Method and apparatus for secure transmission and reception of signals in a wireless communication system

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. The present disclosure relates to a secure transmission and reception method and apparatus of a signal. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first communication device in a communication system, comprising: transmitting a first reference signal to a second communication device; receiving, from the second communication device, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal; receiving a second reference signal from the second communication device; obtaining a first security factor based on the received forwarded signal and the second reference signal; performing data transmission with the second communication device based on the first security factor, wherein the first security factor is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the second communication device, a transmission feature of the second communication device, a reception feature of the first communication device, a transmit feature of the first communication device.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SECURE TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION OF SIGNALS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

[0001] The present application relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for secure transmission and reception of signals in a wireless communication system.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in “Sub 6GHz” bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in “Above 6GHz” bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz (THz) bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] The present application relates to wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for secure transmission and reception of signals in a wireless communication system.

[0009] According to an aspect of an exemplary embodiment, there is provided a communication method in a wireless communication system.

[0010] Aspects of the present disclosure provide efficient communication methods in a wireless communication system.

[0011] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network according to various embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0012] FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmit and receive paths according to this disclosure;

[0013] FIG. 3a illustrates an example user equipment according to this disclosure, and FIG. 3b illustrates an example base station according to this disclosure;

[0014] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary random access procedure;

[0015] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a first communication device in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0016] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a second communication device in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0017] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment (UE) according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0018] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a base station (BS) according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0019] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a network entity according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0020] Hereinafter, embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0021] In describing the embodiments, descriptions related to technical contents well-known in the art and not associated directly with the disclosure will be omitted. Such an omission of unnecessary descriptions is intended to prevent obscuring of the main idea of the disclosure and more clearly transfer the main idea.

[0022] For the same reason, in the accompanying drawings, some elements may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated. Further, the size of each element does not completely reflect the actual size. In the drawings, identical or corresponding elements are provided with identical reference numerals or different reference numerals.

[0023] The advantages and features of the disclosure and ways to achieve them will be apparent by making reference to embodiments as described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the disclosure is not limited to the embodiments set forth below, but may be implemented in various different forms. The following embodiments are provided only to completely disclose the disclosure and inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the disclosure, and the disclosure is defined only by the scope of the appended claims. Throughout the specification, the same or like reference numerals designate the same or like elements. Furthermore, in describing the disclosure, a detailed description of known functions or constitution incorporated herein will be omitted in the case that it is determined that the description may make the subject matter of the disclosure unnecessarily unclear. The terms which will be described below are terms defined in consideration of the functions in the disclosure, and may be different according to users, intentions of the operators, or customs. Therefore, the definitions of the terms should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

[0024] Herein, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, may be performed based on computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded collectively onto at least one processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which perform through any one of, or in any combination of, the at least one processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for performing the functions specified in the flowchart block(s). These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer usable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that perform the function specified in the flowchart block(s). The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a computer executed process such that the instructions that perform on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus provide steps for executing the functions specified in the flowchart block(s).

[0025] Further, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which includes one or more executable instructions for executing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order. For example, two blocks(or functions) shown in succession may in fact be performed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be performed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

[0026] As used in embodiments of the disclosure, a “~unit” may refer to a software element or a hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which performs a predetermined function. However, the term including the word “~unit” does not always have a meaning limited to software or hardware. The “~unit” may be constructed either to be stored in an addressable storage medium or to execute one or more processors. Therefore, the “~unit” includes, for example, software elements, object-oriented software elements, components such as class elements and task elements, processes, functions, properties, procedures, sub-routines, segments of a program code, drivers, firmware, micro-codes, circuits, data, database, data structures, tables, arrays, and parameters. The components and functions provided by the “~unit” may be either combined into a smaller number of components and a “~unit,” or divided into additional components and a “~unit.” Moreover, the components and “~units” may be implemented to reproduce one or more central processing units (CPUs) within a device or a security multimedia card. Further, in the embodiments, the “~unit” may include one or more processors.

[0027] It should be appreciated that the blocks in each flowchart and combinations of the flowcharts may be performed by one or more computer programs which include instructions. The entirety of the one or more computer programs may be stored in a single memory device or the one or more computer programs may be divided with different portions stored in different multiple memory devices.

[0028] Any of the functions or operations described herein can be processed by one processor or a combination of processors. The one processor or the combination of processors is circuitry performing processing and includes circuitry like an application processor (AP, e.g. a CPU), a communication processor (CP, e.g., a modem), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU) (e.g., an artificial intelligence (AI) chip), a Wi-Fi chip, a Bluetooth® chip, a global positioning system (GPS) chip, a near field communication (NFC) chip, connectivity chips, a sensor controller, a touch controller, a finger-print sensor controller, a display driver integrated circuit (IC), an audio CODEC chip, a universal serial bus (USB) controller, a camera controller, an image processing IC, a microprocessor unit (MPU), a system on chip (SoC), an IC, or the like.

[0029] It will be appreciated that various embodiments of the disclosure according to the claims and description in the specification can be realized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software.

[0030] Any such software may be stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media. The non-transitory computer readable storage media store one or more computer programs (software modules), the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to perform a method of the disclosure.

[0031] Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage such as, for example, a storage device like read only memory (ROM), whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, random access memory (RAM), memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a compact disk (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like. It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are various embodiments of non-transitory machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a computer program or computer programs comprising instructions that, when executed, implement various embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, various embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a program comprising code for implementing apparatus or a method as claimed in any one of the claims of this specification and a non-transitory machine-readable storage storing such a program.

[0032] Hereinafter, the determination of priority between A and B in the present disclosure may refer to various actions such as selecting the one having a higher priority based on a predefined priority rule and performing an operation corresponding thereto, or omitting or dropping an operation corresponding to the one having a lower priority.

[0033] Hereinafter, "A or B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0034] In addition, "at least one of A, B, and C" as described in the present disclosure may be understood to include A, or B, or C, or any combination of A, B, and C.

[0035] In addition, "at least one of A, B, or C" as described in the present disclosure may be understood to include A, or B, or C, or any combination of A, B, and C.

[0036] Furthermore, "A / B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0037] Furthermore, "A, B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0038] Furthermore, "A and B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0039] Furthermore, “if condition A and condition B are satisfied,” as described in the present disclosure, may not be limited to a case where both condition A and condition B are satisfied, but may be understood to include a case where either condition A or condition B is individually satisfied, both condition A and condition B are satisfied, or one or more additional conditions are satisfied in combination.

[0040] Furthermore, throughout this disclosure, ordinal terms such as "first," "second," "third," etc., (and similar qualifiers) are used merely to distinguish between different instances, occurrences, configurations, messages, stages, or aspects of elements, operations, or information as described herein. Unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the use of such ordinal terms does not itself require that the elements, operations, or information distinguished by these terms be structurally different, numerically distinct, or substantively dissimilar. For example, a "first signal" and a "second signal" may refer to instances of the same signal transmitted at different times or containing the same core information despite minor variations, or they may refer to signals with different content or characteristics, depending on the specific context. Similarly, a "first value" and a "second value" may represent the same magnitude but measured or applied in different circumstances, or they may represent different magnitudes. The interpretation should be guided by the specific technical context, function, and relationship described in the relevant portion of the specification and claims.

[0041] Furthermore, the terms “first ~”, “second ~”, etc., as described in the present disclosure with respect to various elements (e.g., information, objects, operation, sequences, or the like), should not limit those elements. These terms may only be intended to distinguish one element from another, and may not be intended to indicate a specific order. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element.

[0042] Furthermore, even if “first ~” and “second ~” are described in the present disclosure, it may be understood that element(s) referred to by “first ~” and “second ~” may be the same or different. For example, in case of element(s) being information, first information and second information may both be same information and, in some cases, are separate and different information.

[0043] In addition, the terms “if ~” and “in case that ~” as used in the disclosure or claims may be interpreted to include the meanings of “when (or upon) ~,” “in response to ~,” “based on ~,” or “according to ~,” and may be used interchangeably with these expressions. In addition, expressions other than those exemplified herein may also be used, as long as they have substantially the same meaning and do not impair the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0044] For example, the physical layer signaling may be referred to as Layer 1 (L1) signaling and may include downlink control information (DCI). In addition, the higher layer signaling may include a medium access control (MAC) control message, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling message, a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message, or an application layer message. The RRC signaling message may be referred to as L3 (layer 3) signaling. It should be noted, however, that the higher layer signaling is not limited to the aforementioned examples.

[0045] In addition, the term "not perform" as used in the present disclosure or claims may, in context, be understood to mean that the corresponding step is omitted or skipped. Such a term may be replaced with other terms having the same or substantially equivalent meaning.

[0046] In addition, "transmitting a message including A and B" as described in the present disclosure, may be understood as encompassing both (i) transmitting A and B in a single message, and (ii) transmitting A and B separately via multiple messages (e.g., transmitting a first message including A and a second message including B). This interpretation may also apply to messages that include two or more items (e.g., A, B, C), transmitted either together or separately.

[0047] In addition, "transmitting a message including A and transmitting a message including B" may also be interpreted as transmitting a message including A and B in a single message.

[0048] In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure described below, terms or components included in the disclosure may be expressed in singular or plural form depending on the specific embodiments presented. However, such singular or plural expressions are selected appropriately for convenience of description, and the present disclosure is not limited to a singular or plural number of components. A component expressed in the plural form may be implemented as a single component, and a component expressed in the singular form may be implemented as multiple components.

[0049] The drawings or flowcharts described below illustrate exemplary methods that may be implemented according to the principles of the present disclosure, and various modifications may be made to the methods illustrated in the flowcharts of the present disclosure. For example, although illustrated as a series of steps, various steps in each drawing or flowchart may overlap, occur in parallel, occur in a different order, or be repeated. In other examples, any step may be omitted or replaced with another step.

