the length of field 617 is 4 or 8 octets. It is also possible that only a portion of the MIC (e.g., the 16 least significant bits) is carried in the MIC field, and these same 16 bits are used for integrity verification by responders.

[00236] It should be understood that, since MIC can detect any errors in the frame content, a CRC field is no longer necessary; in other words, the CRC field can be replaced by the MIC field.

[00237] It should be understood that the SOR 610 panel in FIG. 6A can be considered a protected SOR panel; in some other examples, if an unprotected SOR panel is used, fields 614 and 615 will not be included, and the payload in field 616 will be an unprotected payload.

[00238] It should also be understood that, although FIG. 6A illustrates a SOR frame format, a similar format can be applied to the protected ADV-RESP, which will not be described here.

[00239] FIG. 6B illustrates a schematic diagram of a 620 nonce format for protecting a transmitted frame in the external block structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the 620 nonce may be constructed by the initiator 260 to protect the SOR or to unprotect the ADV-RESP, or be constructed by the responder to protect the ADV-RESP or to unprotect the SOR. Alternatively, the 620 nonce may be referred to as an external block-based nonce.

[00240] As shown in FIG. 6B, the nonce 620 includes a frame 621 carrying a source address, a field 622 carrying a PN, a reserved field 623, a field 624 carrying a level of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 58 / 151 52 / 109 security, and a field 615 bearing a block structure indicator.

[00241] Field 621 may indicate an extended address of the device that originated the frame. It is understandable that the controller and the controlled party exchange and save the extended address of the peer device during session setup 510.

[00242] Field 622 can be considered a frame counter field, which can be defined as a PN, which is identical to the value of a PN field of the protected frame. For example, if nonce 620 is constructed by initiator 260 to protect the SOR frame, or by responder 270 to unprotect the protected SOR frame, the PN in field 622 must be the same as that of field 614. A length of field 622 can be 4 octets.

[00243] Field 624 can indicate a security level, that is, a nonce security level. The security level can be an integer identical to the value of a security level field of the protected frame. For example, if nonce 620 is constructed by initiator 260 to protect the SOR frame, or by responder 270 to unprotect the protected SOR frame, the security level in field 624 must be the same as field 615. However, as described with reference to FIG. 6A, field 615 can be omitted if the security level is negotiated during session setup 510, in which case the Security Level field 624 is set to the security level negotiated during session setup 510.

[00244] Field 625 may indicate a block structure indicator (or block indicator, for short). In some examples, field 625 may be the last bit of nonce 620, for example, bearing 1 or 0. For example, 1 indicates that the frame is in the block structure, while 0 indicates that the frame is transmitted in the outer block structure. As shown in FIG. 6B, since nonce 620 is used for the phase of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 59 / 151 53 / 109 initialization and configuration, the block structure indicator is 0.

[00245] It should be understood that the block structure indicator is used to ensure that the nonce to protect the transmitted outer and inner block structure of frames is never reused. For example, the block structure indicator can be set to 0 if the frame is an outer block structure transmitted or received.

[00246] FIG. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram of a POLL 710 frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the POLL 710 frame may be a protected POLL frame transmitted in 528 in FIG. 5.

[00247] As shown in FIG. 7A, the POLL 710 frame includes a field 711 carrying an ID, a field 712 carrying a security indicator, a field 713 carrying an address, a field 714 which is a presence control field, a field 715 carrying a block index, a field 716 carrying a round index, a field 717 carrying a protected payload, and a field 718 carrying the MIC.

[00248] Fields 711 to 713 can be considered as a CHR of the POLL 710 frame. Field 711 can indicate an identity of the POLL 710 frame. Field 712 can indicate whether the frame is protected. In some examples, field 712 can be the MSB of field 711, for example, bearing 1 or 0. For example, 1 indicates that the frame is protected, while 0 indicates that the frame is not protected. As shown in FIG. 7A, the total length of field 711 and field 712 can be 1 octet.

[00249] Fields 714 to 716 can be considered as the open payload of POLL frame 710. The open payload of a secure frame can be authenticated but not encrypted, regardless of the security level. Field 714 includes a block index presence field 7142 carrying an indicator. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 60 / 151 54 / 109 of block index presence, a round index presence field 7144 carrying a round index presence indicator, and a reserved field 7146. As shown in FIG. 7A, a length of field 714 can be 1 octet.

[00250] In some examples, the block index presence indicator is equal to a first value (such as 1) to indicate the presence of field 715, and the round index presence indicator is equal to a first value (such as 1) to indicate the presence of field 716 in the open payload. For example, a field 715 length might be 2 octets, and a field 716 length might be 2 octets. In some other examples, the block index presence indicator is equal to a second value (such as 0) to indicate that there is no field 715, i.e., a field 715 length is 0. In some other examples, the round index presence indicator is equal to a second value (such as 0) to indicate that there is no field 716, i.e., a field 716 length is 0. For example, if the block index is a default value (such as 0), field 715 might be omitted. For example, if the round index is a default value (such as 0), the 716 field can be omitted.

[00251] When the POLL 710 frame is encrypted, for example, the security level is 5, 6, or 7, field 717 is protected (i.e., encrypted). For example, field 717 carries a protected payload. Field 718 carries the MIC generated by an AEAD transformation process. The size of the MIC depends on the security level. For example, the security level is 5 or 6, and consequently, the length of field 718 is 4 or 8 octets.

[00252] Alternatively, the POLL 710 frame may include a field bearing a security level, similar to field 615 in FIG. 6A.

[00253] It should be understood that the POLL 710 frame in FIG. 7A can be considered a protected POLL frame. The protected POLL 710 frame is transmitted in the first slot of the indicated round. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 61 / 151 55 / 109 via the SOR frame (such as the protected SOR frame 610), allowing a receiver of the protected POLL frame 710 (responder 270) to synchronize with the block structure.

[00254] It should also be understood that, although FIG. 7A illustrates a POLL frame format, a similar format can be applied to a protected RESP or a protected RPRT, which will not be described here.

[00255] FIG. 7B illustrates a schematic diagram of a 720 nonce format for protecting an internal frame block structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the 720 nonce may be constructed by the initiator 260 to protect the POLL, unprotect the protected RESP, protect the RPRT, or unprotect the protected RPRT, or be constructed by the responder to unprotect the protected POLL, protect the RESP, unprotect the protected RPRT, or protect the RPRT. Alternatively, the 720 nonce may be referred to as an internal block-based nonce.

[00256] As shown in FIG. 7B, the nonce 720 includes a frame 721 bearing a source address, a field 722 bearing a slot index, a field 723 bearing a round index, a field 724 bearing a block index, and a field 725 bearing a block structure indicator.

[00257] Field 721 may indicate an extended address of the device that originated the frame. It is understandable that the controller and the controlled party exchange and save the extended address of the peer device during session setup 510.

[00258] Fields 722-724 can be considered as a frame counter field of nonce 720. Fields 722-724 can be defined as slot, round, and block indices in which the frame is transmitted (during protection) or received (during deprotection). As shown in FIG. 7B, each length of fields 722-724 is predefined, and the total number of lengths is 39 bits. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 62 / 151 56 / 109

[00259] Field 725 may indicate a block structure indicator (or block indicator, for short). In some instances, field 725 may be the last bit of nonce 720, for example, bearing 1 or 0. For example, 1 indicates that the frame is in the block structure, while 0 indicates that the frame is transmitted in the outer block structure. As shown in FIG. 7B, since nonce 720 is used for the measurement cycle, the block structure indicator is 1.

[00260] Alternatively, nonce 720 may include a field bearing a security level, similar to field 624 in FIG. 6B.

[00261] In some examples, field 724 may be split into two fields, one carrying the block index and the other being reserved. In some examples, the order of fields 722-724 may be different, such as a reverse order, as shown in FIG. 7B.

[00262] It should be understood that the block structure indicator is used to ensure that the nonce to protect the transmitted outer and inner block structure of frames is never reused. For example, the block structure indicator can be set to 0 if the frame is transmitted or received in the outer block structure.

[00263] FIG. 7C illustrates an example 730 of constructing the nonce to protect a compressed frame according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7C, if the protected frame is transmitted in slot 1 of round 1 of block 1 in the block-based time structure, the nonce may include a field 732 bearing a slot 1 index, a field 733 bearing a round 1 index, and a field bearing a block 1 index.

[00264] It should be understood that example 730 also applies to the responder to unprotect the protected frame. For example, the protected frame is received in slot 1 of round 1 of block 1. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 63 / 151 57 / 109 in the block-based time structure, and the nonce is constructed in the same way.

[00265] As described with reference to FIGS. 7B-7C, the lengths of the fields bearing a slot index, a round index, and a block index can be defined as fixed values, such as 8 bits, 15 bits, and 16 bits, respectively. In the present disclosure, a single frame may be transmitted in a slot, to ensure that the nonce never repeats for the same security key. In this case, a larger number of frame counter values ​​may be required and, consequently, the frame counter space may be quickly exhausted. Therefore, the security key needs to be changed if the frame counter is resumed (i.e., returns to 0) to ensure that the nonce never repeats for the same security key.

[00266] Table 1 below shows an increment in the frame counter value in an internal block-based nonce (such as nonce 720) if the protected frame is transmitted or received in the first slot of different rounds in 3 consecutive blocks. It can be observed that the frame counter value increases by 8,388,865 each time the block index is updated. For example, for a block structure with a block duration of 96 ms, the frame counter will resume cycling in 6291 s = 104 minutes. Table 1 Block Index (16 bits) Round Index (15 bits) Slot Index (8 bits) Frame Counter Value 0x0000 0x0000 0x01 1 0x0001 0x0001 0x01 8,388,865 0x0002 0x0007 0x01 16,779,009

[00267] FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram of another format of a nonce 800 for securing an internal frame block structure according to some embodiments Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 64 / 151 58 / 109 are examples of the present disclosure. Alternatively, nonce 820 may be referred to as an internal block-based nonce.

