WTRU role assignment based on trustworthiness

Abstract

The system, methods and devices described herein allow to dynamically decide a WTRU role that can be perform based on the level of WTRU trustworthiness, how to withdraw / deactivate a WTRU role when the WTRU trustworthiness level is falls below a certain threshold, allow the Role Management System (RMS) and the trustworthiness management system (TMS) and interwork with other network entities, perform the role assignment associated with other attributes, such as location, time, network, peers that the WTRU interacts with, etc., update the assigned one or more roles when the trustworthiness level of a WTRU changes, and transfer a WTRU role to another WTRU, when the first WTRU becomes unavailable, due to various reasons such as mobility, connection availability etc.

Description

WTRU ROLE ASSIGNMENT BASED ON TRUSTWORTHINESSCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 557,988, filed February 26, 2024, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND

[0002] A wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU) can perform certain roles as an intermediate entity in the communication chain, such as in B5G and 6G. These roles may include, for example, relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, sidelink (SL) Positioning Sever WTRU, PIN element with the gateway capabilities (PEGC WTRU), volunteer WTRU that will process and distribute the shared data and model for Artificial Intelligence Machine Learning (AIML) operation. The roles may be performed in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), etc. A malicious WTRU in such roles can launch information leaking / manipulation and privacy attacks.SUMMARY

[0003] The system, methods and devices described herein allow to dynamically decide a WTRU role that can be perform based on the level of WTRU trustworthiness, how to withdraw / deactivate a WTRU role when the WTRU trustworthiness level is falls below a certain threshold, allow the Role Management System (RMS) and the trustworthiness management system (TMS) and interwork with other network entities, perform the role assignment associated with other attributes, such as location, time, network, peers that the WTRU interacts with, etc., update the assigned one or more roles when the trustworthiness level of a WTRU changes, and transfer a WTRU role to another WTRU, when the first WTRU becomes unavailable, due to various reasons such as mobility, connection availability etc.

[0004] A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) and a method performed in a WTRU are described. The WTRU includes a processor, and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor. The transceiver and processor configured to transmit a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel, receive a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy, or at least one condition associated with the role assignment, and initiate services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role. The at least one condition may include at least one validity parameter associated with the role. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to transmit at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role. The transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be associated with the transmitted role assignment request. The transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least onecondition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be included with the transmitted role assignment request. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to perform one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment. The received role assignment may be based on a second WTRU. The initiated services may be with the second WTRU. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to verify the received role assignment. Verifying the received role assignment may include validating a digital signature associated with the received role.

[0005] The method for a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to be assigned a role is also described. The method includes transmitting a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel, receiving a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy or at least one condition associated with the role assignment, and initiating services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by the other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role. The at least one condition may include at least one validity parameter associated with the role. The method may include transmitting at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role. The transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be associated with the transmitted role assignment request. The transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be included with the transmitted role assignment request. The method may include performing one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment. The received role assignment may be based on a second WTRU. The initiated services may be with the second WTRU. the method may include verifying the received role assignment. Verifying the received role assignment may include validating a digital signature associated with the received role.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0006] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals in the figures indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0007] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0008] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG 1A according to an embodiment;

[0009] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0010] FIG. 1D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG 1A according to an embodiment;

[0011] FIG. 2 illustrates an example diagram in which a volunteer WTRU operates in the role as an intermediate node in AIML infrastructure for 5G / NextGen Network;

[0012] FIG. 3 illustrates a user role within a WTRU role assignment based on trustworthiness; and

[0013] FIG. 4 illustrates an example for WTRU engagement in services with assigned / authorized roles.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0014] A WTRU may operate in roles such as intermediate entity in the communication chain in B5G and 6G, such as relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, SL Positioning Sever WTRU, volunteer WTRU that may process and distribute the shared data and model for AIML operation. This may occur in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, UAV, Ranging, Integrated Sensing, PIN, etc. This examples herein dynamically assign WTRU roles based on trustworthiness, role environments, and role policy upon requests. The role assignment may be requested by the WTRU or other network functional entities when a WTRU plays one or more roles in network services. In an example, one WTRU may be elected to a role by other participating WTRUs. For example, if a role is allocated to a WTRU-1 only if more than one other WTRU elects WTRU-1 to that particular role. The user consent (UC) is part of the request of the role assignment. The RMS TMS may retrieve the role policy, and other dynamic environment parameters such as network (roaming vs non-roaming), location, time, WTRU authorization, etc , from the related network functions before making decision to assign the requested one or more roles The role policy may specify the conditions of the trustworthiness score / rating for different roles under different conditions. For example, the policy may specify that the network request votes from participating WTRUs for candidate WTRUs for a particular role, or may send a message to participating WTRUs requesting that WTRU-1 be assigned a particular role, providing participating WTRUs the ability to reject / oppose this decision. The trustworthiness level may be dynamically evaluated when the role assignment request is received. The trustworthiness may be continuously updated after the role assignment is assigned. When the trustworthiness score / rating changes based on new information from an information update event, the WTRU role assignment may be updated as a result. The role assignment may be digitally signed by the authority along with a validity time and scope before responding back to the request and store the one or more roles in the UDM.