[0050] The methods and apparatuses proposed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to each embodiment individually, but may also be applied in combination of all or some of the embodiments proposed in the disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified and applied without significantly departing from the scope of the present disclosure, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0051] In this case, even if certain wordings are described differently across embodiments, they may be used interchangeably or in substitution or in combination if their underlying concepts are equivalent. For example, for the same or equivalent concept, even if one embodiment uses the expression "A" and another embodiment uses the expression "B", such expressions may be understood interchangeably, in substitution, or in combination.

[0052] The terms used in the following description to refer to access nodes, network entities, messages, interfaces between network entities, various types of identification information, and the like, are provided merely for the convenience of explanation by way of example. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms having equivalent technical meanings may also be used. Such terms may also be interchangeable with terms defined in any 3rd generation partnership project　(3GPP) technical specifications (TS) where appropriate.

[0053] Hereinafter, a base station is an entity that allocates resources to terminals, and may be at least one of a gNode B, an eNode B, a Node B, a base station (BS), a wireless access unit, a BS controller, or a node on a network.

[0054] Furthermore, the base station of the present disclosure may include a split architecture comprising a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). In this structure, the CU is configured to process the higher layers of the control and user planes, while the DU is configured to process lower-layer radio resource functions. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to 5G base station architectures in which such CU and DU functional splits are implemented.

[0055] A terminal may include a UE, a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a smartphone, a computer, or a multimedia system capable of performing communication functions.

[0056] In the disclosure, a downlink (DL) refers to a radio link through which a BS transmits a signal to a UE, and an uplink (UL) refers to a radio link through which a UE transmits a signal to a BS.

[0057] Furthermore, hereinafter, 5th generation (5G) mobile communication technologies (e.g., 5G new radio (NR)), 6th generation (6G) mobile communication technologies may be described by way of example, but the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other communication systems having similar technical backgrounds or channel types. For example, newly evolved mobile communication systems developed after 5G and 6G may be included. Furthermore, based on determinations by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other communication systems (e.g., Wi-Fi systems) through some modifications without significantly departing from the scope of the present disclosure

[0058] In the following description, the terms physical channel and signal may be used interchangeably with data or control signal. For example, the term physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) refers to a physical channel through which data is transmitted, but the term PDSCH may also be used to refer to the data itself. That is, in the present disclosure, the expression "transmit a physical channel" may be interpreted as being equivalent to the expression "transmit data or a signal via a physical channel."

[0059] Hereinafter, in the context of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may refer to signaling corresponding to at least one or any combination of the following: master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB) or SIB M (M = 1, 2, ...), radio resource control (RRC), or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message, or an application layer message. The RRC signaling message may be referred to as L3 (layer 3) signaling.

[0060] In addition, L1 signaling may refer to signaling corresponding to at least one or any combination of signaling techniques using the at least one or any combination of the following physical layer channels or signaling: physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), downlink control information (DCI), user equipment (UE)-specific DCI, group-common DCI, common DCI, scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI used for scheduling downlink or uplink data), non-scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI not used for scheduling downlink or uplink data) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or uplink control information (UCI). The L1 signaling message may be referred to as a physical layer signaling.

[0061] Hereinafter, the expression that information is configured by the BS, as used in the present disclosure or claims, may, in context, be understood to mean that the terminal receives the corresponding information from the BS via a physical layer signaling or a higher layer signaling. Such an expression may be replaced with other terms having the same or substantially equivalent meaning.

[0062] Hereinafter, the operational principle of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0063] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of various embodiments of the present disclosure as defined by the claims and their equivalents. This description includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but is to be regarded as exemplary only. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the various embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the present disclosure. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions may be omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0064] The terms and phrases used in the following description and claims are not limited to their dictionary meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of various embodiments of the present disclosure is provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0065] It is to be understood that the singular forms "a," "an," and "the" include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to "a component surface" includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0066] The term "include" or "may include" refers to the existence of the corresponding disclosed functions, operations, or components that may be used in various embodiments of the present disclosure, and is not limited to the existence of one or more additional functions, operations, or features. Further, the term "include" or "have" may be interpreted to denote certain characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components, or a combination thereof, but should not be interpreted to exclude the possibility of existence of one or more other characteristics, numbers, steps, operations, constituent elements, components, or a combination thereof.

[0067] The term "or" as used in various embodiments of the present disclosure includes any and all combinations of the listed terms. For example, "A or B" may include A, may include B, or may include both A and B.

[0068] Unless defined differently, all terms (including technical terms or scientific terms) used in the present disclosure have the same meanings understood by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure belongs. Generally terms as defined in a dictionary are interpreted to have a meaning consistent with a context in the relevant technical field, and should not be interpreted ideally or excessively formally unless clearly defined as such in the present disclosure.

[0069] In order to meet the increasing demand for wireless data communication services since the deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop improved 5G or pre-5G communication systems. Therefore, 5G or pre-5G communication systems are also called "Beyond 4G networks" or "Post-LTE systems".

[0070] In order to achieve a higher data rate, 5G communication systems are implemented in higher frequency (millimeter, mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands. In order to reduce propagation loss of radio waves and increase a transmission distance, technologies such as beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), full-dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming and large-scale antenna are discussed in 5G communication systems.

[0071] In addition, in 5G communication systems, developments of system network improvement are underway based on advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, mobile network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation, etc.

[0072] In 5G systems, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as advanced access technologies have been developed. The technical solution of the embodiments of the present application may be applied to various communication systems, for example, a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a code division multiple access (CDMA) system, a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system, a general packet radio service (GPRS), a long term evolution (LTE) system, an LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) system, an LTE time division duplex (TDD), a universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS), a worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) communication system, a 5th generation (5G) system, a new radio (NR), or the like. Further, the technical solutions of the embodiments of this application may be applied to future-oriented communication technologies.

[0073] FIG. 1 illustrates an example wireless network 100 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The embodiment of the wireless network 100 shown in FIG. 1 is for illustration only. Other embodiments of the wireless network 100 can be used without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.

[0074] The wireless network 100 includes a gNodeB (gNB) 101, a gNB 102, and a gNB 103. gNB 101 communicates with gNB 102 and gNB 103. gNB 101 also communicates with at least one Internet Protocol (IP) network 130, such as the Internet, a private IP network, or other data networks.

[0075] Depending on a type of the network, other well-known terms such as "base station" or "access point" can be used instead of "gNodeB" or "gNB". For convenience, the terms "gNodeB" and "gNB" are used in this patent document to refer to network infrastructure components that provide wireless access for remote terminals. And, depending on the type of the network, other well-known terms such as "mobile station", "user station", "remote terminal", "wireless terminal" or "user apparatus" can be used instead of "user equipment" or "UE". For convenience, the terms "user equipment" and "UE" are used in this patent document to refer to remote wireless devices that wirelessly access the gNB, no matter whether the UE is a mobile device (such as a mobile phone or a smart phone) or a fixed device (such as a desktop computer or a vending machine).

[0076] gNB 102 provides wireless broadband access to the network 130 for a first plurality of user equipments (UEs) within a coverage area 120 of gNB 102. The first plurality of UEs include a UE 111, which may be located in a Small Business (SB); a UE 112, which may be located in an enterprise (E); a UE 113, which may be located in a WiFi Hotspot (HS); a UE 114, which may be located in a first residence (R); a UE 115, which may be located in a second residence (R); a UE 116, which may be a mobile device (M), such as a cellular phone, a wireless laptop computer, a wireless PDA, etc. GNB 103 provides wireless broadband access to network 130 for a second plurality of UEs within a coverage area 125 of gNB 103. The second plurality of UEs include a UE 115 and a UE 116. In some embodiments, one or more of gNBs 101-103 can communicate with each other and with UEs 111-116 using 5G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-A, WiMAX or other advanced wireless communication technologies.

[0077] The dashed lines show approximate ranges of the coverage areas 120 and 125, and the ranges are shown as approximate circles merely for illustration and explanation purposes. It should be clearly understood that the coverage areas associated with the gNBs, such as the coverage areas 120 and 125, may have other shapes, including irregular shapes, depending on configurations of the gNBs and changes in the radio environment associated with natural obstacles and man-made obstacles.

[0078] As will be described in more detail below, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 include a 2D antenna array as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, one or more of gNB 101, gNB 102, and gNB 103 support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays.

[0079] Although FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the wireless network 100, various changes can be made to FIG. 1. The wireless network 100 can include any number of gNBs and any number of UEs in any suitable arrangement, for example. Furthermore, gNB 101 can directly communicate with any number of UEs and provide wireless broadband access to the network 130 for those UEs. Similarly, each gNB 102-103 can directly communicate with the network 130 and provide direct wireless broadband access to the network 130 for the UEs. In addition, gNB 101, 102 and / or 103 can provide access to other or additional external networks, such as external telephone networks or other types of data networks.

[0080] FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate example wireless transmission and reception paths according to the present disclosure. In the following description, the transmission path 200 can be described as being implemented in a gNB, such as gNB 102, and the reception path 250 can be described as being implemented in a UE, such as UE 116. However, it should be understood that the reception path 250 can be implemented in a gNB and the transmission path 200 can be implemented in a UE. In some embodiments, the reception path 250 is configured to support codebook designs and structures for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0081] The transmission path 200 includes a channel coding and modulation block 205, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210, a size N Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) block 215, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 220, a cyclic prefix addition block 225, and an up-converter (UC) 230. The reception path 250 includes a down-converter (DC) 255, a cyclic prefix removal block 260, a Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 265, a size N Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) block 270, a Parallel-to-Serial (P-to-S) block 275, and a channel decoding and demodulation block 280.