[00268] As shown in FIG. 8, nonce 800 includes a frame 821 carrying a source address, a field 822 carrying a slot index, a field 823 carrying a round index, a field 824 carrying a block index, and a field 825 carrying a block structure indicator. Note that nonce 800 is similar to nonce 720 in FIG. 7B; however, the lengths of fields 822 to 824 are not fixed values.

[00269] For example, a field length 822 (i.e., a first bit quantity), a field length 823 (i.e., a second bit quantity), and a field length 824 (i.e., a third bit quantity) can be determined based on the block-based timing structure. Specifically, the values ​​of M and N in FIG. 8 can be determined based on Equations (1) and (2), respectively. In some examples, the values ​​of M and N can be signaled by the initiator 260, for example, in the SOR 610 frame.

[00270] Alternatively, nonce 800 may include a field carrying a security level, similar to field 624 in FIG. 6B. Alternatively, field 814 may be split into three fields in some other examples, one field carrying the block index, one field carrying a security level, and one field being reserved.

[00271] As a specific example, it is assumed that each block includes 16 rounds and each round includes 16 slots, therefore, the number of slots per round (NumSlots) = the number of rounds per block (NumRounds) = 16. Consequently, M = N = 4 bits. Table 2 below shows an increment of the frame counter value in an internal block-based nonce (such as the 800 nonce) if the protected frame is transmitted or received in the first slot of different rounds in 3 consecutive blocks. It can be observed that the frame counter value increases by 273 each Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 65 / 151 59 / 109 times the block index is updated. For example, for a block structure with a block duration of 96 ms, the frame counter will resume cycling in approximately 3,435,974 minutes. Table 2 Block Index (31 bits) Round index (4 bits) Slot Index (4 bits) Frame Counter Value (FC) 0x00000000 0x0 0x1 1 0x00000001 0x1 0x1 273 0x00000002 0x7 0x1 625

[00272] Comparing Table 2 with Table 1, it can be observed that a rapid increment of the frame counter value can be avoided if an 800 nonce is used. Consequently, there is no need to update a security key as frequently.

[00273] Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain the same effect for constructing the Nonce frame counter (FC) field in FIG. 8 without segmenting the FRAME COUNTER field into slot index, round index and block index fields (as 822-824) by setting the value (i.e., FC) of the frame counter field as Equation (3): FC = Block_Index*NumRounds*NumSlots + Round_Index*NumSlots + Slot_Index (3)

[00274] In Equation (3), Block_index, Round_Index and Slot_Index refer to the block index, round index and slot index, respectively.

[00275] It is also possible that the Nonce in FIG. 8 has the same format as the Nonce in FIG. 6B, that is, the frame counter field is 4 octets long and the nonce includes the nonce security level field. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 66 / 151 60 / 109

[00276] FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected SOR 900 frame format according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to that described in FIG. 6A, the protected SOR 900 frame includes a field 616 carrying a protected payload.

[00277] Field 616 includes a field 911 which is a presence control field, a field 912 which carries a time offset, a field 913 which carries a block index, a field 914 which carries a round index, and a field 915 which carries a slot index. Field 911 may include a field 9112 carrying a block index presence indicator, a field 9114 carrying a round index presence indicator, a field 9116 carrying a slot index presence indicator, and a reserved field 9118.

[00278] If the controller assigns a controlled entity to an existing block structure, the block, round, and slot indices pointed to by the time offset field of the SOR frame may not start from zero. If the POLL frame transmitted at the time pointed to by the time offset field of the SOR frame does not contain the round and block indices in the open payload (as shown in FIG. 7A), i.e., if the indices are encrypted, the responder will not be able to unprotect the POLL frame because it will not be able to construct the nonce. When indicating the first round allocated to a controlled entity, in addition to the time offset in field 912 for the allocated block / round, if the controller also included the block, round, and slot indices pointed to by time offset field 912, for example, in field 616 of the protected SOR frame 900.This will allow the first frame (e.g., POLL frame) transmitted in the block, round, and slot pointed to by the time offset field 912 to be encrypted.

[00279] In some other examples, if any of the block index presence indicators are in field 9112, the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 67 / 151 61 / 109 indicates the presence of a round index in field 9114, while the presence of a slot index in field 9116 indicates that the corresponding index is not included, so a default index (such as zero) may be applied.

[00280] FIG. 10A illustrates an example session 1010 of initiator 260 with responder 1 (such as responder 270-1) according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. FIG. 10B illustrates an example session 1020 of initiator 260 with responder 2 (such as responder 270-2) according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. In both examples, the number of rounds per block (NumRounds) = 16; and the number of slots per round (Numslots) = 16. This results in the number of bits for the round index (N) = the number of bits for the slot index (M) = 4. The frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect each frame is shown below the frame, for example, Nonce: FC= ...

[00281] As shown in FIG. 10A, the SOR frame for responder 1 can be a protected SOR frame, as shown in FIG. 6A, as such, responder 1 will assume that the slot index, round index, and block index are all 0. Consequently, the first POLL frame (POLL 1) for responder 1 is transmitted in slot 0 (0x0) of round 0 of block 0 and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect POLL frame 1 can be calculated as 0x0000. Similarly, the 128th RPRT frame (RPRT 128) is transmitted in slot 7 (0x7) of round 0 (0x0) of block 127 (0x7F), and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RPRT 128 frame can be calculated as 0x7F07. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 68 / 151 62 / 109

[00282] As shown in FIG. 10B, the SOR frame for responder 2 may be a protected SOR frame, as shown in FIG. 9. As such, responder 2 will be aware of the existing block-based timing structure and the slot, round, and block indices where the first POLL frame is expected when unprotecting the protected SOR frame, for example, block index = 1, round index = 1, slot index = 0 shown in 1022. Consequently, the first POLL frame for responder 2 (POLL 1) is transmitted in slot 0 of round 1 of block 1, and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect POLL 1 frame can be calculated as 0x0110.Similarly, the 129th RPRT frame (RPRT 129) is transmitted in slot 15 (0xF) of round 1 (0x1) of block 128 (0x80), and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RPRT 129 frame can be calculated as 0x801F.

[00283] It is assumed that the block, round, and slot structure indices are always incremental and that the block structure is never reset within the same session between an initiator and responder pair during the construction of an internal block nonce, such as the 720 nonce or the 800 nonce. If the block structure is reset two or more times between the same initiator and responder pair, if the same security key is used to protect the frames, the internal block nonce may repeat itself, which may be a security violation.

[00284] In some modes, if the block structure is restarted, the security key must be updated. In other words, whenever a new block structure is configured between the same initiator and responder pair, a new security key will be used. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 69 / 151 63 / 109

[00285] In some other embodiments, a loop may be defined to prevent the occurrence of this case, where a loop includes multiple blocks. In other words, a layer on top of the block may be added: loop. A loop index may be incremented whenever the block structure is restarted between the same initiator and responder pair, while the security key remains unchanged. FIG. 11A illustrates a schematic diagram of a time structure 1110 including a loop according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 11A, two loops, loop 0 and loop 1, are shown.

[00286] If a cycle is newly defined, an index of the cycle in which the protected frame is transmitted can also be used to construct the inner block nonce. For example, an inner block nonce can be constructed based on a slot index, a round index, a block index, and a cycle index.

[00287] FIG. 11B illustrates a schematic diagram of a form factor of another protected SOR 1120 frame according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to that described in FIG. 9, the protected SOR 11200 frame includes a field 616 that carries a protected payload.

[00288] Field 616 includes a field 1121, which is a presence control field, which includes a field 1124 carrying a block index presence indicator, a field 1125 carrying a round index presence indicator, a field 1126 carrying a slot index presence indicator, a field 1127 carrying a cycle index presence indicator, and a reserved field 1128.

[00289] Fields 1124-1126 may be similar to fields 9112-9116 in FIG. 9 and therefore will not be described in detail here. In FIG. 11B, it is assumed that fields 1124-1126 indicate that there is no block index field, round index field. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 70 / 151 64 / 109 or slot index field, therefore there are no fields in FIG. 11B corresponding to fields 913-915 of FIG. 9.

[00290] Field 1127 carrying a cycle index presence indicator can indicate whether a field 1123 is included. As shown in FIG. 11B, field 616 includes a field 1122 carrying a time offset and a field 1123 carrying a cycle index.

[00291] Alternatively, if the block index presence indicator in field 1124 is 1, a block index field bearing the block index may be additionally included, similar to field 913 in FIG. 9. If the round index presence indicator in field 1125 is 1, a round index field bearing the round index may be additionally included, similar to field 914 in FIG. 9. If the slot presence indicator in field 1126 is 1, a slot index field bearing the index may be additionally included, similar to field 915 in FIG. 9. In other words, the protected payload 616 may include a presence control field (such as field 911 or 1121), a field carrying the time offset (such as field 912 or 1122), and may additionally include zero or more of one block index field, one round index field, one slot index field, and one cycle index field without order limitation.For example, the field that carries the time offset (such as field 912 or 1122) may be located at the end of field 616, that is, in the last two octets.

[00292] In some examples, initiator 260 may use protected SOR frame 1120 to inform responder 270 of the cycle index whenever a new block structure is initiated, in order to allow responder 270 to synchronize with the cycle index.

[00293] FIG. 11C illustrates a schematic diagram of another format of a nonce 1130 for securing a block structure. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 71 / 151 65 / 109 internal frame according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Alternatively, nonce 1130 may be referred to as an internal block-based nonce.

