System and method to facilitate slice management in a network environment

• US 10,178,646 B2
• Filed: 04/12/2017
• Issued: 01/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bosch, Hendrikus G. P., La Roche, Humberto J., Dodd-Noble, Aeneas Sean, Mullender, Sape Jurri{hacek over (e)}n, Stammers, Timothy P., Livanos, Konstantin
• Primary Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US15/486,143
• Publication Number:
  US 20180302877A1
• Time in Patent Office: 636 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0884 by delegation of authentication, e.g. a proxy authenticates an entity to be authenticated on behalf of this entity vis-à-vis an authentication entity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/123 received data contents, e.g. message integrity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/00 Network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include receiving, by a mobility management frontend, an attach request for a user equipment (UE) to attach the UE to a core network slice type for a mobile core Software Defined Network (SDN) infrastructure, wherein a plurality of core network slice types are available for the mobile core SDN infrastructure to receive traffic from a plurality of UEs; determining a particular core network slice type within the mobile core SDN infrastructure to serve the UE based on subscriber information associated with the UE; selecting a particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type to receive traffic for the UE; and forwarding traffic for the UE between a Radio Access Network (RAN) and the particular slice instance by the mobility management frontend.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a mobility management frontend, an attach request for a user equipment (UE) to attach the UE to a core network slice type for a mobile core Software Defined Network (SDN) infrastructure, wherein a plurality of core network slice types are available for the mobile core SDN infrastructure to receive traffic from a plurality of UEs;

determining a particular core network slice type within the mobile core SDN infrastructure to serve the UE based on subscriber information associated with the UE;

selecting a particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type to receive traffic for the UE;

maintaining a plurality of data structures by the mobility management frontend, wherein the plurality of data structures comprise;

a session correlation table identifying, for each of a particular UE of the plurality of UEs, a first session identifier (ID) assigned to the particular UE by a Radio Frequency (RF) element of a Radio Access Network (RAN) to which the particular UE is connected, a second session ID assigned to the UE by the mobility management frontend, and a third session ID assigned to the particular UE by a Mobility Management Entity server associated with the particular slice instance; and

a paging correlation table identifying, for each RF element of a plurality of RF elements of the RAN, a paging location list associated with each RF element; and

forwarding traffic for the UE between the RAN and the particular slice instance by the mobility management frontend.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the particular core network slice type further comprises:

retrieving, by the mobility management frontend, the subscriber information associated with the UE from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS); and

determining the particular core network slice type based on a UE-Usage-Type parameter included in the subscriber information that identifies the particular core network slice type to be selected for the UE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type is based, at least in part, on loading for each of a plurality of slice instances associated with the particular core network slice type.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

decrypting a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message received by the mobility management frontend from the UE; and

forwarding the decrypted NAS message to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) server associated with the particular slice instance.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving an unencrypted Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message by the mobility management frontend from a Mobility Management Entity server associated with the particular slice instance;

encrypting the NAS message; and

forwarding the encrypted NAS message toward the UE.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a paging message by the mobility management frontend from a Mobility Management Entity (MME) server associated with the particular slice instance, wherein the paging message comprises an identifier for the UE and paging location information associated with the UE;

determining one or more RF elements of the RAN that can be serving the UE from the paging correlation table based on the paging location information received in the paging message; and

forwarding the paging message to the one or more determined RF elements, wherein the forwarded paging message comprises the identifier for the UE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data structures further comprise:

a mobility management frontend correlation table identifying, for each of a plurality of mobility management frontends, a list identifying a plurality of RF elements of the RAN served by each mobility management frontend.

8. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution by a processor, wherein the execution causes the processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, by a mobility management frontend, an attach request for a user equipment (UE) to attach the UE to a core network slice type for a mobile core Software Defined Network (SDN) infrastructure, wherein a plurality of core network slice types are available for the mobile core SDN infrastructure to receive traffic from a plurality of UEs;

determining a particular core network slice type within the mobile core SDN infrastructure to serve the UE based on subscriber information associated with the UE;

selecting a particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type to receive traffic for the UE;

maintaining a plurality of data structures by the mobility management frontend, wherein the plurality of data structures comprise;

a session correlation table identifying, for each of a particular UE of the plurality of UEs, a first session identifier (ID) assigned to the particular UE by a Radio Frequency (RF) element of a Radio Access Network (RAN) to which the particular UE is connected, a second session ID assigned to the UE by the mobility management frontend, and a third session ID assigned to the particular UE by a Mobility Management Entity server associated with the particular slice instance; and

a pacing correlation table identifying, for each RF element of a plurality of RF elements of the RAN, a pacing location list associated with each RF element; and

forwarding traffic for the UE between the RAN and the particular slice instance by the mobility management frontend.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein determining the particular core network slice type further comprises:

retrieving, by the mobility management frontend, the subscriber information associated with the UE from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS); and

determining the particular core network slice type based on a UE-Usage-Type parameter included in the subscriber information that identifies the particular core network slice type to be selected for the UE.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein selecting the particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type is based, at least in part, on loading for each of a plurality of slice instances associated with the particular core network slice type.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

decrypting a Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message received by the mobility management frontend from the UE; and

forwarding the decrypted NAS message to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) server associated with the particular slice instance.

12. The media of claim 8, wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

receiving an unencrypted Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message by the mobility management frontend from a Mobility Management Entity server associated with the particular slice instance;

encrypting the NAS message; and

forwarding the encrypted NAS message toward the UE.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein the execution causes the processor to perform further operations, comprising:

receiving a paging message by the mobility management frontend from a Mobility Management Entity (MME) server associated with the particular slice instance, wherein the paging message comprises an identifier for the UE and paging location information associated with the UE;

determining one or more RF elements of the RAN that can be serving the UE from the paging correlation table based on the paging location information received in the paging message; and

forwarding the paging message to the one or more determined RF elements, wherein the forwarded paging message comprises the identifier for the UE.

14. The media of claim 8, wherein the plurality of data structures further comprise:

a mobility management frontend correlation table identifying, for each of a plurality of mobility management frontends, a list identifying a plurality of RF elements of the RAN served by each mobility management frontend.

15. A system comprising:

at least one memory element for storing data; and

at least one processor for executing instructions associated with the data, wherein the executing causes the system to perform operations, comprising;

receiving, by a mobility management frontend, an attach request for a user equipment (UE) to attach the UE to a core network slice type for a mobile core Software Defined Network (SDN) infrastructure, wherein a plurality of core network slice types are available for the mobile core SDN infrastructure to receive traffic from a plurality of UEs;

determining a particular core network slice type within the mobile core SDN infrastructure to serve the UE based on subscriber information associated with the UE;

selecting a particular slice instance of the particular core network slice type to receive traffic for the UE;

maintaining a plurality of data structures by the mobility management frontend, wherein the plurality of data structures comprise;

a session correlation table identifying, for each of a particular UE of the plurality of UEs, a first session identifier (ID) assigned to the particular UE by a Radio Frequency (RF) element of a Radio Access Network (RAN) to which the particular UE is connected, a second session ID assigned to the UE by the mobility management frontend, and a third session ID assigned to the particular UE by a Mobility Management Entity server associated with the particular slice instance; and

a paging correlation table identifying, for each RF element of a plurality of RF elements of the RAN, a paging location list associated with each RF element;

and

forwarding traffic for the UE between the RAN and the particular slice instance by the mobility management frontend.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the particular core network slice type further comprises:

retrieving, by the mobility management frontend, the subscriber information associated with the UE from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS); and

determining the particular core network slice type based on a UE-Usage-Type parameter included in the subscriber information that identifies the particular core network slice type to be selected for the UE.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the executing causes the system to perform further operations, comprising:

receiving a paging message by the mobility management frontend from a Mobility Management Entity (MME) server associated with the particular slice instance, wherein the paging message comprises an identifier for the UE and paging location information associated with the UE;

determining one or more RF elements of the RAN that can be serving the UE from the paging correlation table based on the paging location information received in the paging message; and

forwarding the paging message to the one or more determined RF elements, wherein the forwarded paging message comprises the identifier for the UE.