[0082] In the transmission path 200, the channel coding and modulation block 205 receives a set of information bits, applies coding (such as Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) coding), and modulates the input bits (such as using Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) or Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM)) to generate a sequence of frequency-domain modulated symbols. The Serial-to-Parallel (S-to-P) block 210 converts (such as demultiplexes) serial modulated symbols into parallel data to generate N parallel symbol streams, where N is a size of the IFFT / FFT used in gNB 102 and UE 116. The size N IFFT block 215 performs IFFT operations on the N parallel symbol streams to generate a time-domain output signal. The Parallel-to-Serial block 220 converts (such as multiplexes) parallel time-domain output symbols from the Size N IFFT block 215 to generate a serial time-domain signal. The cyclic prefix addition block 225 inserts a cyclic prefix into the time-domain signal. The up-converter 230 modulates (such as up-converts) the output of the cyclic prefix addition block 225 to an RF frequency for transmission via a wireless channel. The signal can also be filtered at a baseband before switching to the RF frequency.

[0083] The RF signal transmitted from gNB 102 arrives at UE 116 after passing through the wireless channel, and operations in reverse to those at gNB 102 are performed at UE 116. The down-converter 255 down-converts the received signal to a baseband frequency, and the cyclic prefix removal block 260 removes the cyclic prefix to generate a serial time-domain baseband signal. The Serial-to-Parallel block 265 converts the time-domain baseband signal into a parallel time-domain signal. The Size N FFT block 270 performs an FFT algorithm to generate N parallel frequency-domain signals. The Parallel-to-Serial block 275 converts the parallel frequency-domain signal into a sequence of modulated data symbols. The channel decoding and demodulation block 280 demodulates and decodes the modulated symbols to recover the original input data stream.

[0084] Each of gNBs 101-103 may implement a transmission path 200 similar to that for transmitting to UEs 111-116 in the downlink, and may implement a reception path 250 similar to that for receiving from UEs 111-116 in the uplink. Similarly, each of UEs 111-116 may implement a transmission path 200 for transmitting to gNBs 101-103 in the uplink, and may implement a reception path 250 for receiving from gNBs 101-103 in the downlink.

[0085] Each of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b can be implemented using only hardware, or using a combination of hardware and software / firmware. As a specific example, at least some of the components in FIGs. 2a and 2b may be implemented in software, while other components may be implemented in configurable hardware or a combination of software and configurable hardware. For example, the FFT block 270 and IFFT block 215 may be implemented as configurable software algorithms, in which the value of the size N may be modified according to the implementation.

[0086] Furthermore, although described as using FFT and IFFT, this is only illustrative and should not be interpreted as limiting the scope of the present disclosure. Other types of transforms can be used, such as Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and Inverse Discrete Fourier Transform (IDFT) functions. It should be understood that for DFT and IDFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer (such as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.), while for FFT and IFFT functions, the value of variable N may be any integer which is a power of 2 (such as 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, etc.).

[0087] Although FIGs. 2a and 2b illustrate examples of wireless transmission and reception paths, various changes may be made to FIGs. 2a and 2b. For example, various components in FIGs. 2a and 2b can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. Furthermore, FIGs. 2a and 2b are intended to illustrate examples of types of transmission and reception paths that can be used in a wireless network. Any other suitable architecture can be used to support wireless communication in a wireless network.

[0088] FIG. 3a illustrates an example UE 116 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of UE 116 shown in FIG. 3a is for illustration only, and UEs 111-115 of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a UE has various configurations, and FIG. 3a does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of the UE.

[0089] UE 116 includes an antenna 305, a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 310, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 315, a microphone 320, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 325. UE 116 also includes a speaker 330, a processor / controller 340, an input / output (I / O) interface 345, an input device(s) 350, a display 355, and a memory 360. The memory 360 includes an operating system (OS) 361 and one or more applications 362.

[0090] The RF transceiver 310 receives an incoming RF signal transmitted by a gNB of the wireless network 100 from the antenna 305. The RF transceiver 310 down-converts the incoming RF signal to generate an intermediate frequency (IF) or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 325, where the RX processing circuit 325 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. The RX processing circuit 325 transmits the processed baseband signal to speaker 330 (such as for voice data) or to processor / controller 340 for further processing (such as for web browsing data).

[0091] The TX processing circuit 315 receives analog or digital voice data from microphone 320 or other outgoing baseband data (such as network data, email or interactive video game data) from processor / controller 340. The TX processing circuit 315 encodes, multiplexes, and / or digitizes the outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. The RF transceiver 310 receives the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from the TX processing circuit 315 and up-converts the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via the antenna 305.

[0092] The processor / controller 340 can include one or more processors or other processing devices and execute an OS 361 stored in the memory 360 in order to control the overall operation of UE 116. For example, the processor / controller 340 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceiver 310, the RX processing circuit 325 and the TX processing circuit 315 according to well-known principles. In some embodiments, the processor / controller 340 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0093] The processor / controller 340 is also capable of executing other processes and programs residing in the memory 360, such as operations for channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. The processor / controller 340 can move data into or out of the memory 360 as required by an execution process. In some embodiments, the processor / controller 340 is configured to execute the application 362 based on the OS 361 or in response to signals received from the gNB or the operator. The processor / controller 340 is also coupled to an I / O interface 345, where the I / O interface 345 provides UE 116 with the ability to connect to other devices such as laptop computers and handheld computers. I / O interface 345 is a communication path between these accessories and the processor / controller 340.

[0094] The processor / controller 340 is also coupled to the input device(s) 350 and the display 355. An operator of UE 116 can input data into UE 116 using the input device(s) 350. The display 355 may be a liquid crystal display or other display capable of presenting text and / or at least limited graphics (such as from a website). The memory 360 is coupled to the processor / controller 340. A part of the memory 360 can include a random access memory (RAM), while another part of the memory 360 can include a flash memory or other read-only memory (ROM).

[0095] Although FIG. 3a illustrates an example of UE 116, various changes can be made to FIG. 3a. For example, various components in FIG. 3a can be combined, further subdivided or omitted, and additional components can be added according to specific requirements. As a specific example, the processor / controller 340 can be divided into a plurality of processors, such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) and one or more graphics processing units (GPUs). Furthermore, although FIG. 3a illustrates that the UE 116 is configured as a mobile phone or a smart phone, UEs can be configured to operate as other types of mobile or fixed devices.

[0096] FIG. 3b illustrates an example gNB 102 according to the present disclosure. The embodiment of gNB 102 shown in FIG. 3b is for illustration only, and other gNBs of FIG. 1 can have the same or similar configuration. However, a gNB has various configurations, and FIG. 3b does not limit the scope of the present disclosure to any specific implementation of a gNB. It should be noted that gNB 101 and gNB 103 can include the same or similar structures as gNB 102.

[0097] As shown in FIG. 3b, gNB 102 includes a plurality of antennas 370a-370n, a plurality of RF transceivers 372a-372n, a transmission (TX) processing circuit 374, and a reception (RX) processing circuit 376. In certain embodiments, one or more of the plurality of antennas 370a-370n include a 2D antenna array. gNB 102 also includes a controller / processor 378, a memory 380, and a backhaul or network interface 382.

[0098] RF transceivers 372a-372n receive an incoming RF signal from antennas 370a-370n, such as a signal transmitted by UEs or other gNBs. RF transceivers 372a-372n down-convert the incoming RF signal to generate an IF or baseband signal. The IF or baseband signal is transmitted to the RX processing circuit 376, where the RX processing circuit 376 generates a processed baseband signal by filtering, decoding and / or digitizing the baseband or IF signal. RX processing circuit 376 transmits the processed baseband signal to controller / processor 378 for further processing.

[0099] The TX processing circuit 374 receives analog or digital data (such as voice data, network data, email or interactive video game data) from the controller / processor 378. TX processing circuit 374 encodes, multiplexes and / or digitizes outgoing baseband data to generate a processed baseband or IF signal. RF transceivers 372a-372n receive the outgoing processed baseband or IF signal from TX processing circuit 374 and up-convert the baseband or IF signal into an RF signal transmitted via antennas 370a-370n.

[0100] The controller / processor 378 can include one or more processors or other processing devices that control the overall operation of gNB 102. For example, the controller / processor 378 can control the reception of forward channel signals and the transmission of backward channel signals through the RF transceivers 372a-372n, the RX processing circuit 376 and the TX processing circuit 374 according to well-known principles. The controller / processor 378 can also support additional functions, such as higher-level wireless communication functions. For example, the controller / processor 378 can perform a Blind Interference Sensing (BIS) process such as that performed through a BIS algorithm, and decode a received signal from which an interference signal is subtracted. A controller / processor 378 may support any of a variety of other functions in gNB 102. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 includes at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

[0101] The controller / processor 378 is also capable of executing programs and other processes residing in the memory 380, such as a basic OS. The controller / processor 378 can also support channel quality measurement and reporting for systems with 2D antenna arrays as described in embodiments of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the controller / processor 378 supports communication between entities such as web RTCs. The controller / processor 378 can move data into or out of the memory 380 as required by an execution process.

[0102] The controller / processor 378 is also coupled to the backhaul or network interface 382. The backhaul or network interface 382 allows gNB 102 to communicate with other devices or systems through a backhaul connection or through a network. The backhaul or network interface 382 can support communication over any suitable wired or wireless connection(s). For example, when gNB 102 is implemented as a part of a cellular communication system, such as a cellular communication system supporting 5G or new radio access technology or NR, LTE or LTE-A, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with other gNBs through wired or wireless backhaul connections. When gNB 102 is implemented as an access point, the backhaul or network interface 382 can allow gNB 102 to communicate with a larger network, such as the Internet, through a wired or wireless local area network or through a wired or wireless connection. The backhaul or network interface 382 includes any suitable structure that supports communication through a wired or wireless connection, such as an Ethernet or an RF transceiver.

[0103] The memory 380 is coupled to the controller / processor 378. A part of the memory 380 can include an RAM, while another part of the memory 380 can include a flash memory or other ROMs. In certain embodiments, a plurality of instructions, such as the BIS algorithm, are stored in the memory. The plurality of instructions are configured to cause the controller / processor 378 to execute the BIS process and decode the received signal after subtracting at least one interference signal determined by the BIS algorithm.