[00294] As shown in FIG. 11C, nonce 1130 includes a frame 1131 carrying a source address, a field 1132 carrying a slot index, a field 1133 carrying a round index, a field 1134 carrying a block index, a field 1135 carrying a cycle index, and a field 1136 carrying a block structure indicator. Note that nonce 1130 is similar to nonce 800 of FIG. 8, with the difference that field 824 of FIG. 8 is split into field 1134 and field 1135 of FIG. 11C. For example, some of the MSBs of the block index field can be allocated to the cycle index, such as 6 bits, allowing up to 64 cycles.

[00295] Alternatively, nonce 1130 may include a field carrying a security level, similar to field 624 in FIG. 6B. Alternatively, field 1135 may be split into two fields, one carrying the cycle index and the other reserved. In some examples, the order of fields 1132-1135 may be different, such as the reverse order, as shown in FIG. 11C.

[00296] According to some embodiments described above with reference to FIGS. 4 to 9, some protected frames may include a field bearing PN, such as the SOR 610 or 900 frame. Table 3 below lists some frames, some of which may need to include a PN, while others may not. Table 3 Frame ID Includes a PN field (Yes or No) Nonce (Based on external or internal block) Block structure indicator (0 or 1) POLL 0x00 No Based on internal block 1 Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 72 / 151 66 / 109 RESP 0x01 No Based on internal block 1 RPRT 0x02 No Based on internal block 1 RPRT 0x03 No Based on internal block 1 PRM-RESP 0x04 No Based on internal block 1 PRM-REQ 0x05 No Based on internal block 1 ADV-HBS 0x06 No Based on internal block 1 ADV-POLL 0x20 Yes Based on external block 0 ADV-RESP 0x21 Yes Based on external block 0 SOR 0x22 Yes Based on external block 0

[00297] Specifically, frames transmitted outside the block structure (e.g., ADV-POLL, ADV-RESP, SOR) include the PN field in the frame and use the external block-based nonce (nonce 620, as shown in FIG. 6B), while frames transmitted within the block structure (e.g., POLL, RESP, RPRT, PRM-RESP, PRM-REQ, ADV-HBS) do not include the PN field in the frame and use the internal block-based nonce (such as nonce 720, as shown in FIG. 7B, or nonce 800, as shown in FIG. 8). Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 73 / 151 67 / 109

[00298] In some instances, the operation of protecting a frame may also be called an AEAD transformation, and the operation of unprotecting a protected frame may also be called an inverse AEAD transformation. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00299] Although some of the modes described above, with reference to FIGS. 4-11C, are related to the block-based time structure, it should be understood that they may also be related to the hyperblock-based time structure.

[00300] FIG. 12A illustrates a schematic diagram 1210 of a nonce construction in a hyperblock-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 12A, a hyperblock is composed of three types of blocks: block 0, including 2 rounds, each with 32 slots; block 1, including 8 rounds, each with 8 slots; and block 2, including 16 rounds, each with 16 slots. If a frame is transmitted in slot 0 of round 7 or block 4, the nonce may include a field 1212 bearing slot index = 0, a field 1214 bearing round index = 7, and a field 1216 bearing block index = 4. The nonce in FIG. 12A may be an internal block nonce based on nonce 720, in which the lengths of fields 1212-1216 are fixed.

[00301] FIG. 12B illustrates a schematic diagram 1220 of a nonce construction in a hyperblock-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Similar to FIG. 12A, a hyperblock is composed of three block types: block 0, including 2 rounds, each with 32 slots, block 1, including 8 rounds, each with 8 slots, and block 2, including 16 rounds, each with 16 slots. If a frame is transmitted in slot 0 of round 7 or block 4, the nonce may include a field 1222 bearing slot index = 0, a field 1224 bearing round index = 7, and a field 1226 bearing block index = 4. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 74 / 151 68 / 109

[00302] The nonce in FIG. 12B may be an internal block nonce based on nonce 800, in which the lengths of fields 1222 to 1226 are not fixed. Specifically, the maximum number of slots in a round (Max_NumSlots) = max (32, 8, 16) = 32, therefore M can be determined as 5. Thus, the length of field 1222 is 5 bits. Specifically, the maximum number of rounds in a block (Max_NumRounds) = max (2, 8, 16) = 16, therefore N can be determined as 4. Thus, the length of field 1224 is 4 bits.

[00303] Therefore, a PN can be used to construct an external block nonce, a slot index, a round index, and a block index (and optionally a cycle index) can be used to construct an internal block nonce, the frames transmitted between the initiator and the responder can be adequately protected and thus communication security can be guaranteed.

[00304] Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain the same effect for constructing the nonce frame counter field in FIG. 12A without segmenting the frame counter field into slot index, round index and block index fields, by setting the value (i.e., FC) of the frame counter field as Equation (4): FC = Block_Index*Max_NumRounds*Max_NumSlots + Round_Index*Max_NumSlots + Slot_Index (4)

[00305] In Equation (4), Block_index, Round_Index, and Slot_Index refer to the block index, round index, and slot index, respectively. If the block index in a hyperblock is represented as a relative block index, the block index can be calculated as Equation (5): Block_Index = Hyper_Block_Index*NumBlocks + Relative_Block_Index (5) Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 75 / 151 69 / 109

[00306] In Equation (5), Hyper_Block_Index is the hyperblock index, Relative_Block_Index is the relative block index, and NumBlocks is the number of blocks in a hyperblock.

[00307] FIG. 13 illustrates a schematic diagram of another example of an MMS 1300 reach session in a block-based time structure according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13, the MMS 1300 reach session includes an initialization and configuration phase, followed by one or more measurement cycles.

[00308] In FIG. 13, it is assumed that the block structure also exists during the initialization and configuration phase. For example, the controller can configure the block structure right at the beginning (i.e., even before or at the beginning) of the initialization and configuration phase. In this way, the initialization and configuration phase and one or more measurement cycles are internal block structure.

[00309] Since synchronization between a 260 initiator and a 270 responder at the slot level can be difficult during the initialization and configuration phase, the slot index is not used to construct the nonce; however, a short PN (e.g., 1 octet long) can be used. In this case, a PN, a round index, and a block index can be used to construct a nonce, which is used to secure a frame, as shown in 1310. Because a round index is used, it is suggested that the initialization and configuration phase be completed in one round to avoid loss of synchronization due to changes in round indices. FIG. 14 illustrates a signaling diagram that illustrates a 1400 process from another example MMS reach session according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00310] Process 1400 begins with one controller and two controlled entities performing a session setup 1412 and a Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 76 / 151 70 / 109 session configuration 1414, respectively. During session configuration 1412 / 1414, long-term session parameters such as a UWB channel number, preamble codes, a block structure (such as number of blocks, block durations), etc., are negotiated. When security is enabled, at least one security key will also be provided by the controller to each controlled entity to protect unicast frames (i.e., frames that are exchanged between the responder and the initiator). If security is also enabled for broadcast frames, a separate security key, common to all responders, will also be provided. For an NBA-MMS range session, narrowband-related parameters (such as NB channel number, number of MMS fragments, etc.) can also be negotiated during session configuration 1412 / 1414. While FIG. FIG.Figure 13 shows the same block structure being used for the initialization and configuration phase as well as for the measurement cycles. It is also possible that different block structures are used for the initialization and configuration phase and for the measurement cycles. In this case, a security key can also be negotiated for the initialization and configuration phase and a different security key for the measurement cycles. In this case, the PN spaces will also be different for the initialization and configuration phase and for the measurement cycles. Furthermore, the block index of the block structure for the measurement cycles can start from zero at the time indicated by the time offset of the SOR frame.

[00311] Some other parameters, such as the number of MMS fragments, reporting mode, etc., can be considered short-term parameters, since they can be modified during the MMS session. The 1412 / 1414 session configuration can be performed out-of-band, for example, using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio, or it can also be performed in-band, for example, using narrowband or UWB radio. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 77 / 151 71 / 109

[00312] Furthermore, the initiator and responder roles are also assigned during session setup 1412 / 1414. As a specific example shown in FIG. 14, it is assumed that the controller assumes the initiator role 260 and the controlled entities are assigned the responder roles 270-1 and 270-2. However, it should be understood that it is also possible for the controlled entity to receive the initiator role while the controller assumes the responder role.

[00313] In 1416, the controller (initiator 260) initiates the block structure before the transmission of the first ADVPOLL frame. For example, initiator 260 can configure the block and round structure, for example, with at least the block duration and round duration defined. In some cases, it is possible that the slot structure is also defined, and in that case the slot index can be used instead of the PN for the nonce construction, both inside and outside the block structure.

[00314] In 1422, initiator 260 transmits ADVPOLL frames opportunistically at times and intervals at its discretion, while responders 270-1 and 270-2 can opportunistically listen for received ADV-POLL frames. To allow responders 270-1 and 270-2 to synchronize with the block structure, the ADV-POLL frame includes the round and block indexes in which the ADV-POLL frame is transmitted, as well as the current block duration. If the slot structure is also defined, the ADV-POLL frame also includes a slot index of the slot in which the ADV-POLL frame is transmitted.

[00315] In 1424, responder 270-1 responds with the ADV-RESP frame if it intends to participate in a reach session with initiator 260. If security is enabled, the ADV-RESP frame carries a PN (e.g., PN_U1) which is used to construct the nonce to protect the ADV-RESP frame. As shown in FIG. 14, a protected ADV-RESP frame can be transmitted from responder 270-1 to initiator 260. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 78 / 151 72 / 109

[00316] In 1426, responder 270-2 responds with the ADV-RESP frame if it intends to participate in a reach session with initiator 260. If security is enabled, the ADV-RESP frame carries a PN (e.g., PN_U2) which is used to construct the nonce to protect the ADV-RESP frame. As shown in FIG. 14, a protected ADV-RESP frame can be transmitted from responder 270-2 to initiator 260.