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

[0016] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (CN) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a station (STA), may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0017] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB, an eNode B (eNB), a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a next generation NodeB, such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

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

[0019] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.) The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0020] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0021] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0022] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access , which may establish the air interface 116 using NR.

[0023] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0024] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System forMobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0025] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

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

[0027] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

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

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

[0030] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. 1 B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0031] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0032] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1 B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ Ml MO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0033] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11, for example.

[0034] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0035] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0036] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g , longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable locationdetermination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

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

[0038] WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g , associated with particular subframes for both the UL (e g., for transmission) and DL (e g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g , associated with particular subframes for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the DL (e.g., for reception)).

[0039] FIG. 10 is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the ON 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106

[0040] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

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

[0042] The ON 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator

[0043] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

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

[0045] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

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

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

[0048] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

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

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

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

[0052] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0053] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11 af and 802 11 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11af and 802 11ah relative to those used in 802.11n, and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11 ah may support Meter Type Control / Machine- Type Communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g , only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e g., to maintain a very long battery life).

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

[0055] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.11 ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 9235 MHz In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 9165 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0056] FIG. 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[0063] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0064] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet- switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0065] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local DN 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b

[0066] In view of FIGs. 1A-1D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNode-B 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and / or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

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

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

[0069] The system, methods and devices described herein allow to dynamically decide a WTRU role that can be perform based on the level of WTRU trustworthiness, how to withdraw / deactivate a WTRU role when the WTRU trustworthiness level is falls below a certain threshold, allow the Role Management System (RMS) and the trustworthiness management system (TMS) and interwork with other network entities, perform the role assignment associated with other attributes, such as location, time, network, peers that the WTRU interacts with, etc., update the assigned one or more roles when the trustworthiness level of a WTRU changes, and transfer a WTRU role to another WTRU, when the first WTRU becomes unavailable, due to various reasons such as mobility, connection availability etc.

[0070] A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) and a method performed in a WTRU are described. The WTRU includes a processor, and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor. The transceiver and processor configured to transmit a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel, receive a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy, or at least one condition associated with the role assignment, and initiate services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role. The at least one condition may include at least one validity parameter associated with the role. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to transmit at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role. The transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be associated with the transmitted role assignment request. The transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be included with the transmitted role assignment request. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to perform one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment. The received role assignment may be based on a second WTRU. The initiated services may be with the second WTRU. The transceiver and processor may be further configured to verify the received role assignment. Verifying the received role assignment may include validating a digital signature associated with the received role.

[0071] The method for a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to be assigned a role is also described. The method includes transmitting a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel, receiving a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy or at least one condition associated with the role assignment, and initiating services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by the other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role. The at least one condition may include at least one validity parameter associated with the role. The method may include transmitting at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associatedwith the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role. The transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be associated with the transmitted role assignment request. The transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role may be included with the transmitted role assignment request. The method may include performing one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment. The received role assignment may be based on a second WTRU. The initiated services may be with the second WTRU. the method may include verifying the received role assignment. Verifying the received role assignment may include validating a digital signature associated with the received role.

[0072] A WTRU may operate in roles such as intermediate entity in the communication chain in B5G and 6G, such as relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, SL Positioning Sever WTRU, volunteer WTRU that may process and distribute the shared data and model for Al M L operation. This may occur in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, UAV, Ranging, Integrated Sensing, PIN, etc. This examples herein dynamically assign WTRU roles based on trustworthiness, role environments, and role policy upon requests. The role assignment may be requested by the WTRU or other network functional entities when a WTRU plays one or more roles in network services. In an example, one WTRU may be elected to a role by other participating WTRUs. For example, if a role is allocated to a WTRU-1 only if more than one other WTRU elects WTRU-1 to that particular role. The User Consent is part of the request of the role assignment. The RMS / TMS may retrieve the role policy, and other dynamic environment parameters such as network (roaming vs non-roaming), location, time, WTRU authorization, etc., from the related network functions before making decision to assign the requested one or more roles. The role policy may specify the conditions of the trustworthiness score / rating for different roles under different conditions. For example, the policy may specify that the network request votes from participating WTRUs for candidate WTRUs for a particular role, or may send a message to participating WTRUs requesting that WTRU-1 be assigned a particular role, providing participating WTRUs the ability to reject / oppose this decision. The trustworthiness level may be dynamically evaluated when the role assignment request is received. The trustworthiness may be continuously updated after the role assignment is assigned. When the trustworthiness score / rating changes based on new information from an information update event, the WTRU role assignment may be updated as a result. The role assignment may be digitally signed by the authority along with a validity time and scope before responding back to the request and store the one or more roles in the UDM.

