Management of network entity selection

• US 10,230,573 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2013
• Issued: 03/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Rasanen, Juha Antero
• Primary Examiner(s): Thieu, Benjamin M
• Application Number:
  US15/101,992
• Publication Number:
  US 20160308715A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,922 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

An apparatus and a method are provided by which, in an apparatus for setting up and maintaining network functions, identities of first type network functions and second type network functions are stored, wherein the first type of virtual network functions are configured to select one or more of the second type network functions, and, for each first type network function, information regarding second type network functions which are selectable by the corresponding first type network function based on information regarding physical conditions of the first type network functions and the second type of virtual network functions are maintained.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

a processor, wherein

the processor is configured to set up and maintain virtual network functions, and

the memory is configured to store

identities of a first type of the virtual network functions and of a second type of the virtual network functions, wherein the first type of the virtual network functions is configured to select one or more of the second type of the virtual network functions, and

the processor is configured to maintain, in the memory, for each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions, information regarding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions, which are selectable by the corresponding identity of the first type of the virtual network functions, based on information regarding physical conditions of the identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions, and

the processor is further configured to perform configuration of the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions with different priorities for different physical conditions, and

to provide the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions configured with the different priorities for the different physical conditions to each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions via a network management interface defined between the apparatus and the first type of the virtualized network functions.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a physical condition of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions include

a physical location where the identities of the first or the second type of the network functions are established, or

a hardware connection condition at the physical location.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the physical condition of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions includes a physical location where the identities of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions are established, and

the processor is configured to maintain the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions by maintaining only those identities of the second type of the virtual network functions which are established on the same physical location.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions provided for each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions comprises a physical connection related parameter, which indicates condition or quality of a physical connection between the physical location of each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the physical location of the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the physical connection related parameter indicates a classification of the physical connection or proximity between the physical location of each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the physical location of the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the physical connection related parameter depends on the physical location where the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions are established.

7. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the processor is configured to

perform configuration of the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions with the physical connection related parameter.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to detect changes of the physical condition of the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions and to manage the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

9. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the physical location includes a physical entity, physical environment or a physical machine.

10. A method comprising:

setting up and maintaining virtual network functions;

storing identities of a first type of the virtual network functions and of a second type of the virtual network functions, wherein the first type of the virtual network functions is configured to select one or more of the second type of the virtual network functions;

maintaining, for each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions, information regarding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions, which are selectable by the corresponding identity of the first type of the virtual network functions, based on information regarding physical conditions of the identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions;

configuring the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions with different priorities for different physical conditions; and

providing the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions configured with the different priorities for the different physical conditions to each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions via a network management interface defined between a network function virtualized orchestrator and the first type of the virtualized network functions.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein a physical condition of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions includes

a physical location where the identities of the first or the second type of the network functions are established, or

a hardware connection condition at the physical location.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the physical condition of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions includes a physical location where the identities of the first or the second type of the virtual network functions are established, and the method further comprises

maintaining the information regarding the identities of second type of the virtual network functions by maintaining only those identities of the second type of the virtual network functions which are established on the same physical location.

13. The method according to claim 10, wherein

the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions provided for each of the identity of the first type of the virtual network functions comprises a physical connection related parameter, which indicates condition or quality of a physical connection between the physical location of each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the physical location of the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the physical connection related parameter indicates a classification of the physical connection or proximity between the physical location of each identity of the first type of the virtual network functions and the physical location of the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the physical connection related parameter depends on the physical location where the corresponding identities of the second type of the virtual network functions are established.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

performing configuration of the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions with the physical connection related parameter.

17. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

detecting changes of the physical condition of the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions and

managing the information regarding the identities of the second type of the virtual network functions.

18. The method according to claim 10, wherein the physical location includes a physical entity, physical environment or a physical machine.

19. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, said product comprising code means for performing a method according to claim 10 when run on a processing means or module.