[00317] In 1428, after initiator 260 receives the ADV-RESP frames, it transmits the SOR frame which provides a time offset at which the first range measurement cycle will begin. The SOR frame can be broadcast so that both responder 270-1 and responder 270-2 can detect it. If security is enabled, the SOR frame carries a broadcast PN (e.g., PN_B) which is used to construct the nonce used to protect the SOR frame. As shown in FIG. 14, a protected SOR frame can be transmitted from initiator 260 to responders 270-1 and 270-2. Note that different number spaces can be used for the PN for unicast and broadcast frames. In this case, the time offset field in the SOR frame points to the time at which the first POLL frame is transmitted.Alternatively, it is also possible that the SOR frame supports multiple time offset fields, one for each responder; or the initiator may transmit multiple unicast SOR frames, one for each responder; and the time offset fields indicate the exact time at which the range measurement cycle should begin for a specific responder.

[00318] In 1432, initiator 260 transmits a broadcast POLL frame to responders 270-1 and 270-2 at the beginning of the first interval of a round, where the beginning of the first interval is indicated by the time offset in the SOR frame. Initiator 260 may also include other control information in the POLL frame to responders 270-1 and 270-2. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 79 / 151 73 / 109

[00319] In 1434, responder 270-1 transmits a RESP frame back to initiator 260 if it successfully receives the POLL frame. The POLL and RESP frames allow initiator 260 and responder 270-1 to achieve time and frequency synchronization.

[00320] In the range phase, the initiator 260 and the responder 270-1 can exchange zero or more UWB RSFs and, optionally, one or more UWB RIFs. The RSFs are used to perform range measurements, while the RIFs are used to verify the integrity of the range measurements. Illustratively, the exchange between the initiator 260 and the responder 270-1 is shown in 1436 and 1438 in FIG. 14.

[00321] After initiator 260 or responder 270-1 completes receiving all UWB fragments for the range phase, a reporting phase can be initiated. During the reporting phase, initiator 260 or responder 270-1 can generate a range measurement report and send an RPRT frame carrying the measurement report to the peer device. As shown in FIG. 14, initiator 260 sends a protected RPRT frame to responder 270-1 at 1440, while responder 270-1 sends a protected RPRT frame to initiator 260 at 1442.

[00322] Process 1452-1462 between initiator 260 and responder 270-2 is similar to process 1432-1442 between initiator 260 and responder 270-1 and therefore will not be repeated here.

[00323] As shown in FIG. 14, each of the protected frames carries an appropriate PN. The PN, along with the round and block indices, can be used to construct the nonce to protect the POLL, RESP, and RPRT frames.

[00324] Some examples of frame and nonce formats are shown in the present disclosure with reference to the drawing. However, it should be noted that the examples are provided for illustrative purposes only, without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 80 / 151 74 / 109 disclosure. For example, a frame or nonce may include multiple fields, one or more fields may be omitted in some cases, and one or more fields not shown may be included. For example, two or more fields may be combined into a single field. For example, a field may be replaced by one or more different fields. For example, a field carrying information may be divided into two fields, one field carrying the information and the other field being reserved. For example, each length (in units of octets or bits) may be a fixed value or an adjusted value. For example, an arrangement of the fields may be otherwise, for example, in a different order. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00325] FIG. 15A illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce 1510 format for protecting a frame according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the nonce 1510 can be constructed by the initiator 260 or by the responder 270-1 or 270-2.

[00326] As shown in FIG. 15A, nonce 1510 includes a frame 1511 carrying a source address, a field 1512 carrying a PN, a field 1513 carrying a round index, and a field 1514 carrying a block index.

[00327] Field 1511 may indicate an extended address of the device that originated the frame. Fields 1512-1514 may be considered as a frame counter for the 720 nonce.

[00328] A field length of 1512 carrying the PN can be 1 octet, that is, 8 bits. The PN can also be called a short PN. For example, the PN starts at 0 in each round and should not be restarted in a round. It should be understood that the maximum number of protected frames per round depends on the length of the 1512 field; for example, the maximum number of protected frames per round is 256 if the 1512 field occupies 8 bits.

[00329] As shown in FIG. 15A, the length of the 1513 field is fixed, as 15 bits (8-22). In some other examples, the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 81 / 151 75 / 109 The length of the field carrying the round index may not be a fixed value. FIG. 15B illustrates a schematic diagram of another 1520 nonce format, which includes a 1521 frame carrying a source address, a 1522 field carrying a PN, a 1523 field carrying a round index, and a 1524 field carrying a block index. The length of the 1523 field is N bits, where N can be determined by Equation (2) described above.

[00330] Alternatively, nonce 1510 or 1520 may include a field bearing a security level, similar to field 624 in FIG. 6B. Alternatively, field 1514 or 1524 may be split into two fields, one bearing the block index, and the other being reserved. In some examples, the order of fields 1512-1514 or 1522-1524 may be different, such as a reverse order, as shown in FIG. 15A or FIG. 15B.

[00331] FIG. 16A illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected RPRT frame format 1610 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the protected RPRT frame 1610 can be any of the frames transmitted in 1440, 1442, 1460 and 1462 in FIG. 14.

[00332] In FIG. 16A, the protected RPRT frame 1610 includes a field 1611 carrying an ID, a field 1612 carrying a security indicator, a field 1613 carrying an address, a field 1614 carrying a PN, a field 1615 carrying a protected payload, and a field 1616 carrying the MIC. Fields 1611 through 1614 can be considered as a CHR of the protected RPRT frame 1610. Although the RPRT frame 1610 is shown in compressed PSDU format, the described procedure works even if the frame is ported as a compressed header ID format or even as a conventional 802.15.4 frame.

[00333] Field 1611 may indicate the identity of the protected RPRT frame 1610. Field 1612 may indicate whether the frame is protected. In some examples, field 1612 containing 1 indicates that the frame is protected. As shown in FIG. 16A, the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 82 / 151 76 / 109 The total length of field 1611 and field 1612 can be 1 octet.

[00334] Field 1614 may contain a protected RPRT frame packet number 1610. With reference to FIG. 14, PN_U1 may be retained for an uplink transmission from responder 270-1 to initiator 260, and PN_D1 may be retained for a downlink transmission from initiator 260 to responder 270-1. PN_U2 may be retained for an uplink transmission from responder 270-2 to initiator 260, and PN_D2 may be retained for a downlink transmission from initiator 260 to responder 270-2. As shown in FIG. 16A, a length of field 1614 may be 1 octet.

[00335] Field 1615 carries protected payload. Field 1616 carries the MIC generated by an AEAD transformation process. A field 1616 length can be 4 or 8 octets.

[00336] Alternatively, the protected RPRT frame 1610 may include a field carrying a security level, similar to field 615 in FIG. 6A.

[00337] FIG. 16B illustrates a schematic diagram of a format of an ADV-POLL 1620 frame according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the ADV-POLL 1620 frame may be a frame transmitted in 1422 in FIG. 14.

[00338] As shown in FIG. 16B, the ADV-POLL 1620 frame includes a field 1621 carrying an ID, a field 1622 carrying a security indicator, a field 1623 carrying an address, a field 1624 which is a presence control field, a field 1625 carrying a block index, a field 1626 carrying a round index, a field 1627 carrying a round duration, a field 1628 carrying a payload, and a field 1629 carrying the CRC. Fields 1621-1623 can be considered as a CHR of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 83 / 151 77 / 109 ADV-POLL 1620 frame, and fields 1624-1627 can be considered as open payload of the ADV-POLL 1620 frame.

[00339] Field 1621 can indicate an identity of the ADV-POLL 1620 frame. Field 1622 can indicate whether the ADV-POLL 1620 frame is protected. In some examples, field 1622 carrying 0 indicates that the ADV-POLL 1620 frame is not protected. As shown in FIG. 16B, the total length of field 1621 and field 1622 can be 1 octet.

[00340] Field 1624 includes a block index presence field 1681 which carries a block index presence indicator, a round index presence field 1682 which carries a round index presence indicator, a round duration presence field 1683 which carries a round duration presence indicator, and a reserved field 1684. As shown in FIG. 16B, a length of field 1624 can be 1 octet.

[00341] In some examples, the block index presence indicator is equal to a first value (such as 1) to indicate the presence of block index field 1625, the round index presence indicator is equal to a first value (such as 1) to indicate the presence of round index field 1626, and the round duration presence indicator is equal to a first value (such as 1) to indicate the presence of round duration field 1627. For example, the length of each of the fields 1625-1627 might be 2 octets.

[00342] Alternatively, the protected ADV-POLL frame 1620 may include a field with a security level similar to field 615 in FIG. 6A. Alternatively, the order of fields 1625-1627 and the order of fields 1681-1683 are not limited in the present disclosure.

[00343] As the ADV-POLL 1620 frame is transmitted at the start of a round and includes block structure information (such as block index, round index and block duration in Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 84 / 151 78 / 109 fields 1625 to 1627), the initiator and responder(s) can synchronize with the block structure during the initialization and configuration phase.

[00344] FIG. 17 illustrates an example session 1700 of initiator 260 with a responder 1 (as responder 270-1) and a responder 2 (as responder 270-2) according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. It is assumed that nonce 1520 shown in FIG. 15B is used. As a specific example, it is assumed that each block includes 16 rounds, i.e., NumRounds = 16, allowing N = 4 to be determined.