[0073] In an example, the WTRU role assignment may be based on trustworthiness. The role management system (RMS) / trustworthiness management system (TMS) may receive the role assignment request along with the one or more roles requested, user consent (UC), conditions / parameters associated with the one or more roles. The RMS / TMS checks the authorization of the request, and then retrieves the role policy from the policy control function (PCF) for the one or more roles that the WTRU requested. Theauthorization of the WTRU role request can be based on authorization token, or from the unified data management (UDM) subscription. The RMS / TMS may retrieve the user subscription data that may be used to decide the assignment of the requested one or more roles, such as default user consent parameters, role authorizations, time and network / location that requested one or more roles can be assigned, WTRU capabilities, etc. The RMS / TMS may evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating of the subject WTRU, and use the trustworthiness level, role policy, and conditions as the base to assigns the one or more roles. The RMS / TMS may digitally sign the one or more roles along with the validity time / parameters associated with the one or more roles to be validated by the one or more roles consumer when the WTRU performs the one or more roles in services. The TMS may subscribe to the events associated with the WTRU trustworthiness from network functions (NFs) that has the device related data, such as access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), UDM, AF, network exposure function (NEF), etc. When the event notification is received, the TMS may evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating and corresponding one or more roles update. The RMS / TMS may update the UDM with the assigned one or more roles and may respond to the WTRU request. The UDM may notify the related parties that have subscribe the WTRU one or more roles change.

[0074] In an example, the WTRU service engagement may be assigned / authorized a role. The WTRU may setup a secure communication channel with the Role Management System (RMS) / T rustworthiness Management System (TMS). The WTRU may send the role assignment request to the RMS / TMS along with the one or more roles requested, user consent (UC), conditions / parameters associated with the one or more roles. The WTRU may receive the one or more roles assigned by the RMS / TMS and may begin performing the functionalities as the one or more roles. The WTRU checks the role from its peer and validates the digital signature of the role from the peer. When multiple WTRUs engaged in a service, such as Sidelink (SL) Ranging / Positioning, are target WTRU, Located WTRU, SL reference WTRU, SL Positioning client WTRU, SL Positioning Server WTRU, and other roles, for example. Each WTRU may check the peer WTRU authorization and assigned roles when the WTRUs operate together.

[0075] A setforth above, a WTRU may perform roles as an intermediate entity in B5G and 6G. A WTRU may perform roles as an intermediate entity in the communication chain in B5G and 6G. These roles may include relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, SL Positioning Sever WTRU, PIN element with the gateway capabilities (PEGC WTRU), and volunteer WTRU that will process and distribute the shared data and model for AIML operation , for example. The roles may be performed in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, UAV, for example. A malicious WTRU in such roles can launch information leaking / manipulation and privacy attacks. Therefore, the trustworthiness may be used as one of the WTRU role selection criteria.

[0076] Since the trustworthiness of a WTRU is dynamic, the trustworthiness may be continuously evaluated before, during and after the WTRU role assignment. In addition, different roles require different level of trustworthiness. For example, a SL Position client WTRU may require lower level of trustworthiness as compared with a role of SL Positioning Server WTRU that may require a high level of trustworthiness.A malicious WTRU in a critical role can cause more severe security damage than the WTRU in a less critical role.