[0104] As will be described in more detail below, the transmission and reception paths of gNB 102 (implemented using RF transceivers 372a-372n, TX processing circuit 374 and / or RX processing circuit 376) support aggregated communication with FDD cells and TDD cells.

[0105] Although FIG. 3b illustrates an example of gNB 102, various changes may be made to FIG. 3b. For example, gNB 102 can include any number of each component shown in FIG. 3a. As a specific example, the access point can include many backhaul or network interfaces 382, and the controller / processor 378 can support routing functions to route data between different network addresses. As another specific example, although shown as including a single instance of the TX processing circuit 374 and a single instance of the RX processing circuit 376, gNB 102 can include multiple instances of each (such as one for each RF transceiver).

[0106] A time domain unit (also referred to as a time unit) in the present application may be: one OFDM symbol, one OFDM symbol group (consisting of a plurality of OFDM symbols), one slot, one slot group (consisting of a plurality of slots), one subframe, one subframe group (consisting of a plurality of subframes), one system frame, one system frame group (consisting of a plurality of system frames); which may also be an absolute time unit, such as 1 millisecond, 1 second, etc.; a time unit may also be a combination of multiple granularities, e.g., N1 slots plus N2 OFDM symbols.

[0107] A frequency domain unit (also referred to as frequency unit) in the present application may be: one subcarrier, one subcarrier group (consisting of multiple subcarriers), one resource block (RB), which may also be referred to as physical resource block (PRB), one resource block group (consisting of multiple RBs), one bandwidth part (BWP), one bandwidth part group (consisting of multiple BWPs), one band / carrier, one bandwidth group / carrier group; which may also be in absolute frequency domain units such as 1 hertz, 1 kilohertz, etc.; the frequency domain unit may also be a combination of multiple granularities, e.g., M1 PRBs plus M2 subcarriers.

[0108] The exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are further described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0109] The text and drawings are merely provided by way of example to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art, based upon the disclosure herein, that changes can be made to the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0110] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that, as used herein, the singular forms "a," "an," "the," and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms "comprises" and / or "comprising," when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and / or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and / or groups thereof. It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "coupled" to another element, it can be directly connected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may also be present. Furthermore, "connected" or "coupled" as used herein may include wirelessly connected or wirelessly coupled. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes all or any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0111] It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that, unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the prior art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless specifically defined as herein.

[0112] It will be understood by those skilled in the art that "terminal", "terminal device", as used herein, includes both devices that are wireless signal receiver, which are provided with only wireless signal receiver without transmission capability, and devices that are receive and transmit hardware, which are provided with receive and transmit hardware capable of two-way communication over a two-way communication link. Such devices may include: cellular or other communication devices with single line displays or multi-line displays or cellular or other communication devices without multi-line displays; a PCS (Personal Communications Service), which may combine voice, data processing, facsimile and / or data communications capabilities; a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant) that may include a radio frequency receiver, a pager, Internet / intranet access, a web browser, a notepad, a calendar and / or a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver; a conventional laptop and / or palmtop computer or other device that has and / or includes a conventional laptop and / or palmtop computer or other device that has a radio frequency receiver. "Terminal", "terminal device", as used herein, may be portable, transportable, installed in a vehicle (aeronautical, marine, and / or land), or adapted and / or configured to operate locally, and / or in a distributed fashion, at any other location in earth and / or space. "Terminal", "terminal device", as used herein, may also be a communication terminal, a web terminal, a music / video playing terminal, and may be, for example, a PDA, a MID (Mobile Internet Device), and / or a mobile phone with music / video playing function, and may also be a smart TV, a set-top box, or the like device.

[0113] The term "send" in the present invention may be used interchangeably with "transmit", "report", "notify", and the like without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0114] The text and drawings are merely provided by way of example to aid the reader in understanding the present disclosure. They are not intended, nor should they be construed, to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way. Although certain embodiments and examples have been provided, it will be apparent to those of skill in the art, based upon the disclosure herein, that changes can be made to the embodiments and examples shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

[0115] The transmission links of the wireless communication system mainly comprise downlink communication links by the 5G gNB to the user equipment (UE) and uplink communication links by the UE to the network.

[0116] Nodes for positioning measurements in a wireless communication system, such as current wireless communication systems, include a UE that initiates a positioning request message, a Location Management Function (LMF) for positioning of the UE and transmission of positioning assistance data, a gNB or Transmission-Reception Point (TRP) that broadcasts positioning assistance data and makes uplink positioning measurements, a UE for downlink positioning measurements. Furthermore, the method of the present invention may also be extended to apply in other communication systems, e.g. automotive communication (V2X), e.g. sidelink communication, in such case the transmission reception point or UE may be any device in V2X.

[0117] Transmissions in a wireless communication system include transmissions by a base station (gNB) to a user equipment (UE), referred to as downlink transmissions, corresponding slots referred to as downlink slots, and transmissions by a UE to a base station device, referred to as uplink transmissions, corresponding slots referred to as uplink slots.

[0118] In downlink communication of a wireless communication system, the system transmits synchronization signals and broadcast channels to users over a synchronization signal block (synchronization signal / PBCH block, SSB) with a periodicity, the periodicity is a synchronization signal block periodicity (SSB periodicity), otherwise known as a synchronization signal block burst periodicity (SSB burst periodicity). At the same time, the base station configures a physical random access channel configuration period (PRACH configuration period) in which a certain number of random access transmission occasions (also referred to as PRACH transmission occasions, ROs) are configured, the configured ROs being determined by a certain validity rule to obtain valid ROs; and it is satisfied that within an association period (a certain length of time) all SSBs can be mapped onto the corresponding valid ROs, in an SSB to RO mapping cycle, all SSBs within one SSB periodicity can be exactly mapped onto the required random access resources, there may be one or more mapping cycles within one association period. One SSB-to-RO association pattern period contains one or more association periods, and the SSB-to-RO mapping patterns in each association pattern period are the same.

[0119] FIG. 4 shows a schematic diagram of an exemplary random access procedure. As shown in FIG. 4, the random access procedure includes: the UE transmits a preamble to the base station device at step 1; the base station transmits a random access response to the UE at step 2; the UE transmits message 3 to the base station at step 3; the base station transmits a contention resolution message to the UE at step 4.

[0120] In the air-interface transmission of wireless communications, encryption measures are generally not taken, and an encryption algorithm is applied to the plaintext X of the information source to obtain an encrypted ciphertext Y as the source of the information bits for the air-interface transmission; the power of the encryption algorithm is then relied upon to ensure that Y is not compromised by an eavesdropper. During the air-interface transmission, in fact, an eavesdropper may receive and demodulate the air-interface communication between other users and the base station, i.e., Y can be obtained, if the eavesdropper is also aware of the various configurations and protocols of the air-interface transmission. In addition, as the computing power of devices continues to increase, many encryption algorithms can be progressively compromised faster, posing an increasing threat to secure communications. Therefore, the ability to provide secure communications during air interface transmission is a problem that needs to be solved.

[0121] In an embodiment of the present invention, a method and device for secure transmission and / or reception of signals will be introduced, through the method, a security factor is determined through direct communication between a UE and a base station, and secure communication is performed based on the obtained security factor.

[0122] The system access of the present invention may include two parts, transmission and / or reception of a general downlink reference signal (gDRS) and / or transmission and / or reception of a general uplink reference signal (gURS). In the present invention, the description of the solution is made taking CSI-RS as an example of a general downlink reference signal related to system access, but this is merely exemplary, and the CSI-RS may also be replaced with other gDRS such as SSB, PRS, and the like. The description of the solution in the present invention takes SRS as an example of a general uplink reference signal related to system access, but this is merely exemplary and the SRS may be replaced with other gURS such as PRACH and the like.

[0123] The method provided by the present invention may comprise a combination of one or more of the following operations:

[0124] - The UE transmits a gURS (the method is described with SRS as an example, which may be replaced by other uplink signals like PRACH, etc.) to a network device (e.g. a base station, etc.), the base station obtains a security factor fl, e.g. comprising one or more of:

[0125] -- UE obtains SRS resource configuration information configured from network device, e.g., including time domain start location, length of time domain units, frequency domain resource start location, length of frequency domain units, periodicity, etc.;

[0126] -- UE transmits SRS signal X on the available configured resources, the SRS signal X may be assigned by the base station or randomly selected by the UE in the SRS resource pool;

[0127] -- the network device obtains, through reception of the SRS signal X, a received signal Y of the SRS, through which the base station device may obtain a signal characteristic value f_u having a UE transmission characteristic (or referred to as transmission feature) UE_t and a base station reception characteristic (or referred to as reception feature) BS_r, take f_u as a base station-derived security factor f1; in the description of the present disclosure, "characteristic" and "feature" are used interchangeably;

[0128] -- In an implementation, UE transmits the SRS after receiving a signal indicating secure communication (for example, secure communication activation indication signal) transmitted by the base station. In such implementation, the UE needs to first receive a signal indicating secure communication (e.g., a secure communication activation indication signal) from the base station, the signal indicating secure communication may indicate a combination including one or more of:

[0129] --- indication to enable secure communication or end secure communication

[0130] --- configuration information of SRS (for secure communication)

[0131] --- configuration information of CSI-RS (for secure communication)

[0132] --- information related to a timer of the secure communication, such as a length of the timer, a start time or start condition of the timer, etc., e.g., the timer starts when the UE receives the secure communication activation indication signal;

[0133] --- information related to the counter of secure communications counter_sc, for example, may include a maximum value of the number of secure communications counter_sc_max, with an initial value of counter_sc of 0; once the UE transmits an uplink signal for secure communication and / or receives a downlink signal for secure communication, the counter is increased by 1 (counter_sc + 1), and when the counter reaches a maximum number of secure communications (counter_sc = counter_sc_max), the UE terminates secure communication;

[0134] - UE receives a gDRS transmitted by the network device (taking CSI-RS as an example, which may be replaced by other downlink signals like SSB, PRS, etc.) and / or a forwarded signal Y (expressing the forwarded signal Y received by the UE as a forwarded signal Y'), the UE obtains a security factor f1', e.g. comprising one or more of:

[0135] -- UE detects the CSI-RS on the first CSI-RS occasion after M time units after transmitting the SRS, and then detects and receives the forwarded signal Y' according to the detected CSI-RS; the M time units may be used for the base station detecting and receiving the SRS signal X to obtain the signal Y, and preparing the transmitted CSI-RS signal Z and / or forwarded signal Y for the UE (denoting the forwarded signal Y received by the UE as a forwarded signal Y'), wherein the resource location of Y' may be derived from the resource location of the CSI-RS signal Z, e.g., including at least one of:

[0136] --- the start time domain unit of Y’ is the time domain unit which is N time domain units after the first or last time domain unit of the CSI-RS signal Z;

[0137] --- the start frequency domain unit of Y’ is the frequency domain unit which is N' frequency domain units after the first or last frequency domain unit of the CSI-RS signal Z;

[0138] -- UE obtains a downlink signal feature value f_d from the detected CSI-RS, in an implementation, the signal feature value has a base station transmission characteristic BS_t and a UE reception characteristic UE_r;

[0139] -- from the detected forwarded signal Y, the UE obtains a mixed signal characteristic value f_ud, in an implementation, the signal characteristic value comprises a UE transmission characteristic UE_t, a base station reception characteristic BS_r, a base station transmission characteristic BS_t and a UE reception characteristic UE_r;

[0140] -- UE derives f'_u from the obtained f_ud and f_d, e.g., f'_u = f_ud / f_d;

[0141] -- UE takes the resulting f'_u as the UE-derived security factor f1';

[0142] -- wherein the aforementioned signal feature values f_u, f_ud, f_d and f'_ u are of the same type and / or format, wherein the type of the signal feature values comprises a combination of one or more of:

[0143] --- non-linearity value of the system, e.g., the non-linearity value of the PA (power amplifier), which is generally in the transmitting end, e.g., in UE t;

[0144] --- phase noise

[0145] --- frequency offset

[0146] --- Fractal feature

[0147] --- constellation feature

[0148] --- higher-order moment feature

[0149] --- time domain feature

[0150] --- frequency domain feature

[0151] --- envelope feature

[0152] --- number of information dimensions

[0153] --- number of box dimensions

[0154] --- signal-to-noise ratio

[0155] - UE receives a downlink signal from the network device according to the derived security factor fl', which is transmitted according to the derived security factor fl, and / or transmits an uplink signal to the network device, e.g. including a combination of one or more of:

[0156] -- UE obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the obtained security factor f1', wherein, comprising at least one of:

[0157] --- the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception includes a combination of one or more of:

[0158] ---- an initial seed for interleaving, e.g., an initial seed for bit-interleaving

[0159] ---- an initial seed for scrambling, e.g., an initial seed for bit-scrambling

[0160] ---- channel coding rate (e.g., 1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4, etc.)

[0161] ---- channel coding type (e.g., polar coding, LDPC coding, Turbo coding, etc.)

[0162] ---- RNTI for CRC scrambling

[0163] --- UE obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception corresponding to the security factor fl' according to the corresponding relationship between the signal feature values or security factors (or ranges of the feature values or security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception, the corresponding relationship may be obtained by the UE by receiving configuration of the network, or previously defined; for example, the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception is an initial seed for bit-interleaving, the corresponding relationship may be as shown in Table 1 below, for example, finding the range to which the security factor f1'corresponds, e.g., f'_u is between f3 and f4, the UE uses the initial seed for bit-interleaving of value 2 for reception of the subsequent secure downlink signal (e.g., bit de-interleaving therein) and / or transmission of the subsequent secure uplink signal (e.g., bit interleaving therein):

[0164]

[0165] -- UE and the base station validate (or verifies the validity of) the obtained security factor, and obtaining configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the validation result and the security factor; wherein, comprising a combination of at least one of:

[0166] --- UE obtains a reference security factor f_ref (or reference signal feature value) and / or a corresponding first threshold value; the reference security factor (or reference signal feature value) and / or the corresponding first threshold value may be predefined or obtained by receiving configuration of the network device;

[0167] --- UE obtains an autocorrelation value of the UE security factor by correlating the obtained UE security factor f1' with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0168] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as pass, for example, as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0169] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as not pass, e.g., as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0170] --- similarly, the network device obtains an autocorrelation value of the base station security factor by correlating the obtained base station security factor fl with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0171] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the base station security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the base station sets the validation result as pass, for example as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0172] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the base station security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the base station sets the validation result as not pass, for example as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0173] --- UE feeds back the obtained validation result to the base station, and / or the base station notifies the UE of the obtained validation result, and / or the UE and the base station feed back the obtained validation result to a high-layer functional entity (e.g., security functionality, SF);

[0174] --- when the validation result obtained by the UE and the validation result from the base station obtained by the UE and notified by the network device are both passed, the UE performs a quantization operation according to the obtained UE security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, by using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or the ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, etc.;

[0175] --- when the validation result obtained by the network device and the validation result from UE fed back by the UE and obtained by the network device are both passed, the network device performs a quantization operation according to the obtained base station security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, or the like;

[0176] -- UE validates the obtained security factor, and obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the validation result and the security factor; wherein, comprising a combination of at least one of:

[0177] --- UE obtains a reference security factor f_ref (or reference signal feature value) and / or a corresponding first threshold value; the reference security factor (or reference signal feature value) and / or the corresponding first threshold value are obtained by receiving configuration from network device, wherein in an implementation, the network device sets or configures the f_ref according to the obtained base station security factors fl such that the security factor fl obtained by the network device and f_ref configured by the network device have satisfied the relationship between the correlation of the security factor fl to the reference security factor f_ref and the first threshold value (e.g., the correlation is not less than the first threshold value);

[0178] --- the UE obtains an autocorrelation value of the UE security factor by correlating the obtained UE security factor f1' with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0179] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as pass, for example, as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0180] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as not pass, e.g., as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0181] --- UE feeds back the resulting validation result to the base station, and / or the UE and the base station feed back the resulting validation result to a higher layer functional entity (e.g., security functionality, SF);

[0182] --- when the validation result obtained by the UE is passed, the UE performs a quantization operation according to the obtained UE security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, by using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or the ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, in the same manner as before, and will not be described in detail.

[0183] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, it may also be that: according to a received downlink reference signal transmitted by the network device, the UE transmits, to the network device, a forwarded signal of the received downlink reference signal and transmits, to the network device, an uplink reference signal. The UE may obtain a security factor at the UE side based on the received downlink reference signal, which may for example relate to a transmission characteristic of the network device and / or a reception characteristic of the UE; the network device may obtain a security factor at the network device side based on the received uplink reference signal and the forwarded signal, the security factor may be derived, for example, based on a first feature value obtained based on receiving the uplink reference signal and a second feature value obtained based on receiving the forwarded signal. For example, a method involved in the embodiment may comprise one or more of:

[0184] - UE receives the gDRS transmitted by the network device (the method is described by tanking CSI-RS as an example, which can be replaced by other downlink signals like SSB, PRS, etc.), the UE obtains a security factor f2', e.g., comprising one or more of:

[0185] -- UE receives CSI-RS in the CSI-RS occasion, for example, the network device may transmit resource configuration information of the CSI-RS to the UE, which may include time and / or frequency domain location information, periodicity information, etc. of the CSI-RS occasions;

[0186] -- UE obtains a downlink signal feature value f_d as the security factor f2’ according to the detected CSI-RS, in an implementation, the signal characteristic value has a base station transmission characteristic BS_t and a UE reception characteristic UE_r;

[0187] - UE transmits gURS to the network device (e.g. a base station or the like) (the method is described by taking SRS as an example, which can be replaced by other uplink signals like PRACH or the like) and forwards the received CSI-RS to the network device, the base station obtains a security factor f2, e.g. comprising one or more of:

[0188] -- UE obtains SRS resource configuration information configured from network device, e.g., including time domain start location, length of time domain units, frequency domain resource start location, length of frequency domain units, periodicity, etc.;

[0189] -- UE transmits an SRS signal on the available configured resources, the SRS signal may be assigned by the base station or randomly selected by the UE in the SRS resource pool;

[0190] -- UE may transmit the SRS on the first SRS occasion after K time units after receiving the CSI-RS, the UE may forward the received signal of the CSI-RS to the network device (which may also be expressed as the network device receiving the forwarded signal of the received signal of the CSI-RS by the UE), the K time units may be used for the UE detecting and receiving the CSI-RS to obtained the received signal, and preparing to transmit the SRS signal and / or the forwarded signal to the network device, wherein the resource location of the forwarded signal of the received signal of the CSI-RS may be derived from the resource location of the SRS signal, e.g., including at least one of:

[0191] --- the start time domain unit of the forwarded signal is a time domain unit that is L time domain units after the first or last time domain unit of the SRS signal;

[0192] --- the start frequency domain unit of the forwarded signal is a frequency domain unit that is L' frequency domain units after the first or last frequency domain unit of the SRS signal;

[0193] -- the network device obtains, through reception of the SRS signal, a received signal of the SRS, through which the network device can obtain a signal feature value f_u having a UE transmission characteristic UE_t and a base station reception characteristic BS_r;

[0194] -- the network device derives a mixed signal feature value f_ud from the detected forwarded signal of the CSI-RS, in an implementation, the signal feature value includes a UE transmission characteristic UE_t, a base station reception characteristic BS_r, a base station transmission characteristic BS_t and a UE reception characteristic UE_r;

[0195] -- the network device derives f'_d from the derived f_ud and f_u, e.g., f'_d = f_ud / f_u;

[0196] -- the network device takes the resulting f'_d as the network device derived security factor f2;

[0197] -- wherein the aforementioned signal feature values f_u, f_ud, f_d and f'_d are of the same type and / or format, wherein the type of the signal feature values comprises a combination of one or more of:

[0198] --- non-linearity value of the system, e.g., the non-linearity value of the PA (power amplifier), which is generally in the transmitting end, e.g., in UE t;

[0199] --- phase noise

[0200] --- frequency offset

[0201] --- Fractal feature

[0202] --- constellation feature

[0203] --- higher-order moment feature

[0204] --- time domain feature

[0205] --- frequency domain feature

[0206] --- envelope feature

[0207] --- number of information dimensions

[0208] --- number of box dimensions

[0209] --- signal-to-noise ratio

[0210] -- In an implementation, UE transmits the SRS after receiving a signal indicating secure communication (for example, secure communication activation indication signal) transmitted by the base station. In such implementation, the UE needs to first receive a signal indicating secure communication (e.g., a secure communication activation indication signal) from the base station, the signal indicating secure communication may indicate a combination including one or more of:

[0211] --- indication to enable secure communication or end secure communication

[0212] --- configuration information of SRS (for secure communication)

[0213] --- resource configuration information for forwarding the received CSI-RS (for secure communication)

[0214] --- information related to a timer of the secure communication, such as a length of the timer, a start time or start condition of the timer, etc., e.g., the timer starts when the UE receives the secure communication activation indication signal;

[0215] --- information related to the counter of secure communications counter_sc, for example, may include a maximum value of the number of secure communications counter_sc_max, with an initial value of counter_sc of 0; once the UE transmits an uplink signal for secure communication and / or receives a downlink signal for secure communication, the counter is increased by 1 (counter_sc + 1), and when the counter reaches a maximum number of secure communications (counter_sc = counter_sc_max), the UE terminates secure communication;

[0216] - The UE receives, in accordance with the obtained security factor f2', downlink signals from the network device transmitted in accordance with the obtained security factor f2, and / or transmits uplink signals to the network device, e.g. including a combination of one or more of:

[0217] -- UE obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the obtained f2', wherein, comprising at least one of:

[0218] --- the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception includes a combination of one or more of:

[0219] ---- an initial seed for interleaving, e.g., an initial seed for bit-interleaving

[0220] ---- an initial seed for scrambling, e.g., an initial seed for bit-scrambling

[0221] ---- channel coding rate (e.g., 1 / 2, 1 / 3, 1 / 4, etc.)

[0222] ---- channel coding type (e.g., polar coding, LDPC coding, Turbo coding, etc.)

[0223] ---- RNTI for CRC scrambling

[0224] --- UE obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception corresponding to f2' according to the corresponding relationship between the signal feature values or security factors (or ranges of the feature values or security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception, the corresponding relationship may be obtained by the UE by receiving configuration of the network, or previously defined; for example, the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception is an initial seed for bit-interleaving, the corresponding relationship may be as shown in the above Table 1, for example, finding the range to which the security factor f2'corresponds, e.g., f2' is between f3 and f4, the UE uses the initial seed for bit-interleaving of value 2 for reception of the subsequent downlink signal for secure communication (e.g., bit de-interleaving therein) and / or transmission of the subsequent secure uplink signal (e.g., bit interleaving therein):

[0225] -- UE and the base station validate (or verifies the validity of) the obtained security factor, and obtaining configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the validation result and the security factor; wherein, comprising a combination of at least one of:

[0226] --- UE obtains a reference security factor f_ref (or reference signal feature value) and / or a corresponding first threshold value; the reference security factor (or reference signal feature value) and / or the corresponding first threshold value may be predefined or obtained by receiving configuration of the network device;

[0227] --- UE obtains an autocorrelation value of the UE security factor by correlating the obtained UE security factor f2' with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0228] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as pass, for example, as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0229] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as not pass, e.g., as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0230] --- similarly, the network device obtains an autocorrelation value of the base station security factor by correlating the obtained base station security factor f2 with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0231] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the base station security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the base station sets the validation result as pass, for example as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0232] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the base station security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the base station sets the validation result as not pass, for example as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0233] --- UE feeds back the obtained validation result to the base station, and / or the base station notifies the UE of the obtained validation result, and / or the UE and the base station feed back the obtained validation result to a high-layer functional entity (e.g., security functionality, SF);

[0234] --- when the validation result obtained by the UE and the validation result from the base station obtained by the UE and notified by the network device are both passed, the UE performs a quantization operation according to the obtained UE security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, by using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or the ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, etc.;

[0235] --- when the validation result obtained by the network device and the validation result from UE fed back by the UE and obtained by the network device are both passed, the network device performs a quantization operation according to the obtained base station security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, or the like;

[0236] -- UE validates the obtained security factor, and obtains configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the validation result and the security factor; wherein, comprising a combination of at least one of:

[0237] --- UE obtains a reference security factor f_ref (or reference signal feature value) and / or a corresponding first threshold value; the reference security factor (or reference signal feature value) and / or the corresponding first threshold value are obtained by receiving configuration from network device, wherein in an implementation, the network device sets or configures the f_ref according to the obtained base station security factors f_u such that the security factor f_u obtained by the network device and f_ref configured by the network device have satisfied the relationship between the correlation of f_u to f_ref and the first threshold value (e.g., the correlation is not less than the first threshold value);

[0238] --- the UE obtains an autocorrelation value of the UE security factor by correlating the obtained UE security factor f2' with the reference security factor f_ref:

[0239] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is greater than (or not less than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as pass, for example, as indicated by "1"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as a valid security factor;

[0240] ---- if the autocorrelation value of the UE security factor is less than (or not greater than) the aforementioned first threshold value, the UE sets the validation result as not pass, e.g., as indicated by "0"; for example, the security factor may be referred to as an invalid security factor;

[0241] --- UE feeds back the resulting validation result to the base station, and / or the UE and the base station feed back the resulting validation result to a higher layer functional entity (e.g., security functionality, SF);

[0242] --- when the validation result obtained by the UE is passed, the UE performs a quantization operation according to the obtained UE security factor to obtain a 2-ary sequence, obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the security factor or the sequence, for example, by using the sequence as a bit interleaving sequence or a bit scrambling sequence, or obtains the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception according to the corresponding relationship between the security factors (or the ranges of the security factors) and the configuration information required for communication transmission or reception in the aforementioned manner, in the same manner as before, and will not be described in detail.

[0243] FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of a first communication device 500 in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 5, the first communication device 500 comprises a transceiver 501 and a controller 502. The transceiver 501 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 502 is coupled with the transceiver 501 and configured to perform control such that the first communication device 500 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the first communication device 500 may further include a memory (not shown) having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller 502, may perform at least one method according to the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0244] FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of a second communication device 600 in accordance with at least one embodiment of the present disclosure. Referring to FIG. 6, the second communication device 600 comprises a transceiver 601 and a controller 602. The transceiver 601 is configured to transmit data or signals and to receive data or signals. The controller 602 is coupled with the transceiver 601 and configured to perform control such that the second communication device 600 performs a method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In an implementation, the second communication device 600 may further include a memory (not shown) having stored thereon computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the controller 602, may perform at least one method according to the above-described embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0245] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment (UE) 700 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The UE of FIG. 7 corresponds to the UE of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3a.

[0246] The terminal is an electronic device capable of wireless communication, may include a User Equipment (UE), a portable phone, a smartphone, a tablet, an Internet of things (IoT) device, etc., having various form factors, and may perform wireless communication with a base station (BS) through a wireless channel.

[0247] Referring to FIG. 7, the UE 700 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply “transceiver”) 701, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply “processor”) 702, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply “memory”) 703. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 701, the processor 702, and the memory 703 of the UE 700 may operate. However, components of the UE 700 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in FIG. 7. In another embodiment, the UE 700 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 701, the processor 702, or the memory 703 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0248] The transceiver 701 may be a communication circuit or communication circuitry that enables the UE 700 to perform wireless communication with a node or an entity of a network. For example, the transceiver 701 may enable the UE 700 to transmit or receive a signal to or from a BS through cellular communication, or to transmit or receive a signal to or from another UE through cellular communication. For example, the transceiver 701 may support at least one of various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and various cellular wireless communication technologies supported by the transceiver (701) may include all subsequent generations of evolved wireless communications.

[0249] According to an embodiment, the UE 700 may include a plurality of transceivers. For example, in the case of supporting evolved-universal terrestrial radio access-new radio (E-UTRA-NR) sual connectivity (EN-DC), the UE 700 may include a first transceiver supporting the 4G LTE wireless communication and a second transceiver supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to another embodiment, in the case of supporting NR-dual connectivity (NR-DC), the UE 700 may include a plurality of transceivers supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to still another embodiment, in the case of supporting near field wireless communication, the UE 700 may separately include a transceiver supporting at least one standard in the group of wireless communication protocol standards as defined in the protocol standards for Bluetooth®, wireless local area network (WLAN) network (including institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11-2016 standard or its amendments, e.g., 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be, without being limited thereto).

[0250] According to an embodiment, the transceiver 701 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a BS through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 701 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 701 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 702 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 702.

[0251] The processor 702 may control general operations of the UE 700 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 702 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 702 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 703, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 702 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

[0252] The processor 702 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 701 to control the transceiver 701.

[0253] The processor 702 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. For example, the processor 702 may include a communication processor (CP) configured to control communication operations and an application processor (AP) configured to control execution of an upper layer (for example, an application layer) . In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 702 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 702 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 701 or the memory 703.

[0254] The processor 702 may perform or control or cause an operation of the UE 700 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 702 may control operations of the UE 700 for processing a downlink signal received from a BS or generating and transmitting an uplink signal to a BS. To this end, the processor 702 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 703, so as to control other components of the UE 700 to enable execution of various operations.

[0255] The memory 703 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 703 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0256] The memory 703 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 702 and may be accessed by the processor 702.

[0257] The memory 703 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 702. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 702 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 703, the processor 702 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0258] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the UE 700 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 703 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0259] FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a base station (BS) 800 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The BS of FIG. 8 corresponds to the BS of FIG. 1 and FIG. 3b.