[00345] The protected downlink frames from the initiator to responder 1 are shown at 1710, while the protected downlink frames from the initiator to responder 2 are shown at 1720. The frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect each frame is shown below the frame.

[00346] As shown in FIG. 17, both ADV-RESP frames from responder 1 and responder 2 are protected frames transmitted in round 1 of block 6, and the PN fields in both frames can be set to zero (i.e., PN = 0x00, as shown in FIG. 17). The 20 least significant bits (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter fields used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the ADV-RESP frames can be calculated as 0x06100. Although the FC for both ADV-RESP frames is the same, since the source address field in the nonce is different and the security keys used for responder 1 and responder 2 are different, this is not a security violation.Similarly, the 128th RPRT frame (RPRT 128) with a PN field set to 0xFF is transmitted to responder 1 in round 0 (0x0) of block 127 (0x7F), and the 20 least significant bits (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RPRT 128 frame can be calculated as 0x7F0FF. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 85 / 151 79 / 109

[00347] A possible resumption of the PN field in the RPRT frame is also shown in 1712 within block 127. If the resumption of the PN field occurs within the same round, this will cause the frame counter (0x7F000) to repeat (the same as used for the POLL frame (POLL 128)) and leads to the reuse of the Nonce. However, as long as a maximum limit of 256 frames per device per round is observed, the frame counter will not repeat and this problem can be avoided.

[00348] Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain the same effect for constructing the nonce frame counter field in FIG. 15A or FIG. 15B without segmenting the frame counter field into PN, round index and block index fields, by setting the value (i.e., FC) of the frame counter field as Equation (6): FC = Block_Index*NumRounds*2M+ Round_Index*2M+ PN (6)

[00349] In Equation (6), Block_index and Round_Index refer to the block index and round index, respectively, and M = the number of bits used for the PN field.

[00350] According to some embodiments with reference to FIGS. 3 to 17, a block index, a round index and a slot index / a PN can be used to construct a nonce, where the nonce can be used to protect or unprotect a protected frame that is transmitted based on a block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe. In this way, an AEAD security operation can be applied and protected communication between an initiator and a responder can be guaranteed.

[00351] Additional reference is made to FIG. 18, which illustrates a signaling diagram illustrating the 1800 communication process according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The 1800 process may involve a transmitter 1801 and a receiver 1802. It is understood that the transmitter 1801 may Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 86 / 151 80 / 109 can be the controller 210 or the controlled 220, and the receiver 1802 can be the controlled 220 or the controller 210, with reference to FIG. 2A. It is understood that the transmitter 1801 can be the initiator 260 or the responder 270, and the receiver 1802 can be the responder 270 or the initiator 260, with reference to FIG. 2B.

[00352] Transmitter 1801 generates 1810 a first protected frame. The first protected frame can be protected by a first nonce, where the first nonce is constructed based on a first base packet number (BPN) and a first PN. In some embodiments, transmitter 1801 can construct the first nonce and then generate the first protected frame.

[00353] The first BPN is associated with an initiator and a responder. Specifically, the first BPN is associated with a communication direction from transmitter 1801 to receiver 1802. For example, if transmitter 1801 is initiator 260, the first BPN is a DL BPN; if transmitter 1801 is responder 270, the first BPN is a DL BPN. The first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

[00354] The first nonce includes a first field carrying the first BPN and a second field carrying the first PN. The length of the first field can be equal to a first quantity, such as N1 bits. The length of the second field can be equal to a second quantity, such as N2 bits. For example, the total number of the first quantity and the second quantity can be a predefined value, such as 40 bits. The initial value of the first BPN can be stored locally on the transmitter 1801 and can be indicated to the receiver 1802, for example, during session setup, etc., and stored locally on the receiver. Alternatively, a default value (e.g., 0) can be used as the initial value of the first BPN.

[00355] The first nonce includes a source address. For example, the first nonce might include a field carrying the source address, for example, a source address field. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 87 / 151 81 / 109 The length of the field carrying the source address can be predefined, such as 8 octets, 7 octets, or another value.

[00356] In some example modes, the first protected frame must be transmitted during an initialization and configuration phase or during a measurement cycle. In some examples, the first protected frame may include the first BPN and the first PN. In other examples, the first protected frame may include the first PN without the first BPN; in this case, a locally stored first BPN may be used.

[00357] The first protected frame may include a first security indicator. For example, the first protected frame may include a field carrying the first security indicator, for example, a security indicator field. The first security indicator may indicate whether the first protected frame is protected. For example, the first security indicator may be 1, indicating that the first protected frame is protected. For example, the length of the field carrying the first security indicator is 1 bit.

[00358] The first protected frame includes a first PN field carrying the first PN. The length of the first PN field can be a predefined value, such as 1 octet.

[00359] The first protected frame may include a BPN presence field carrying a BPN presence indicator. The BPN presence indicator may indicate whether a BPN field is included. For example, the BPN presence indicator is 1, indicating the presence of the BPN field. The first protected frame may include a BPN field carrying the first BPN, allowing the receiver to obtain the BPN to be used to unprotect the frame, as well as subsequent protected frames transmitted by the same initiator. In some examples, if the first BPN is equal to a standard number (such as 0), the BPN presence indicator may be 0, indicating that there is no BPN field included. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 88 / 151 82 / 109

[00360] Transmitter 1801 sends 1820 the first protected frame 1822 to receiver 1802. And receiver 1802 receives 1824 the first protected frame 1822. Receiver 1802 unprotects 1830 the first protected frame 1822. Specifically, receiver 1802 unprotects the first protected frame 1822 by means of a nonce constructed based on a first BPN and a first PN.

[00361] Specifically, if the first protected frame 1822 includes a BPN field and a first PN field, the 1802 receiver can obtain the first BPN and the first PN directly. If the BPN field is not included, a default value (such as 0) can be used as the first BPN. The 1802 receiver can additionally construct the nonce to unprotect the first protected frame 1822 based on the first BPN and the first PN. The 1802 receiver stores the first BPN locally.

[00362] The nonce constructed by receiver 1802 must be the same as the first nonce used to protect the first protected frame constructed by transmitter 1801. The first nonce constructed by receiver 1802 is similar to that described above, i.e., constructed by the transmitter, and will not be described in detail for ease of understanding.

[00363] In some embodiments, transmitter 1801 may additionally transmit a second protected frame to receiver 1802, where the second protected frame includes a second PN, but does not include a first BPN. Receiver 1802 may receive the second protected frame, and construct a second nonce based on the second PN and a locally stored first BPN, to unprotect the second protected frame. In some embodiments, if the second PN is less than a PN in a previous protected frame, receiver 1802 may determine that the PN has been reinstated and therefore the locally stored first BPN must be updated by an increment of one. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 89 / 151 83 / 109

[00364] In some other embodiments, transmitter 1801 may additionally transmit a third protected frame to receiver 1802, where the third protected frame includes a second BPN and a third PN. Receiver 1802 may receive the third protected frame. Because the second BPN is different from the first BPN stored locally, receiver 1802 may replace the first BPN with the second BPN. In other words, the second BPN is stored locally instead of the first BPN. Receiver 1802 additionally constructs a third nonce based on the second BPN and the third PN, to unprotect the third protected frame.

[00365] In the present disclosure, a protected frame is generated by protecting a compressed frame, where a compressed frame can be a compressed PSDU frame or a frame with a compressed header IE format, as described above. The protection operation can be performed using a cryptographic operation, such as authentication or encryption.

[00366] FIG. 19 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example MMS 1900 reach session according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 1900, the MMS 1900 reach session includes an initialization and configuration phase, followed by one or more measurement cycles, where the initialization and configuration phase is an external block structure, while the one or more measurement cycles are an internal block structure.

[00367] In FIG. 19, a locally stored PN and BPN can be used to construct a nonce that is used to protect a frame, regardless of whether it is outside or inside the block structure, as shown in 1910. Table 4 Responder ID DL BPN UL BPN 1 0x00000078 0x00000048 2 0x00000294 0x000000159 Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 90 / 151 84 / 109 Table 5 Initiator ID DL BPN UL BPN 1 0x00000078 0x00000048 Table 6 Initiator ID DL BPN UL BPN 1 0x00000294 0x000000159

[00368] Examples of BPNs stored locally in an initiator (such as initiator 26) are shown in Table 4, while examples of BPNs stored locally in responders (such as responders 270-1 and 270-2) are shown in Tables 5 and 6, respectively. The DL BPN is used for protected frames transmitted by the initiator to the responder(s), while the BPN UL is used for protected frames transmitted by the responder(s) to the initiator.

[00369] FIG. 20 illustrates a signaling diagram that illustrates a 2000 process of an example MMS outreach session according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00370] Similar to some modalities described above, the 2000 process begins with a controller and a controlled party performing a 2010 session setup. During the 2010 session setup, the security key and security level are assumed to be exchanged, and long-term session parameters such as a UWB channel number, preamble codes, a block structure (such as number of blocks, block durations), etc., are negotiated. Long-term parameters are not expected to change during the MMS reach session. When security is enabled, at least one security key will also be provided by the controller to each controlled party to protect unicast frames (i.e., frames that are exchanged between the responder and the initiator). If security is also enabled for broadcast frames, a separate security key, common to all responders, will also be provided. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 91 / 151 85 / 109 For an NBA-MMS reach session, narrowband-related parameters (such as NB channel number, MMS fragment number, etc.) can also be negotiated during the 2010 session setup. Some other parameters, such as MMS fragment number, reporting mode, etc., can be considered short-term parameters, as they can be modified during the MMS reach session. The 2010 session setup can be performed out-of-band, for example, using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio, or it can also be performed in-band, for example, using narrowband or UWB radio.

