Method and apparatus for dynamic instantiation of virtual service slices for autonomous machines

• US 10,104,548 B1
• Filed: 12/18/2017
• Issued: 10/16/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Dowlatkhah, Sangar, Lau, Erie Lai Har
• Primary Examiner(s): Bilgrami, Asghar
• Application Number:
  US15/845,323
• Time in Patent Office: 302 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/44 for communication between vehicles and infrastructures, e.g. vehicle-to-cloud [V2C] or vehicle-to-home [V2H]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/24 Transfer of terminal data

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, receiving from a first cellular-capable apparatus operating in a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network, an authentication request to connect to a non-stationary cellular host, determining, according to the authentication request, whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to a first service of a plurality of services supported by the non-stationary cellular host, and, in response, instantiating at the non-stationary cellular host a first set of virtual network functions required to facilitate the service for the cellular-capable apparatus, and facilitating the service to the first cellular-capable apparatus according to a first set of virtual network functions to generate first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving, from a first cellular-capable apparatus operating in a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network, an authentication request to connect to a non-stationary cellular host;

determining, according to the authentication request, whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to a first service of a plurality of services supported by the non-stationary cellular host; and

responsive to determining that the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to the first service;

facilitating a first cellular connection between the first cellular-capable apparatus and the non-stationary cellular host;

determining a first set of virtual network functions required to facilitate the first service to be used by the cellular-capable apparatus;

instantiating the first set of virtual network functions at the non-stationary cellular host to generate a network slice;

facilitating, via the first cellular connection, access to the first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus according to the first set of virtual network functions to generate first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus, wherein the non-stationary cellular host utilizes the network slice to provide the first service to the first cellular-capable apparatus; and

transferring, via the first cellular connection, the first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

2. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether the non-stationary cellular host is coupled to a second cellular-capable apparatus operating in a third area inside of the coverage of the cellular network; and

responsive to the determining that the non-stationary cellular host is coupled to the second cellular-capable apparatus, transferring, via a second cellular connection between the non-stationary cellular host and the second cellular-capable apparatus, second information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

3. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 2, wherein the second cellular-capable apparatus forwards the second information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus to the cellular network.

4. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting whether the non-stationary cellular host has entered a second area inside of the coverage of the cellular network; and

responsive to detecting entrance of the non-stationary cellular host into the second area inside the coverage of the cellular network, transferring, via a second cellular connection between the non-stationary cellular host and the cellular network, second information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

5. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise transmitting, via the non-stationary cellular host, a cellular carrier to the first area outside of the coverage of the cellular network, wherein the first cellular-capable apparatus transmits the authentication request to connect to the non-stationary cellular host responsive to receiving the cellular carrier.

6. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining, according to the authentication request, whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is authorized to access the non-stationary cellular host.

7. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the facilitating the access to the first service further comprises:

determining a current revision level of software executing at the first cellular-capable apparatus; and

determining whether the software executing at the first cellular-capable apparatus is requires an update according to the revision level, wherein, responsive to the determining of the requirement for the update the software, the transferring of the first information comprises downloading the update of the software via the first cellular connection.

8. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the facilitating the access to the first service further comprises accessing first data stored at the first cellular-capable apparatus, wherein the transferring of the first information comprises uploading the first data via the first cellular connection.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the determining of the first set of virtual network functions further comprises:

determining a plurality of data path routings to perform a plurality of service functions required for the facilitating the access to the first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus; and

selecting a service function set of the plurality of service functions according to a characteristic of the plurality of data path routings, wherein the first set of virtual network functions is determined according to the service function set.

10. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the characteristic of the plurality of data path routings includes a quality of service achievable via the plurality of data path routings, a security level achievable via the plurality of data path routings, a data latency achievable via the plurality of data path routings, an accessibility of data utilized in the first service via the plurality of data path routings, or any combination thereof.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the determining whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to the first service further comprises transmitting, by a mobility management entity, the authenticating request to a subscription service database at the non-stationary cellular host.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the facilitating the access to the first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus further comprises connecting the first cellular-capable apparatus to the first service via a packet data network gateway at the non-stationary cellular host.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the first set of virtual network functions is instantiated via a software defined controller at the non-stationary cellular host.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 13, wherein the software defined controller detects a level of resource provided by a first virtual network function of the first set of virtual network functions to facilitate the access to the first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus and communicates with the first virtual network function to adjust the level of the resource provided responsive to the level of the resource that is detected.

15. A non-stationary cellular host device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

transmitting a cellular signal in a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network to indicate an availability of cellular service from the non-stationary cellular host device;

responsive to a first cellular-capable apparatus detecting the cellular signal, receiving, from the first cellular-capable apparatus operating in the first area outside of coverage of the cellular network, an authentication request to connect to the non-stationary cellular host;

determining, according to the authentication request, whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to a first service of a plurality of services supported by the non-stationary cellular host; and

responsive to the determining that the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to the first service;

facilitating a first cellular connection between the first cellular-capable apparatus and the non-stationary cellular host;

facilitating access to the first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus according to a first set of virtual network functions to generate first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus, wherein the first set of virtual network functions are instantiated by the non-stationary cellular host device to generate a network slice that is utilized to provide the first service to the first cellular-capable apparatus; and

transferring, via the first cellular connection, the first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

16. The non-stationary cellular host device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining the first set of virtual network functions required to facilitate the access to the first service by the cellular-capable apparatus; and

instantiating the first set of virtual network functions at the non-stationary cellular host to generate the network slice that provides the first service to the first cellular-capable apparatus.

17. The non-stationary cellular host device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

detecting whether the non-stationary cellular host has entered a second area inside of the coverage of the cellular network; and

responsive to detecting entry of the non-stationary cellular host into the second area inside the coverage of the cellular network, transferring, via a second cellular connection between the non-stationary cellular host and the cellular network, second information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

18. The non-stationary cellular host device of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining whether the non-stationary cellular host is coupled to a second cellular-capable apparatus operating in a third area inside of the coverage of the cellular network; and

responsive to the determining that the non-stationary cellular host is coupled to the second cellular-capable apparatus, transferring, via a second cellular connection between the non-stationary cellular host and the second cellular-capable apparatus, second information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.

19. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processing system including a processor, from a first cellular-capable apparatus operating in a first area outside of coverage of a cellular network, an authentication request to connect to a non-stationary cellular host;

determining, by the processing system, according to the authentication request, whether the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to a first service of a plurality of services supported by the non-stationary cellular host; and

responsive to the determining that the first cellular-capable apparatus is subscribed to the first service;

instantiating, by the processing system, at the non-stationary cellular host, a first set of virtual network functions to generate a network slice required to facilitate access to the first service by the cellular-capable apparatus; and

facilitating, by the processing system, the access to first service by the first cellular-capable apparatus according to a first set of virtual network functions to generate first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus, wherein the non-stationary cellular host utilizes the network slice to provide the first service to the first cellular-capable apparatus.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising transferring, by the processing system, via a first cellular connection between the first cellular-capable apparatus and the non-stationary cellular host, the first information associated with the first cellular-capable apparatus.