[0077] FIG. 2 illustrates an example diagram 200 in which a volunteer WTRU 210 operates in the role as an intermediate node in AIML infrastructure for a 5G / NextGen Network. Example diagram 200 includes a 3rdparty Application Function 240, an operator MEC (Mobile Edge Computing) Platform 250 and an operator 5G Core (5GC) 260. 3rdparty Application Function 240 operates to invokes API’s of the operator 5GC 260 to obtain information about volunteer WTRUs. For example, the operator 5GC 260 may send the 3rdparty Application Function 240 information about volunteer WTRUs that meet a criteria. An example criteria may be that the volunteer WTRUs are in a location. The 3rdparty Application Function 240 may use the information from the operator 5GC 260 to determine which volunteer WTRUs should be configured to behave as a volunteer WTRU. The 3rdparty Application Function 240 may then configure the determined volunteer WTRUs to behave as a volunteer WTRU. The 3rdparty Application Function 240 may then send a request to the operator 5GC 260 to send model information to the determined WTRUs. The operator 5GC 260 may then trigger the operator MEC Platform 250 to send model information to the determined WTRUs. The MEC Platform 250 may send the model information to some of the volunteer WTRUs via other volunteer WTRUs. As illustrated volunteer WTRU 210 (collectively referring to volunteer WTRU 210a and volunteers WTRU 210b), provides a connection for WTRUs 220, 230 (collectively referring to WTRUs 220a, WTRUs 230a, WTRUs, 220b, WTRUs 230b). Such a connection may be for any service described herein. This may include connection with a 3rdparty 240, operator MEC 250 and / or operator 5GC 260, for example

[0078] In the example diagram 200, volunteer WTRU 210a may distribute models to other volunteer WTRUs 210b . Volunteer WTRU 210a may maliciously intercept, modify, replay data in the models, and steal privacy information about other WTRUs 230. Therefore, selection of WTRUs as volunteer WTRU 210 may be based on the trustworthiness of volunteer WTRU 210 and volunteers WTRU’s 210 security capability may prove extremely important for the network security.

[0079] In an example, a WTRU capable of Ranging / SL Positioning may take different roles in various Ranging / SL Positioning operations Each of the WTRUs in a Ranging / SL Positioning service may act in its own authorized role. The assignmentof a WTRU for different one or more roles may need to be compatible with the trustworthiness of the WTRU assigned the role. The security requirement for the assignment of the role may be defined where the system may support the authorization of the role of the WTRU (e.g., as a Target WTRU / SL Reference WTRU / SL Positioning Server WTRU / Located WTRU) in a Ranging / Sidelink Positioning service. The trustworthiness level of a WTRU is one of the factors for the authorization of the role, for example.

[0080] The term “role” may refer to functionality that a WTRU performing the role may provide. Examples of functionality are providing sensing information, ranging information, forwarding or distributing AIML models, and acting as a gateway. The term “role” may also refer to functionality that the WTRU performing the role may provide in a procedure. Examples of functionality that the WTRU provides in aprocedure are acting as a peer WTRU when communicating with another WTRU, forwarding data as a relay WTRU, receiving data as a remote WTRU, transmitting data as remote WTRU, operating as a UAV, for example.

[0081] The RMS / TMS is the system that collects data, processes data used for the trustworthiness evaluation, evaluates the trustworthiness score / rating, and stores the data and the rating. In addition, the RMS / TMS assigns the WTRU role based on the trustworthiness score / rating the role policy. As described below, RMS / TMS may unction together, or RMS and TMS may be separate entities within the system. Generally, herein the RMS and TMS are described together, although where appropriate the functionality of each is delineated for ease of understanding the present description.

[0082] Trustworthiness has been widely researched for B5G and 6G services where multiple stakeholders can be engaged to provide end to end services and it is considered as one of the important security capabilities for the B5G and 6G. The WTRU that is used to act only as an end access device may perform a role as intermediate node like other operator’s network function (NFs), such as relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, SL Positioning Sever WTRU, PIN element with the gateway capabilities (PEGC WTRU), volunteer WTRU that processes and distributes the shared data and model for AIML operation, for example. This role may be performed in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, UAV, etc. Therefore, attacking options from attackers on the B5G and 6G network are significantly broader when potential malicious WTRUs can perform functionalities that can be performed in the past by operator owned NFs.

[0083] Currently, the relay node is simply assumed to be “trusted” (such as in ProSe), which is not aligned with the state-of-art security principles such as Zero Trust. Zero Trust is a high-level strategy that assumes that individuals, devices, and services that are attempting to access network resources, even those inside the network, cannot automatically be trusted. To enhance security these users / devices are verified every time they request access, even if they were authenticated previously.

[0084] In an example scenario for integrated sensing and communication, the sensing information may be sent to authorized party based on user consent from the sensing object. The user consent parameters include a data processor ID that refers to a data processor that processes data for the WTRU. The data processor may be an AF ID, or more generic, e.g. "3rd party" or "all", and the purpose of data processing. The user consent parameters can be retrieved from the user subscription parameters in UDM, or sent from the WTRU if the values are not subscription based. The sensing data may be confidentiality, integrity, privacy and replay protected against any intermediate node WTRUs The WTRUs that perform sensing data collection, transportation and consumption may be carefully evaluated based on WTRU trustworthiness evaluation and role policy before the role assignment is given. The above stated elements are applicable to several other use-cases and services.