[00371] Furthermore, the initiator and responder roles are also assigned during session setup 2010. As a specific example shown in FIG. 20, it is assumed that the controller assumes the initiator role 260 and the controlled receives the responder role 270. However, it should be understood that it is also possible for the controlled to receive the initiator role while the controller assumes the responder role.

[00372] In 2022, initiator 260 transmits ADVPOLL frames opportunistically at times and intervals at its discretion, while responder 270 can opportunistically listen to received ADV-POLL frames.

[00373] In 2024, responder 270 responds with the ADV-RESP frame if it intends to participate in a reach session with initiator 260. If security is enabled, the ADV-RESP frame carries a PN and a BPN associated with the uplink transmission, the PN and BPN (UL) being used to construct the nonce to protect the ADV-RESP frame. As shown in FIG. 20, a protected ADV-RESP frame can be transmitted from responder 270 to initiator 260.

[00374] After initiator 260 receives an ADV-RESP frame, it stores the BPN (UL) locally. In 2026, initiator 260 transmits the SOR frame which provides a time offset in Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 92 / 151 86 / 109 which the first range measurement cycle will be initiated. If security is enabled, the SOR frame carries a PN as well as a BPN associated with the downlink transmission; the PN and BPN (DL) are used to construct the nonce used to protect the SOR frame. As shown in FIG. 20, a protected SOR frame can be transmitted from initiator 260 to responder 270. After responder 270 receives an SOR frame, it stores the BPN (DL) locally. It should be noted that different number spaces can be used for the PN in the uplink (responder to initiator) and downlink (initiator to responder) directions.

[00375] In 2028, initiator 260 transmits a POLL frame to responder 270 at the start of the first slot of a round, where the start of the first slot is indicated by the time offset in the SOR frame. Initiator 260 may also include other control information in the POLL frame to responder 270. In 2030, responder 270 transmits a RESP frame back to initiator 260 if it successfully receives the POLL frame. The POLL and RESP frames allow initiator 260 and responder 270 to achieve time and frequency synchronization.

[00376] In the range phase, the initiator 260 and responder 270 can exchange zero or more UWB RSFs and, optionally, one or more UWB RIFs. The RSFs are used to perform range measurements, while the RIFs are used to verify the integrity of the range measurements. Illustratively, the exchange is shown in 2032 and 2034 in FIG. 20.

[00377] After initiator 260 or responder 270 completes receiving all UWB fragments for the range phase, a reporting phase can be initiated. During the reporting phase, initiator 260 or responder 270 can generate a range measurement report and send an RPRT frame carrying the measurement report to the peer device. As shown in FIG. 20, initiator 260 sends a protected RPRT frame to Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 93 / 151 87 / 109 the responder 270 in 2036, while responder 270 sends a protected RPRT frame to initiator 260 in 2038.

[00378] Each protected POLL frame, protected RESP frame, and protected RPRT frame carries a PN; the ported PN and a locally stored BPN can be used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the POLL, RESP, and RPRT frames.

[00379] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 20, a PRMRESP frame and a PRM-REQ frame can be exchanged between initiator 260 and responder 270. Initiator 260 can send a protected PRM-RESP frame including a new BPN, i.e., a new BPN (DL). Responder 270 can send a protected PRM-REQ frame including a new BPN, i.e., a new BPN (UL). In this way, the locally saved BPN can be updated.

[00380] Some examples of frame and nonce formats are shown in the present disclosure with reference to the drawing. However, it should be noted that the examples are provided for illustrative purposes only, without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. For example, a frame or nonce may include multiple fields, one or more fields may be omitted in some cases, and one or more fields not shown may be included. For example, two or more fields may be combined into a single field. For example, a field may be replaced by one or more different fields. For example, a field carrying information may be divided into two fields, one field carrying the information and the other field being reserved. For example, each length (in units of octets or bits) may be a fixed value or an adjusted value. For example, an arrangement of the fields may be otherwise, for example, in a different order. The present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00381] FIG. 21A illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected frame format 2110 during an initialization and configuration phase according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the protected frame Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 94 / 151 88 / 109 2110 can be a protected ADV-RESP frame transmitted in 2024 or a protected SOR frame transmitted in 2026 in FIG. 20. The protected frame 2110 can be based on a compressed PSDU or a compressed header ID format or even a conventional 802.15.4 frame format, in which case the enabled security field in the frame control field (FC) is set to one to indicate that the auxiliary security header field is not present in the MHR.

[00382] As shown in FIG. 21A, the protected frame 2110 includes a field 2111 carrying an ID, a field 2112 carrying a security indicator, a field 2113 carrying an address, a field 2114 which is a presence control field, including a field 2114-1 carrying a BPN presence indicator and a reserved field 2114-2, a field 2115 carrying a PN, a field 2116 carrying a BPN, a field 2117 carrying a protected payload, and a field 2118 carrying the MIC.

[00383] Field 2112 can indicate whether the frame is protected. In some examples, field 2112 may contain 1, indicating that it is protected. In other examples, field 2112 may contain 0, indicating that it is not protected; for example, field 2115 may not be included.

[00384] Fields 2114-2116 can be considered as open payload of protected frame 2110. The open payload can be authenticated but not encrypted, since the BPN and PN are used by the receiver to construct a nonce.

[00385] If protected frame 2110 is the protected ADV-RESP frame, field 2116 may include a BPN associated with uplink transmission, i.e., BPN_UL. If protected frame 2110 is the protected SOR frame, field 2116 may include a BPN associated with downlink transmission, i.e., BPN_DL. If the protected SOR frame is transmitted via broadcast or multicast, multiple BPNs associated with multiple responders may be included in the open payload. In this case, Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, p. 95 / 151 In the 89 / 109 case, the PN can also be extracted from a separate transmission PN space.

[00386] In some examples, the protected frame 2110 may include a field carrying a security level, for example, if the security level is not negotiated during session setup 2010.

[00387] FIG. 21B illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected frame format 2120 during a measurement cycle according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the protected frame 2120 may be a protected POLL frame transmitted at 2028, a protected RESP frame transmitted at 2030, or a protected RPRT frame transmitted at 2036 / 2038 in FIG. 20. The protected frame 2120 may be based on a compressed PSDU.

[00388] As shown in FIG. 21B, the protected frame 2120 includes a field 2121 carrying an ID, a field 2122 carrying a safety indicator (e.g., 1 in FIG. 21B), a field 2123 carrying an address, a field 2124 carrying a PN, a field 2125 carrying the protected payload, and a field 2126 carrying the MIC.

[00389] In some examples, the protected frame 2120 is similar to the protected RPRT frame 1610 described above and, therefore, will not be described in detail for the sake of brevity.

[00390] FIG. 21C illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected SOR frame format 2130 according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the protected frame 2130 may be based on a frame with a compressed header IE format, i.e., a compressed header IE-based format.

[00391] As shown in FIG. 21C, the protected SOR frame 2130 includes a field 2131 carrying an FC, a field 2132 carrying an address, a field 2133 carrying an ID, a field 2134 carrying a security indicator (e.g., 1 in FIG. 21C), a Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 96 / 151 Field 90 / 109 is a presence control field, including a field 2135-1 carrying a BPN presence indicator and a reserved field 2135-2, a field 2136 carrying a PN, a field 2137 carrying a payload, and a field 2138 carrying the MIC. It should be understood that, as the BPN presence indicator is 0 in field 2135-1, there is no field carrying BPN. The enabled security field in frame control field (FC) 2131 is set to one to indicate that the auxiliary security header field is not present in the MHR. In this case, the protected SOR frame 2130 does not include a BPN field and the security level applied involves only authentication (i.e., the security level is any one of 1, 2, or 3), therefore, the payload in field 2137 is not protected, but field 2138, which carries the MIC, is included.

[00392] It should be noted that, in the case of a field with a length of k bits carrying the PN, a maximum of 2k compressed frames can be protected before the BPN needs to be incremented. For example, if k = 8 bits, a maximum of 256 frames can be protected for the same BPN.

[00393] In some examples, the locally stored BPN will be incremented by 1 when the PN of a protected frame received from a transmitter is less than the PN of a previous protected frame received from the same transmitter. In some other examples, the BPN can be explicitly updated during a measurement session. For example, a protected PRM-REQ (for UL) or a protected PRM-RESP (for DL) can be used to update the BPN.

[00394] FIG. 21D illustrates a schematic diagram of a protected PRM-REQ or PRM-RESP frame format 2140 according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The protected frame 2140 includes an SHR field 2141, a PHR field 2142 and a payload field PHY 2143. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 97 / 151 91 / 109

[00395] Field 2143 includes a field 2151 carrying an ID, a field 2152 carrying a security indicator (e.g., 1 in FIG. 21D), a field 2153 carrying an address, a field 2154 which is a presence control field including a field 21541 carrying a BPN presence indicator and a reserved field 2154-2, a field 2155 carrying a PN, a field 2156 carrying a BPN, a field 2157 carrying a protected payload, and a field 2158 carrying the MIC.

[00396] Fields 2154-2156 can be considered as open payload of protected frame 2140. The open payload can be authenticated but not encrypted, since the BPN and PN are used by the receiver to construct a nonce.

[00397] In some examples, field 2143 in protected frame 2140 is similar to protected frame 2110 described above, therefore it will not be described in detail for the sake of brevity.

[00398] FIG. 21E illustrates a schematic diagram of a nonce 2150 format according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The nonce 2150 can be used to protect a frame or to unprotect a protected frame, for example, during process 2000.

[00399] As shown in FIG. 21E, the nonce 2150 includes a frame 2151 carrying a source address, a field 2152 carrying a PN, and a field 2153 carrying a BPN. In some examples, fields 2152-2153 can be considered as a frame counter of the nonce 2150. As shown in FIG. 21E, each length of fields 2152-2153 is predefined, and the total number of lengths is 40 bits.