[0260] The BS 800 may perform wireless communication with at least one user equipment (UE) located within the area of the BS 800 through a wireless channel.

[0261] Referring to FIG. 8, the BS 800 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply “transceiver”) 801, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply “processor”) 802, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply “memory”) 803. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 801, the processor 802, and the memory 803 of the BS 800 may operate. However, components of the BS 800 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in FIG. 8. In another embodiment, the BS 800 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 801, the processor 802, or the memory 803 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0262] The transceiver 801 may be a communication circuit or communication circuitry that enables the BS 800 to perform wireless communication with a node or an entity of a network. For example, the transceiver 801 may enable the BS 800 to transmit or receive a signal to or from the UE X00 through cellular communication, or to transmit or receive a signal to or from another network entity through wireless communication. For example, the transceiver 801 may support various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and various cellular wireless communication technologies supported by the transceiver (801) may include all subsequent generations of evolved wireless communications.. According to an embodiment, the transceiver 801 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a UE through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 801 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 801 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 802 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 802.

[0263] Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the BS 800 may perform communication with a node or an entity of a network through wired or wireless communication. For example, the BS 800 may perform wired or wireless communication with an adjacent BS, or a node or an entity of a core network through a backhaul network. Although not illustrated in FIG. 8, when the BS 800 performs wired communication, the BS 800 may further include a separate network interface for wired communication in addition to the transceiver 801. The network interface may be referred to as network interface circuitry or communication interface circuitry.

[0264] The processor 802 may control general operations of the BS 800 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 802 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 802 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 803, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 802 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

[0265] The processor 802 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 801 to control the transceiver 801.

[0266] The processor 802 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 802 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 802 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 801 or the memory 803.

[0267] The processor 802 may perform or control or cause an operation of the BS 800 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 802 may control operations of the BS 800 for generating and transmitting a downlink signal to a UE or processing an uplink signal received from a UE. Otherwise, the BS 800 may transmit or receive a signal to or from a neighboring BS, transfer a signal received from a UE to an upper node of the network, or transmit a signal transferred from an upper node of the network to a UE. To this end, the processor 802 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 803, so as to control other components of the BS 800 to enable execution of various operations.

[0268] The memory 803 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 803 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0269] The memory 803 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 802 and may be accessed by the processor 802.

[0270] The memory 803 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 802. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 802 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 803, the processor 802 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0271] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the BS 800 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 803 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0272] The UE or the base station may perform various communication procedures related to the control plane or the user plane by cooperating with one or more network entities based on wireless communication. For example, the UE may communicate with network entity such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) or a Session Management Function (SMF) via the base station, or the base station may perform at least one communication procedure by directly transmitting and receiving signals to / from, or relaying signals between, the network entities.

[0273] The structure of the above-described network entity will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0274] FIG. 9 is a block diagram of a network entity 900 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The network entity 900 of FIG. 9 corresponds to a network entity in network of FIG. 1.

[0275] The network entity 900 may include an entity (apparatus, device, or server, etc.) that performs one or more network functions (NFs) or a part of a network function constituting a core network (e.g., a 5th generation (5G) core (5GC)) in a communication system. In this case, multiple NFs may be implemented within a single network entity, or a single NF may be distributed and implemented across a plurality of network entities. In addition, when an NF is implemented within the network entity, the NF may be implemented in the form of software, and in such a case, a program for operating the NF may be stored in memory of the network entity 900.

[0276] A single NF may be implemented by one or more instances, which may be deployed on the same network entity or distributed across multiple network entities to operate. The instance may be a software unit that logically executes a specific network function, and may be implemented in a form that is decoupled from physical hardware resources. Further, one or more NFs may be implemented in the form of one network slice to operate to satisfy specifications required by a particular service.

[0277] The NF may include at least one of an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a local session management function (L-SMF), a user plane function (UPF), a local user plane function (L-UPF), a policy control function (PCF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), a network exposure function (NEF), a network repository function (NRF), an application function (AF), a network slice selection function (NSSF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), a network slice admission control function (NSACF), an authentication server function (AUSF), or a data network (DN).

[0278] Referring to FIG. 9, the network entity 900 may include at least one network interface 901, at least one processor 902 (hereinafter, “processor”), and at least one memory 903 (hereinafter, “memory”). As described above, a NF may be implemented in the form of a physical device such as the network entity 900, or may be virtualized and executed in the form of an instance. When implemented as an instance, the NF need not necessarily include physical components as illustrated in FIG. 9. In such a case, the instance may be logically represented as comprising one or more logical functional elements.

[0279] According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the network interface 901, the processor 902, and the memory 903 of the network entity 900 may operate. However, components of the network entity 900 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in FIG. 9. In another embodiment, the network entity 900 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in an embodiment, the network interface 901, the processor 902, or the memory 903 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0280] The network interface 901 is a collective term for a transmitter part of the network entity 900 and a receiver part of the network entity 900, and may be a communication circuit for transmitting or receiving a signal to or from a user equipment (UE), a base station (BS), or another network entity. Here, the communication circuit may include both a communication circuit for wireless communication and a communication circuit for a wired communication. For example, the network interface 901 may include a circuit, logic, hardware, etc., configured to exchange a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless communication or wired communication. The network interface 901 may operate using various protocols (e.g., non-access stratum (NAS) protocol). The network interface 901 may also be referred to, for convenience of description or depending on implementation, as communication circuitry, network interface circuitry, or a communication interface circuitry.

[0281] The processor 902 may control general operations of the network entity 900 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 902 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 902 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 903, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 902 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme. Further, it should be noted that, according to another embodiment, in a case where NF is implemented in the form of an instance, the network function may be not necessarily configured by physical hardware.

[0282] According to an embodiment, the processor 902 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the network interface 901 to control the network interface 901.

[0283] The processor 902 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 902 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 902 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the network interface 901 or the memory 903.

[0284] The processor 902 may perform or control or cause an operation of the network entity 900 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 902 may control operations of the network entity 900 for exchanging a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless or wired communication, using various protocols (e.g., NAS protocol). To this end, the processor 902 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 903, so as to control other components of the network entity 900 to enable execution of various operations.

[0285] The memory 903 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 903 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0286] The memory 903 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 902 and may be accessed by the processor 902.

[0287] The memory 903 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 902. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 902 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 903, the processor 902 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0288] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the network entity 900 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 903 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0289] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first communication device in a communication system, comprising:

[0290] transmitting a first reference signal to a second communication device;

[0291] receiving, from the second communication device, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal;

[0292] receiving a second reference signal from the second communication device;

[0293] obtaining a first security factor based on the received forwarded signal and the second reference signal;

[0294] performing data transmission with the second communication device based on the first security factor,

[0295] wherein the first security factor is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the second communication device, a transmission feature of the second communication device, a reception feature of the first communication device, a transmission feature of the first communication device.

[0296] In an implementation, the obtaining a first security factor comprises:

[0297] obtaining a first feature value based on the received forwarded signal;

[0298] obtaining a second feature value based on the received second reference signal;

[0299] obtaining a third feature value as the first security factor based on the first feature value and the second feature value,

[0300] wherein the first feature value is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the second communication device, a transmission feature of the second communication device, a reception feature of the first communication device, a transmission feature of the first communication device,

[0301] the second feature value is associated with a transmission feature of the second communication device and / or a reception feature of the first communication device.

[0302] In an implementation, the first feature value, second feature value, or third feature value is related to at least one of: a nonlinearity value of a system, phase noise, frequency offset, fractal feature, constellation feature, high-order moment feature, time domain feature, frequency domain feature, envelope feature, information dimension feature, box dimension feature, signal-to-noise ratio feature.

[0303] In an implementation, resource location of the forwarded signal is determined based on resource location of the second reference signal.

[0304] In an implementation, performing data transmission with the second communication device based on the first security factor comprises:

[0305] obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor;

[0306] performing the data transmission based on the configuration information.

[0307] In an implementation, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor comprises:

[0308] obtaining configuration information corresponding to the first security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission, according to information indicating corresponding relationship between security factors and configuration information; or

[0309] taking a sequence obtained according to the first security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission.

[0310] In an implementation, the corresponding relationship comprises a corresponding relationship between different ranges of security factors and configuration information.

[0311] In an implementation, the configuration information related to data transmission comprises at least one of:

[0312] an initial seed for interleaving, an initial seed for scrambling, a channel coding code rate, a channel coding type, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI0 for cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambling, an interleaving sequence, a scrambling sequence.

[0313] In an implementation, the method further comprising:

[0314] determine a first validation result of the first security factor based on a reference security factor and a first threshold,

[0315] wherein if the first validation result is passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor which is a valid security factor.

[0316] In an implementation, determining a first validation result of the first security factor based on a reference security factor and a first threshold comprises:

[0317] determining the first validation result based on a comparison result of a correlation value of the first security factor to the reference security factor with a first threshold value.

[0318] In an implementation, the method further comprising:

[0319] receive a second validation result from the second communication device, the second validation result being a validation result for a second security factor obtained by the second communication device for the first reference signal,

[0320] wherein if the first validation result and the second validation result are passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor.

[0321] In an implementation, the method further comprising: transmitting the first validation result to the second communication device or delivering the first validation result to a high layer functionality.

[0322] In an implementation, the method further comprising: receiving a signal indicating secure communication from the second communication device,

[0323] wherein the first reference signal is transmitted after receiving the signal indicating secure communication.

[0324] In an implementation, the signal indicating secure communication comprises at least one of:

[0325] indication information to enable secure communication, configuration information of a first reference signal, configuration information of a second reference signal, timer information of secure communication, counter information of secure communication.

[0326] In an implementation, receiving the second reference signal from the second communication device comprises: receiving the second reference signal in a first second reference signal occasion that is M time units after transmitting the first reference signal, the size of M being related to a processing time for the second communication device to receive the first reference signal, transmit the second reference signal and the forwarded signal.