[0085] Issues that may be resolved using the details included herein are, how to dynamically decide a WTRU role that can be perform based on the level of WTRU trustworthiness, how to withdraw / deactivatea WTRU role when the WTRU trustworthiness level is falls below a certain threshold, how does the Role Management System (RMS) and the trustworthiness management system (TMS) interwork with other network entities, how is the role assignment associated with other attributes, such as location, time, network, peers that the WTRU interacts with, etc., how are the assigned one or more roles updated when the trustworthiness level of a WTRU changes, and how to a WTRU role is transferred to another WTRU, when the first WTRU becomes unavailable, due to various reasons such as mobility, connection availability etc

[0086] As set forth above, a WTRU may operate in roles such as intermediate entity in the communication chain in B5G and 6G, such as relay, proxy, master node of a group entities, SL Positioning Sever WTRU, volunteer WTRU that may process and distribute the shared data and model for AIML operation. This may occur in features like ProSe, AIML Splitting, UAV, Ranging, Integrated Sensing, PIN, etc. The examples herein may dynamically assign a WTRU roles based on trustworthiness, role environments, and role policy upon requests. The role assignment may be requested by the WTRU or other network functional entities when a WTRU performs one or more roles in network services. In an example, one WTRU may be elected to a role by other participating WTRUs. For example, if a role is allocated to a WTRU-1 only if more than one other WTRU elects WTRU-1 to that particular role. User consent (UC) may be included as part of the request of the role assignment. The RMS / TMS may retrieve the role policy, and other dynamic environment parameters such as network (roaming vs non-roaming), location, time, WTRU authorization, etc., from the related network functions before making decision to assign the requested one or more roles The role policy may specify the conditions of the trustworthiness score / rating for different roles under different conditions. For example, the policy may specify that the network request votes from participating WTRUs for candidate WTRUs for a particular role, or may send a message to participating WTRUs requesting that WTRU-1 be assigned a particular role, providing participating WTRUs the ability to reject / oppose this decision. The trustworthiness level may be dynamically evaluated when the role assignment request is received. The trustworthiness may be continuously updated after the role assignment is assigned. When the trustworthiness score / rating changes based on new information from an information update event, the WTRU role assignment may be updated as a result. The role assignment may be signed by the authority along with a validity time and scope before responding back to the request and store the one or more roles in the UDM.

[0087] A Trustworthiness Management System (TMS) may oversee and manage the trustworthiness data collection, evaluation, interaction with other system functionalities. A Role Management System (RMS) may manage the role assignment and update of the one or more roles requested. The TMS and RMS may be co-located in the system as an RMS / TMS system. Additionally, or alternatively, the functionality of the TMS may be performed in the RMS and vice versa. For ease of understanding the present description attempts to describe the RMS and TMS functions separately, although as described above, the functions may be performed by a single entity acting as an RMS, TMS or RMS / TMS.

[0088] The RMS may receive the role assignment request along with the one or more roles requested, user consent (UC), conditions / parameters associated with the one or more roles The RMS may operate with the TMS (referred to as RMS / TMS) to determine the trustworthiness score / rating and role policy system from the UPF and to make decision if to assign the requested role. The RMS may check the authorization of the request, and retrieves the role policy from the PCF for the one or more roles that the WTRU requested. The RMS may retrieve the user data to decide the assignment of the requested one or more roles, such as default user consent parameters, role authorizations, time and network / location that requested one or more roles can be assigned, WTRU capabilities, for example. The RMS may evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating of the subject WTRU from the TMS, and may use the trustworthiness level, role policy, and conditions as the base to assign the one or more roles. The RMS may sign, such as by digitally signing, the one or more roles along with the validity time / parameters associated with the one or more roles to be validated by the one or more roles consumer when the WTRU performs the one or more roles in services. The RMS may update the UDM with the assigned one or more roles and respond to the WTRU request. The UDM may notify the related parties that have subscribed to the WTRU one or more roles change. As part of the basic functionalities of the TMS, the TMS may subscribe to the events associated with the WTRU trustworthiness evaluation. When the TMS receives an event notification, the TMS may evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating and corresponding one or more roles update.

[0089] The WTRU may initiate a security communication channel with the Role Management System (RMS). Before performing one or more roles, the WTRU may send the role assignment request to the RMS along with the one or more roles requested, user consent (UC), conditions / parameters associated with the one or more roles. When the WTRU receives the one or more roles assigned by the RMS, the WTRU may perform the functionalities of the one or more roles. The WTRU may check the role from its peer and may validates the digital signature of the corresponding role from the peer.