[00400] Alternatively, nonce 720 may include a field carrying a security level. Alternatively, field 2153 may be split into two fields, one of which carries the BPN and the other is reserved. Alternatively, field 2152 may be located after field 2153, i.e., the order of fields 2152 and 2153 may be reversed. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 98 / 151 92 / 109

[00401] FIG. 22A illustrates an example of a downlink session 2210 from the initiator to a responder 1 (such as responder 270-1) according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The value (i.e., FC) in the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect each frame is shown below the frame.

[00402] As shown in FIG. 22A, the SOR frame can be a protected SOR frame, as shown in FIG. 21A, and carries a BPN = 0x00 and a PN = 0x00. Consequently, the first POLL frame (POLL 1) for responder 1 is transmitted in round 0 of block 0 and carries a PN field defined as 0x01, and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect POLL frame 1 can be calculated as 0x0001. Similarly, the 128th RPRT frame (RPRT 128) is transmitted in round 0 of block 127, carrying a PN = 0xFF, and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RPRT 128 frame can be calculated as 0x00FF. As shown in FIG.22A, the BPN associated with the downlink transmission from the initiator to responder 1 can be explicitly updated in 2212 by the initiator, transmitting a PRM-RESP 1 frame carrying a BPN field set to 0x01.

[00403] FIG. 22B illustrates an example of an uplink session 2220 from responder 2 (such as responder 270-2) to the initiator according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The value (i.e., FC) in the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect each frame is shown below the frame.

[00404] As shown in FIG. 22B, the ADV-RESP frame can be a protected frame carried by responder 2 and carries a BPN = 0x07 and a PN = 0x01. Consequently, the first frame Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, page 99 / 151 93 / 109 The RESP (RESP 1) frame from responder 2 is transmitted in round 1 of block 20 and carries a PN field defined as 0x02, and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RESP 1 frame can be calculated as 0x0702. Similarly, the 128th RPRT frame (RPRT 128) is transmitted by responder 2 in round n of block 227, carrying a PN = 0xFF, and the two least significant octets (in hexadecimal) of the frame counter field used to construct the nonce to protect / unprotect the RPRT 128 frame can be calculated as 0x07FF. As shown in FIG. 22B, the BPN associated with the uplink transmission from responder 2 to the initiator can be explicitly updated to 2222 by responder 2 transmitting a PRM-REQ 1 frame carrying a BPN field set to 0x08.

[00405] Alternatively, it is also possible to obtain the same effect for constructing the Nonce frame counter field in FIG. 21E without segmenting the frame counter field into PN and BPN fields, by defining the value (i.e., FC) of the frame counter field as Equation (7): FC = PN || BPN (7)

[00406] In Equation (7), “| | represents a concatenation operation.

[00407] According to some embodiments with reference to FIGS. 18-22B, a BPN and a PN can be used to construct a nonce, where the nonce can be used to protect a frame or unprotect a protected frame, regardless of whether the protected frame is transmitted based on a block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe. Thus, an AEAD security operation can be applied and secure communication between an initiator and a responder can be guaranteed. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 100 / 151 94 / 109

[00408] FIG. 23 illustrates an example block diagram of a 2300 communication apparatus according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. The 2300 apparatus can be implemented in a transmitter, such as transmitter 301 in FIG. 3 or transmitter 1801 in FIG. 18, or be implemented as a chip or system of chips within the transmitter. As shown in FIG. 23, the apparatus includes a generation module 2310 and a transmission module 2320.

[00409] It should be understood that the module may be referred to as a unit or means, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00410] In some embodiments, the 2310 generation module can be configured to generate a first protected frame to be transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce being constructed based on identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, the round index being an index of the first round, and the block index being an index of the first block. The 2320 transmission module can be configured to transmit the first protected frame.

[00411] In some examples, the identification information comprises a slot index, the slot index being a slot index in which the first protected frame is transmitted. In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first bit quantity bearing the slot index. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 101 / 151 95 / 109

[00412] In some examples, the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[00413] In some examples, the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), wherein the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first bit quantity bearing the first PN.

[00414] In some examples, the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[00415] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second number of bits carrying the round index, and a third field with a third number of bits carrying the block index.

[00416] In some examples, the second quantity is determined based on the number of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity. In some examples, the third quantity is a predefined third quantity.

[00417] In some examples, the sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity equals a predefined total quantity.

[00418] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a fourth field with a fourth bit quantity bearing a cycle index, wherein the cycle index is an index of a cycle comprising a plurality of blocks with the first block in it.

[00419] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first block indicator indicating that the first protected frame is transmitted based on the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[00420] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the block index and the round index. In some Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 102 / 151 96 / 109 examples, the first protected frame comprises: a first block index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first block index, and a first round index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first round index.

[00421] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[00422] In some examples, the 2310 generation module can be further configured to generate a second protected frame to be transmitted, wherein the second protected frame is protected by a second nonce constructed based on a second PN, wherein the second PN is a packet number of the second protected frame. The 2320 transmission module can be further configured to transmit the second protected frame.

[00423] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a field with a predefined number of octets that carry the second PN.

[00424] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a second block indicator indicating that the second protected frame is transmitted outside the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[00425] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a PN field that carries the second PN.

[00426] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a second security indicator that indicates that the second protected frame is protected.

[00427] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a protected payload, and wherein the protected payload comprises: a second block index presence indicator indicating whether a second block index is included, a second index presence indicator of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 103 / 151 97 / 109 round indicating whether a second round index is included, and a second slot index presence indicator indicating whether a second slot index is included.

[00428] In some examples, the protected payload comprises: the block index if the second block index presence indicator indicates that the second block index is included, the round index if the second round index presence indicator indicates that the second round index is included, and the slot index if the second slot index presence indicator indicates that the second slot index is included.

[00429] In some instances, at least one of the second block index presence indicator, the second round index presence indicator, or the second slot index presence indicator indicates that a matching index is not included, and implicitly indicates that the matching index is a standard index.

[00430] The 2300 apparatus can be used to implement some modes in a transmitter described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 17.

[00431] In some other example modes, the 2310 generation module can be configured to generate a first protected frame to be transmitted in a block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe, where the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce constructed based on a base first packet number (BPN) and a packer first number (PN), the first BPN is associated with an initiator and a responder, and the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. The 2320 transmission module can be configured to transmit the first protected frame. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 104 / 151 98 / 109

[00432] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[00433] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a first field with a first number of bits carrying the first BPN and a second field with a second number of bits carrying the first PN.

[00434] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first PN field carrying the first PN. In some examples, the first protected frame indicates the first BPN.

[00435] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a BPN presence field carrying a BPN presence indicator that indicates whether a BPN field is included.

[00436] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the BPN field that carries the first BPN if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is included.

[00437] In some examples, the first protected frame indicates that the first BPN is a standard number if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is not included.

[00438] In some examples, the 2300 device may additionally comprise a storage module, configured to store the first BPN associated with a first communication direction between the initiator and the responder.

[00439] In some examples, the 2320 transmission module can be configured to transmit a second protected frame comprising a second PN smaller than a PN contained in a previous frame of the third protected frame.

[00440] In some examples, the 2320 transmission module can be configured to transmit a third protected frame comprising a second BPN. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 105 / 151 99 / 109

[00441] The 2300 apparatus can be used to implement some modes in a transmitter described with reference to FIGS. 18 to 22B.

[00442] FIG. 24 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a 2400 communication device according to some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The 2400 device can be implemented in a receiver, such as receiver 302 in FIG. 2.3 or receiver 1802 in FIG. 18, or be implemented as a chip or chip system within the receiver. As shown in FIG. 24, the device includes a receiving module 2410 and a deprotection module 2420.

[00443] It should be understood that the module may be called a unit or medium, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

[00444] In some embodiments, the 2410 reception module can be configured to receive a first protected frame transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots. The 2420 deprotection module can be configured to deprotect the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on the identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, wherein the round index is an index of the first round, and the block index is an index of the first block.

[00445] In some examples, the identification information comprises a slot index, the slot index is an index of Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 106 / 151 100 / 109 slot in which the first protected frame is transmitted. In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first number of bits carrying the slot index.

[00446] In some examples, the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[00447] In some examples, the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), where the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

[00448] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first field with a first bit quantity carrying the first PN. In some examples, the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

[00449] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second number of bits carrying the round index, and a third field with a third number of bits carrying the block index.

[00450] In some examples, the second quantity is determined based on the number of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity. In some examples, the third quantity is a predefined third quantity.

[00451] In some examples, the sum of the first quantity, the second quantity, and the third quantity equals a predefined total quantity.

[00452] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a fourth field with a fourth bit quantity bearing a cycle index, wherein the cycle index is an index of a cycle comprising a plurality of blocks with the first block in it.

[00453] In some examples, the first nonce comprises a first block indicator indicating that the first frame Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 107 / 151 Protected 101 / 109 is transmitted based on either a block-based timeframe or a hyperblock-based timeframe.

[00454] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the block index and therefore the round index.

[00455] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises: a first block index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first block index, and a first round index presence indicator, which indicates the presence of the first round index.

[00456] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[00457] In some examples, the 2410 reception module can be further configured to receive a second protected frame transmitted not based on the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure. The 2420 deprotection module can be further configured to deprotect the second protected frame based on a second nonce constructed based on a second PN, where the second PN is a packet number of the second protected frame.

[00458] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a field with a predefined number of octets that carry the second PN.

[00459] In some examples, the second nonce comprises a second block indicator indicating that the second frame is transmitted outside the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe.

[00460] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a PN field that carries the second PN.