[0327] In an implementation, wherein the first communication device is a user equipment, UE, the first reference signal is a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a preamble in a physical random access channel (PRACH), and the second reference signal is one of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel block (SSB), a positioning reference signal (PRS), or

[0328] wherein the first communication device is a base station, the first reference signal is one of CSI-RS, SSB, PRS, and the second reference signal is SRS or a preamble sequence of PRACH.

[0329] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a second communication device in a communication system, comprising:

[0330] receiving a first reference signal from a first communication device;

[0331] transmitting a second reference signal to the first communication device;

[0332] transmitting a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal to the first communication device;

[0333] obtain a second security factor based on the received first reference signal;

[0334] perform data transmission with the first communication device based on the second security factor,

[0335] wherein the second security factor is associated with a reception feature of the second communication device and / or a transmission feature of the first communication device.

[0336] In an implementation, the obtaining a second security factor comprises:

[0337] obtaining a fourth feature value as the second security factor based on the received first reference signal.

[0338] In an implementation, the fourth feature value is associated with a reception feature of the second communication device and / or a transmission feature of the first communication device.

[0339] In an implementation, the fourth feature value is related to at least one of: a nonlinearity value of a system, phase noise, frequency offset, fractal feature, constellation feature, high-order moment feature, time domain feature, frequency domain feature, envelope feature, information dimension feature, box dimension feature, signal-to-noise ratio feature.

[0340] In an implementation, resource location of the forwarded signal is determined based on resource location of the second reference signal.

[0341] In an implementation, performing data transmission with the first communication device based on the second security factor comprises:

[0342] obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the second security factor;

[0343] performing the data transmission based on the configuration information.

[0344] In an implementation, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the second security factor comprises:

[0345] obtaining configuration information corresponding to the second security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission, according to information indicating corresponding relationship between security factors and configuration information; or

[0346] taking a sequence obtained according to the second security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission.

[0347] In an implementation, the corresponding relationship comprises a corresponding relationship between different ranges of security factors and configuration information.

[0348] In an implementation, the configuration information related to data transmission comprises at least one of:

[0349] an initial seed for interleaving, an initial seed for scrambling, a channel coding code rate, a channel coding type, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI0 for cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambling, an interleaving sequence, a scrambling sequence.

[0350] In an implementation, the method further comprising:

[0351] determine a second validation result of the second security factor based on a reference security factor and a second threshold,

[0352] wherein if the second validation result is passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the second security factor which is a valid security factor.

[0353] In an implementation, determining a second validation result of the second security factor based on a reference security factor and a second threshold comprises:

[0354] determining the second validation result based on a comparison result of a correlation value of the second security factor to the reference security factor with a second threshold value.

[0355] In an implementation, the method further comprising:

[0356] receive a first validation result from the first communication device, the first validation result being a validation result for a first security factor obtained by the first communication device for the second reference signal and the forwarded signal,

[0357] wherein if the first validation result and the second validation result are passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the second security factor.

[0358] In an implementation, the method further comprising: transmitting the second validation result to the first communication device or delivering the second validation result to a high layer functionality.

[0359] In an implementation, the method further comprising: transmitting a signal indicating secure communication to the first communication device,

[0360] wherein the first reference signal is received after transmitting the signal indicating secure communication.

[0361] In an implementation, the signal indicating secure communication comprises at least one of:

[0362] indication information to enable secure communication, configuration information of a first reference signal, configuration information of a second reference signal, timer information of secure communication, counter information of secure communication.

[0363] In an implementation, transmitting the second reference signal to the first communication device comprises: transmitting the second reference signal in a first second reference signal occasion that is M time units after receiving the first reference signal, the size of M being related to a processing time for the second communication device to receive the first reference signal, transmit the second reference signal and the forwarded signal.

[0364] In an implementation, wherein the second communication device is a base station, the first reference signal is a sounding reference signal (SRS), or a preamble in a physical random access channel (PRACH), and the second reference signal is one of a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) a synchronization signal physical broadcast channel block (SSB), a positioning reference signal (PRS), or

[0365] wherein the second communication device is a UE, the first reference signal is one of CSI-RS, SSB, PRS, and the second reference signal is SRS or a preamble sequence of PRACH.

[0366] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a first communication device comprising:

[0367] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive a signal;

[0368] a controller configured to control the first communication device to perform the method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0369] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a second communication device comprising:

[0370] a transceiver configured to transmit and / or receive a signal;

[0371] a controller configured to control the first communication device to perform the method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0372] The foregoing description is intended to illustrate exemplary embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the present invention. It is intended that all changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention be included within the scope of the appended claims.

[0373] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the present invention includes apparatus for performing one or more of the operations described herein. These devices may be specially designed and manufactured for the desired purpose, or may include known devices in general purpose computers. These devices have a computer program stored therein which is selectively activated or reconfigurable. Such a computer program may be stored in a device (e.g., a computer) readable medium including, but not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, hard disks, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, ROM (Read-Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory), flash memory, magnetic cards, or optical cards or in any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions, and respectively coupled to a bus. That is, the readable medium includes any medium that can store or transmit information in a form that can be read by a device (e.g., a computer).

[0374] It will be understood by those of skill in the art that each block of the structure diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the structure diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. Those skilled in the art can understand that these computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a specialized computer, or other programmable data processing methods to be implemented, so that the schemes specified in the block or blocks of the structure diagrams and / or block diagrams and / or flow diagrams disclosed in the present invention are executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing methods.

[0375] It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that various operations, methods, steps in processes, measures, schemes that have been discussed in the present invention may be alternated, altered, combined, or deleted. Further, other steps, measures, schemes of various operations, methods, processes, processes that have been discussed in the present invention may also be alternated, altered, rearranged, broken down, combined, or deleted. Further, steps, measures, schemes of various operations, methods, processes and processes disclosed in the present invention may also be alternated, modified, rearranged, broken down, combined or deleted.

[0376] While the foregoing is merely a partial implementation of the present invention, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that numerous modifications and adaptations may be made without departing from the principles of the present invention, and that such modifications and adaptations are to be considered as being within the scope of the present invention.Meanwhile, although specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1.A method performed by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:transmitting, to a base station (BS), a first reference signal;receiving, from the BS, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal;receiving, from the BS, a second reference signal;obtaining a first security factor based on the received forwarded signal and the second reference signal;performing data transmission with the BS based on the first security factor,wherein the first security factor is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the BS, a transmission feature of the BS, a reception feature of the UE, a transmit feature of the UE.2.The method of to claim 1, wherein the obtaining a first security factor comprises:obtaining a first feature value based on the received forwarded signal;obtaining a second feature value based on the received second reference signal;obtaining a third feature value as the first security factor based on the first feature value and the second feature value,wherein the first feature value is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the BS, a transmission feature of the BS, a reception feature of the UE, a transmission feature of the UE,the second feature value is associated with a transmission feature of the BS and / or a reception feature of the UE.3.The method of claim 2, wherein the first feature value, second feature value, or third feature value is related to at least one of: a nonlinearity value of a system, phase noise, frequency offset, fractal feature, constellation feature, high-order moment feature, time domain feature, frequency domain feature, envelope feature, information dimension feature, box dimension feature, signal-to-noise ratio feature.4.The method of claim 1, wherein resource location of the forwarded signal is determined based on resource location of the second reference signal.5.The method of claim 1, wherein performing data transmission with the BS based on the first security factor comprises:obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor;performing the data transmission based on the configuration information.6.The method of claim 5, wherein obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor comprises:obtaining configuration information corresponding to the first security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission, according to information indicating corresponding relationship between security factors and configuration information; ortaking a sequence obtained according to the first security factor as the configuration information related to data transmission.7.The method of claim 6, wherein the corresponding relationship comprises a corresponding relationship between different ranges of security factors and configuration information.8.The method of claim 5, wherein the configuration information related to data transmission comprises at least one of:an initial seed for interleaving, an initial seed for scrambling, a channel coding code rate, a channel coding type, a radio network temporary identifier (RNTI) for cyclic redundancy check (CRC) scrambling, an interleaving sequence, a scrambling sequence.9.The method of claim 5, further comprising:determine a first validation result of the first security factor based on a reference security factor and a first threshold,wherein if the first validation result is passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor which is a valid security factor.10.The method of claim 9, wherein determining a first validation result of the first security factor based on a reference security factor and a first threshold comprises:determining the first validation result based on a comparison result of a correlation value of the first security factor to the reference security factor with a first threshold value.11.The method of claim 9, further comprising:receive a second validation result from the BS, the second validation result being a validation result for a second security factor obtained by the BS for the first reference signal,wherein if the first validation result and the second validation result are passed, obtaining configuration information related to data transmission based on the first security factor.12.The method of claim 9, further comprising:transmitting, to the BS, the first validation result, ordelivering, to a high layer functionality, the first validation result.13.A method performed by a base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a first reference signal;transmitting, to the UE, a second reference signal;transmitting, to the UE, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal;obtaining a second security factor based on the received first reference signal;performing data transmission with the UE based on the second security factor,wherein the second security factor is associated with a reception feature of the BS and / or a transmission feature of the UE.14.A user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; andat least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to:transmit, to a base station (BS), a first reference signal;receive, from the BS, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal;receive, from the BS, a second reference signal;obtaining a first security factor based on the received forwarded signal and the second reference signal;perform data transmission with the BS based on the first security factor,wherein the first security factor is associated with at least one of a reception feature of the BS, a transmission feature of the BS, a reception feature of the UE, a transmit feature of the UE.15.A base station (BS) in a wireless communication system, comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; andat least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the BS to:receive, from a user equipment (UE), a first reference signal;transmit, to the UE, a second reference signal;transmit, to the UE, a forwarded signal of a received signal of the first reference signal;obtain a second security factor based on the received first reference signal;perform data transmission with the UE based on the second security factor,wherein the second security factor is associated with a reception feature of the BS and / or a transmission feature of the UE.

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