[0090] FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram 300 to provide a user role within a WTRU role assignment based on trustworthiness Flow diagram 300 includes a WTRU 310 in communication with an RMS / TMS 320 governed by a PCF 350 and UDM 340. WTRU 310 may request certain roles within the system. As provided, RMS / TMS 320 may oversee and manage the trustworthiness data collection, evaluation, interaction with other system functionalities and may manage the role assignment and update of the one or more roles requested. As is understood and described above, PCF 350 may support a framework to govern network behavior, provide policy rules. As such, PCF 350 may be included within flow diagram 300 to control the policy of the network. UDM 340 may perform user identification, authenticate credentials, provide a WTRU registration management and support service continuity, for example

[0091] At 305, WTRU 310 may establish a secure communication channel with RMS / TMS 320. TMS of RMS / TMS 320 may subscribe event data from NFs / AFs and continuously collect data and update the trustworthiness of entities. TMS of RMS / TMS 320 may provide the trustworthiness score / rating toauthorized consumers upon request, and push notifications to the consumer when a subscription is received.

[0092] At 315, WTRU 310 may send a role assignment request to RMS / TMS 320. This role assignment request may include the role or roles requested, user consent (UC), and any conditions / parameters associated with the role or roles. This role assignment request may include the parameters related to the functionality that the WTRU may take. For example, the role may be an AI / ML or Sensing intermediate node that is capable of performing specific operations on data before forwarding. For example, one intermediate node may be able to execute "algorithm 1" on the data, while others may not be able to. The user consent parameters may include a data processor ID that refers to a data processor who process data for the WTRU, such as AF ID, or more generic, e.g. "3rd party" or "all", and the purpose of data processing. The user consent parameters may be retrieved from the user subscription parameters in UDM 340, or sent from WTRU 310 if the values are not subscription based. Optionally, WTRU 310 may request a role assignment on behalf of other WTRUs that WTRU 310 may work with in the service. Upon receipt, RMS / TMS 320 may communicate with the corresponding WTRU 310 for negotiating the assignment of the role. Alternatively, or additionally, WTRU 310 may not indicate the “requested roles.” RMS of RMS / TMS 320 may assign and / or decide appropriate roles for WTRU 310 based on latest trustworthiness rate produced by TMS of RMS / TMS 320.

[0093] Via the exchange between RMS / TMS 320 and PCF 330, at 325 and 335, RMS / TMS 320 may check the authorization of the request, and may request the role policy from PCF 330 for the role or roles that WTRU 310 requested. The authorization of the WTRU role request may be based on an authorization token, or from a subscription with UDM 340. The role policy may specify the condition allowing WTRU 310 to be assigned a role, such as, minimum trustworthiness level, WTRU 310 security capabilities, location, time, duration, WTRU 310 from roaming network, network services, for example.

[0094] Via the exchange between RMS / TMS 320 and UDM 340, at 345 and 355, RMS / TMS 320 may retrieve the user subscription data that may be used to decide the assignment of the requested role or roles, such as default user consent parameters, role authorizations, time and network / location that requested role or roles that can be assigned, WTRU 310 capabilities, for example. At 345 / 355, a check if the requesting WTRU 310 is authorized to perform the requested functionality under the specific role. In some scenarios, the network via UDM 340 may not authorize the full capabilities of the role, but instead, the network may authorize "restricted" or limited capabilities of the role to WTRU 310.

[0095] At 350, RMS / TMS 320 may assign the role or roles based on the user trustworthiness level / score, role policy and conditions, such as, validity time / parameters associated with the role or roles, for example. RMS / TMS 320 may digitally signs the role or roles to be validated by the role or roles consumer when WTRU 310 performs the role or roles in services.

[0096] RMS / TMS 320 may communicate with UDM at 365 to update the UDM with the assigned role or roles. RMS / TMS 320 may communicate with WTRU 310 at 375 to respond the WTRU request withassigned roles that have been digitally signed by RMS / TMS 320. WTRU 310 may initiate services with the assigned role or roles that can be validated by the other network entities working with WTRU 310 in the role or roles. In case the initial WTRU 310 requested a role assignmentfor another WTRU, the initial WTRU 310 may send the assignment request to that corresponding WTRU. In some scenarios, WTRU 310 may not be authorized to provide the services to any WTRU. Therefore, this step may specify which WTRUs assigned WTRU 310 is authorized to provide services to.

[0097] At 385, updated information including trust data may be received by the TMS of RMS / TMS 320. The updated information may impact WTRU 310 trustworthiness level. The TMS of RMS / TMS 320 may evaluate the updated trustworthiness score / rating and impacted role or roles due to the trustworthiness update. The TMS of RMS / TMS 320 may notify the RMS of RMS / TMS 320 with the updated trustworthiness score for WTRU 310.