[00461] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a second security indicator that indicates that the second protected frame is protected. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pages 108 / 151 102 / 109

[00462] In some examples, the second protected frame comprises a protected payload, wherein the unprotection of the second protected frame comprises the unprotection of the protected payload based on the second nonce, and wherein the protected payload comprises: a second block index presence indicator indicating whether a second block index is included, a second round index presence indicator indicating whether a second round index is included, and a second slot index presence indicator indicating whether a second slot index is included.

[00463] In some examples, the protected payload comprises: the block index if the second block index presence indicator indicates that the second block index is included, the round index if the second round index presence indicator indicates that the second round index is included, and the slot index if the second slot index presence indicator indicates that the second slot index is included.

[00464] In some examples, the 2420 deprotection module can be configured to: based on a determination that at least one of the second block index presence indicator, the second round index presence indicator, or the second slot index presence indicator indicates that a corresponding index is not included, determine that the corresponding index is a standard index.

[00465] The 2400 apparatus can be used to implement some modes in a receiver described with reference to FIGS. 3-17.

[00466] In some other example modes, the 2410 reception module can be configured to receive a first protected frame transmitted in the block-based timeframe or the hyperblock-based timeframe. The 2420 deprotection module can be configured to deprotect the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 109 / 151 103 / 109 first frame protected based on a first nonce, where the first nonce is constructed based on a first base packet number (BPN) and a first packer number (PN), the first BPN is associated with an initiator and a responder, and the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

[00467] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first security indicator, which indicates that the first protected frame is protected.

[00468] In some examples, the first nonce comprises: a first field with a first number of bits carrying the first BPN and a second field with a second number of bits carrying the first PN.

[00469] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a first PN field carrying the first PN. In some examples, the first protected frame indicates the first BPN.

[00470] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises a BPN presence field carrying a BPN presence indicator that indicates whether a BPN field is included.

[00471] In some examples, the first protected frame comprises the BPN field that carries the first BPN if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is included.

[00472] In some examples, the first protected frame indicates that the first BPN is a standard number if the BPN presence indicator indicates that the BPN field is not included.

[00473] In some examples, the 2400 device may additionally comprise a storage module, configured to store the first BPN associated with a first communication direction between the initiator and the responder.

[00474] In some examples, the 2410 receiving module can be further configured to receive a second protected frame comprising a second PN. The 2400 device can further comprise an update module, configured Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 110 / 151 104 / 109 so that, if the second PN is less than a PN included in a previous frame of the third protected frame, update the first BPN by incrementing it by one.

[00475] In some examples, the 2410 receiving module can be further configured to receive a third protected frame comprising a second BPN. The 2400 device can further comprise an update module, configured to replace the first BPN with the second BPN.

[00476] The 2400 apparatus can be used to implement some modes in a receiver described with reference to FIGS. 18-22B.

[00477] FIG. 25 illustrates an example of a block diagram of a device 2500 that can be used to implement some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 2500 can be considered as a further example of implementation (e.g., part) of the controller 210 and the controlled 220, as shown in FIG. 2A, or of the initiator 260 and the responder 270, as shown in FIG. 2B.

[00478] As shown, the 2500 device includes a 2510 processor, a 2520 memory coupled to the 2510 processor, a suitable 2540 transmitter (TX) and receiver (RX) coupled to the 2510 processor, and a communication interface coupled to the TX / RX 2540. The 2510 memory stores at least part of a 2530 program. The TX / RX 2540 is for bidirectional communications. The TX / RX 2540 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, although in practice, an Access Node mentioned in this disclosure may have several. The communication interface may represent any interface necessary for communication with other network elements, such as the X2 interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs, the S1 interface for communication between a Mobility Management Entity (MME) / Service Gateway (S-GW) and the eNB, the Un interface for communication between the Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 111 / 151 105 / 109 eNB and a relay node (RN), or the Uu interface for communication between the eNB and a terminal device.

[00479] It is presumed that program 2530 includes program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 2510, enable the device 2500 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGS. 3 to 24. The embodiments described herein may be implemented by software executable by the processor 2510 of the device 2500, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 2510 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 2510 and the memory 2520 may form processing media 2550 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

[00480] The 2520 memory can be of any type suitable for the local technical network and can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a computer-readable non-transient storage medium, semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory, and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. Although only one 2520 memory is shown in the 2500 device, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the 2500 device. The 2510 processor can be of any type suitable for the local technical network and may include one or more general-purpose computers, special-purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), and multi-core processor architecture-based processors, as non-limiting examples.The 2500 device may have multiple processors, such as an application-specific integrated circuit chip that is time-slave to a clock that synchronizes with the main processor. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 112 / 151 106 / 109

[00481] The present disclosure provides a device comprising: a processor; and a memory that stores computer program codes; the memory and computer program codes configured to, with the processor, make the device perform the method implemented in the transmitter or receiver discussed above.

[00482] The present disclosure provides a computer-readable means having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by a processor in an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method implemented in the transmitter or receiver discussed above.

[00483] In general, various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented in hardware or special-purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representation, it should be noted that the blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented, as non-limiting examples, in hardware, software, firmware, special-purpose circuits or logic, general-purpose hardware or controller, or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[00484] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product stored in tangible form on a non-transient, computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed on a device on a target real or virtual processor, to perform the process or Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 113 / 151 107 / 109 method described above with reference to FIGS. 3 to 24. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or similar items that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functionality of program modules can be combined or divided among program modules as desired in various ways. Machine-executable instructions for program modules can be executed on a local or distributed device. On a distributed device, program modules can be located on local and remote storage media.

[00485] The program code for executing the methods of this disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. Such program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing device, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may be executed entirely on one machine, partially on the machine as a standalone software package, partially on the machine and partially on a remote machine, or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[00486] The above program code may be incorporated into a machine-readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with a system, apparatus, or instruction-executing device. The machine-readable medium may be a machine-readable signal medium or a machine-readable storage medium. A machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or other system, apparatus, or device. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 114 / 151 108 / 109 semiconductor, or any suitable combination thereof. More specific examples of machine-readable storage media include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer floppy disk, a hard disk drive, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[00487] Furthermore, although the operations are represented in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve the desired results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are contained in the discussions above, these should not be interpreted as limitations to the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular modalities. Certain features described in the context of separate modalities may also be implemented in combination in a single modality. Conversely, several features described in the context of a single modality may also be implemented in multiple modalities separately or in any suitable subcombination.

[00488] Although the present disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features or methodological acts, it should be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Instead, Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 115 / 151 109 / 109 The specific resources and actions described above are revealed as illustrative forms of implementing the claims. Petition 870250101468, dated 05 / 11 / 2025, pp. 116 / 151

Claims

1 / 4 CLAIMS 1. A method, characterized in that it comprises: generating a first protected frame to be transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots, wherein the first protected frame is protected by a first nonce being constructed based on identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, the round index being an index of the first round, and the block index being an index of the first block; and transmitting the first protected frame.

2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification information comprises a slot index, the slot index being an index of the slot in which the first protected frame is transmitted.

3. Method, according to claim 2, characterized in that the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits bearing the slot index.

4. Method, according to claim 3, characterized in that the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

5. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), and wherein the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame. Petition 870250089374, dated 10 / 01 / 2025, p. 30 / 51 2 / 4 6. Method, according to claim 2, characterized in that the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits bearing the first PN.

7. Method according to claim 6, characterized in that the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

8. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second quantity of bits bearing the round index, and a third field with a third quantity of bits bearing the block index.

9. Method, according to claim 8, characterized in that the second quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity.

10. Method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that the third quantity is a predefined third quantity.

11. Method, characterized in that it comprises: receiving a first protected frame transmitted in a slot in a first round belonging to a first block based on a block-based time structure or a hyperblock-based time structure, wherein the block-based time structure or the hyperblock-based time structure comprises a plurality of blocks, each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of rounds, each round of the plurality of rounds comprises a plurality of slots; and unprotecting the first protected frame based on a first nonce, wherein the first nonce is constructed based on the identification information associated with the first protected frame, a round index and a block index, wherein the round index is an index of the first round, and the block index is an index of the first block.

12. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the identification information comprises a slot index, the slot index being an index of the slot in which the first protected frame is transmitted.

13. Method, according to claim 12, characterized in that the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits bearing the slot index.

14. Method, according to claim 13, characterized in that the first quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of slots in each round, or the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

15. Method according to claim 11, characterized in that the identification information comprises a first packet number (PN), wherein the first PN is a packet number of the first protected frame.

16. Method, according to claim 15, characterized in that the first nonce comprises a first field with a first quantity of bits bearing the first PN.

17. Method according to claim 16, characterized in that the first quantity is a predefined first quantity.

18. A method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, characterized in that the first nonce comprises: a second field with a second quantity of bits bearing the round index, and a third field with a third quantity of bits bearing the block index.

19. Method according to claim 18, characterized in that the second quantity is determined based on a quantity of the plurality of rounds in each block, or the second quantity is a predefined second quantity. Petition 870250089374, dated 10 / 01 / 2025, p. 32 / 51 4 / 4 20. Method according to claim 18, characterized in that the third quantity is a predefined third quantity.

21. Communication device, characterized in that it comprises: a processor configured to perform, with a transceiver, the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10 or 11 to 20.

22. Computer-readable medium, characterized in that it has instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, causing the apparatus to perform the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10 or 11 to 20.

23. Computer instruction product, characterized in that it comprises computer-executable instructions stored therein, the computer-executable instructions, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform the method as defined in any one of claims 1 to 10 or any one of claims 11 to 20. Petition 870250089374, dated 10 / 01 / 2025, pp. 33 / 51

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