Patent ID: 8826011

Claim:
A method of selectively protecting a medium access control (MAC) control message, the method comprising: configuring, at a transmission end, a header comprising indication information representing whether the MAC control message is encrypted; performing, at the transmitting end, protection of the MAC control message by selecting one scheme of plural schemes for protecting the MAC control message based on a message type of the MAC control message and a timing point of using the MAC control message; and transmitting, by the transmission end to a reception end, the MAC control message comprising the header, wherein the plural schemes for protecting the MAC control message comprise: a first scheme that protects a confidentiality and an integrity of the MAC control message, a second scheme that protects only the integrity of the MAC control message, and a third scheme providing no protection of the MAC control message, and wherein the third scheme is selected when initial ranging request procedures are performed, and the first scheme is selected when registration procedures are performed after the initial ranging request procedures.