[0098] At 395, RMS / TMS 320 may update the role or roles for WTRU 310 in UDM 340. UDM 340 may notify the related parties that have subscribed to the role or roles change of WTRU 310. Any entities that work with WTRU 310, with the WTRU role or roles may subscribe to the notification about the role update of WTRU 310

[0099] FIG. 4 illustrates an example signaling diagram 400 for WTRU engagement in services with assigned / authorized roles. Flow diagram 400 includes a WTRU-a 410-a in communication with another WTRU-b 410-b. WTRU-b 410-b is in communication with an RMS / TMS 420 and AF 460. As provided, RMS / TMS 420 may oversee and manage the trustworthiness data collection, evaluation, interaction with other system functionalities and may manage the role assignment and update of the one or more roles requested. As is understood and described above, AF 460 provides application traffic routing, and providing policy control related to the policy framework. FIG. 4 is modified from that described in FIG. 3, as FIG 3 provides the WTRU role request and assignment flow, while FIG. 4 illustrates the engagement flow. In FIG 3, the RMS / TMS may request information to be used for the role assignment. In FIG. 4, WTRU- b may request that AF 460 confirm and / or authorize the WTRU-a role.

[0100] At 470, WTRU-a 410-a may discover peer WTRU-b 410-b with required network service. After discovery, WTRU-a 410-a may establish a secure communication channel with WTRU-b 410-b Any required roles to engage in the intended service for both WTRU-a 410-a and WTRU-b 410-b may be negotiated during the discovery process. As set forth below, when no role negotiation occurs, such as with respect to FIG.3, 405-455 in FIG. 4.

[0101] At 405, WTRU-a 410-a may initiate the service with WTRU-b 410-b using one or more intended roles, such as role-a. Role-a may have been assigned by the TMS of the RMS / TMS 420. The required role for WTRU-b 410-b in role-b may have been assigned by the TMS of the RMS / TMS 420.

[0102] At 415, 425, when WTRU-b 410-b receives the message from WTRU-a 410-a indicating that WTRU-a 410-a is acting in role-a in the service, WTRU-b 410-b may validate the role-a assigned by the TMS of RMS / TMS 420, if there is enough information for WTRU-b 410-b to validate the role WTRU-b 410-b may check if role-b is assigned before receiving the request from WTRU-a 410-a. The required information to validate role-a in the request may include the TMS ID and its public certificates pre-installed in WTRU-b 410-b. If WTRU-b 410-b cannot validate the request WTRU-a 410-a role (e.g., because WTRU- b 410-b has not been configured with information that is needed to validate the request), WTRU-b 410-b may send the role validation request to RMS / TMS 420 that had digitally signed (or otherwise validated) the role-a. After the validation, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may respond to the role validation request from WTRU-b 410-b. If WTRU-b 410-b has not been assigned role-b, WTRU-b 410-b may include the role assignment request in the message.

[0103] At 435, 445, additionally or alternatively to 425,435, if WTRU-b 410-b is not assigned role-b to engage with WTRU-a 410-a in the request, WTRU-b 410-b may request the authorization from AF 460 that WTRU-b 410-b is authorized to engage with WTRU-a 410-a with role-b as requested. AF 460 may communicate with RMS / TMS 420 that performs the role-b assignment procedure on behalf of WTRU-b 410-b. If the requested role by WTRU-b 410-b is assigned, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may reply the role assignment back to AF 460. AF 460 may respond to WTRU-b 410-b along with the assigned role If WTRU- b 410-b authorization to be engaged as role-b is not authorized, a failure message may be sent to WTRU- a 410-a without proceeding with the requested services.

[0104] At 455, WTRU-b 410-b may reply to WTRU-a 410-a with the role-b that WTRU-b 410-b is assigned by RMS / TMS 420. When WTRU-a 410-a receives WTRU-b 410-b’s response, WTRU-a 410-a may validate the role-b WTRU-b 410-b is authorized to perform, identify role-b as valid and digitally signed by the RMS portion of RMS / TMS 420.

[0105] At 480, WTRU-a 410-a and WTRU-b 410-b may begin to engage in their respect roles that are assigned and authorized for the network services.

[0106] At 465, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may subscribe to the events associated with WTRU-a 410-a and WTRU-b 410-b trustworthiness evaluation from respective network elements after the role assignment. If an event notification is received, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may re-evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating of WTRU-a 410-a and / or WTRU-b 410-b. The TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may receive notification of trustworthiness evaluation information update. For example, the assigned roles may have time / location validity, so this role expiry may be triggered by the WTRU (either WTRU-a 410-a, WTRU-b 410-b) and informed to the other peer WTRUs. When this triggering happens, the assigned role may be expired or changed due to the trustworthiness level.

[0107] At 475, if an event notification is received, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may re-evaluate the trustworthiness score / rating of WTRU-a 410-a and / or WTRU-b 410-b. If an associated role is impacted due to the trustworthiness level change, the TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may notify the RMS of RMS / TMS 420 that in turn notifies the impacted WTRU and AF 460 For example, if WTRU-a 410-a role-a is impacted, and RMS / TMS 420 notifies WTRU-b 410-b the role-a change of WTRU-a 410-a, and if WTRU-a 410-a new role-a’ is accepted by WTRU-b 410-b, WTRU-b 410-b may initiate the role update with WTRU-a 410-a andcontinue the service. Otherwise, WTRU-b 410-b may stop the service with WTRU-a 410-a in role-a. At 475a, RMS / TMS 420 notifies AF 460 of WTRU-a 410-a role change due to the trustworthiness level change.

[0108] At 485, when WTRU-b 410-b receives the notification of WTRU-a 410-a role-a change, WTRU- b 410-b may send the service stop / update message to AF 460 to notify AF 460 about WTRU-a 410-a role change and cause code to identify the trustworthiness level change of WTRU-a 410-a.

[0109] At 495, AF 460 may confirm the service Stop / Update due to WTRU-a 410-a role-a change.

[0110] At 499, WTRU-b 410-b may send the service stop / update message to WTRU-a 410-a along with a cause code. This may cause the service to either stop or to update WTRU-a 410-a with a new role- a.

[0111] The status monitoring of the WTRU with a required role may occur. The TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may collect data from related NFs / AFs on the devices / NFs, may process the data, may evaluate the trustworthiness of entities, and may store the trustworthiness of entities. The TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may subscribe to event data from NFs / AFs and may continuously collect data and may update the trustworthiness of entities. The TMS of RMS / TMS 420 may provide the trustworthiness score / rating to authorized consumers upon request, and may push notifications to the consumer when a subscription is received.

[0112] RMS / TMS 420, while monitoring trust worthiness of a WTRU, may monitor the availability of the WTRU This monitoring may all RMS / TMS 420 to gather information about other WTRU which can be trusted to support the role in the same location and which have the capability to serve. When a first WTRU becomes unavailable, RMS / TMS 420 may query the one or more selected WTRUs to inform their respective willingness and availability to support a role. The second WTRU may respond to the query by accepting the role assignment. Alternatively, or additionally, RMS / TMS 420 may inform AF 460 about other available WTRUs. AF 460 may request selected WTRUs to trigger a role assignment request. The WTRU may be provided with the context to setup a role.

[0113] Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is Claimed:

1. A wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU), the WTRU comprising: a processor; and a transceiver operably coupled to the processor, the transceiver and processor configured to: transmit a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel; receive a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy, or at least one condition associated with the role assignment; and initiate services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role.

2. The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the at least one condition includes at least one validity parameter associated with the role.

3. The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver and processor are further configured to transmit at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role.

4. The WTRU of claim 3, wherein the transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role is associated with the transmitted role assignment request.

5. The WTRU of claim 3, wherein the transmit of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role is included with the transmitted role assignment request6. The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver and processor are further configured to perform one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment.

7. The WTRU of claim 1, wherein the received role assignment is based on a second WTRU.

8. The WTRU of claim 7, wherein the initiated services are with the second WTRU9. The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the transceiver and processor are further configured to verify the received role assignment.

10. The WTRU of claim 9, wherein verifying the received role assignment includes validating a digital signature associated with the received role.

11. A method for wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) to be assigned a role, the method comprising: transmitting a role assignment request to a role management system (RMS) via a secure communication channel;receiving a role assignment based on at least one of a user trustworthiness level, a role policy or at least one condition associated with the role assignment; and initiating services with at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment and the initiated services being validated by the other network entities that communicate with the WTRU in the at least one assigned role.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the at least one condition includes at least one validity parameter associated with the role.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising transmitting at least one of a role requested, user consent (UC), at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role is associated with the transmitted role assignment request.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the transmitting of at least one of a role requested, UC, at least one condition associated with the requested role, or at least one parameter associated with the requested role is included with the transmitted role assignment request.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising performing one or more functionalities of the at least one assigned role based on the received role assignment17. The method of claim 11, wherein the received role assignment is based on a second WTRU.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the initiated services are with the second WTRU.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising verifying the received role assignment.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein verifying the received role assignment includes validating a digital signature associated with the received role.

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