Methods, systems, and computer readable media for operating a telecommunications network using an on-premises computing system and an off-premises cloud computing system

• US 10,327,175 B2
• Filed: 07/18/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Bantukul, Apirux
• Primary Examiner(s): Aung, Sai
• Application Number:
  US15/653,487
• Publication Number:
  US 20190028927A1
• Time in Patent Office: 700 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5027 the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/542 Event management; Broadcasting; Multicasting; Notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• 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 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• 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: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• 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 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/34 Modification of an existing route
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/14 between access point controllers and backbone network device

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for operating a telecommunications network using an on-premises computing system and an off-premises cloud computing system. In some examples, a method includes executing, at an on-premises computing system including at least one processor, one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network. The method includes offloading, at the on-premises computing system using an on-premises network, one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to an off-premises cloud computing system remote from the on-premises network.

Claims

1. A system for operating a telecommunications network, the system comprising:

an off-premises cloud computing system; and

an on-premises computing system comprising at least one processor and configured for;

executing one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network; and

offloading one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises sending telecommunications data to the off-premises cloud computing system using a cloud application programming interface (API) for an application implementing one of the other telecommunications functions,

wherein the on-premises computing system is configured to execute an event recorder to record events generated by the telecommunications network or the network-impacting telecommunications functions or both, and wherein the on-premises computing system is configured to replay the recorded events after cloud services become available following an outage.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the network-impacting telecommunications functions is capable, in operation, of disrupting service on the telecommunications network and each of the other telecommunications functions is not capable, in operation, of disrupting service on the telecommunications network.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the network-impacting telecommunications functions is defined in a telecommunications standards document as a network-impacting function.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the on-premises computing system comprises a first computer system, and wherein executing the network-impacting telecommunications functions comprises executing a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) on the first computer system.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the on-premises computing system comprises a second computer system and a third computer system, and wherein executing the network-impacting telecommunications functions comprises executing a session border controller (SBC) on the second computer system and executing a Diameter signaling router (DSR) on the third computer system.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises offloading one or more of:

a sponsored data function, a complex billing/charging function, and a network analytics function.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises offloading a shared quota function enabling multiple subscribers to share a same quota for network utilization of the telecommunications network.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises receiving, using an on-premises application programming interface (API) for the application, application-specific data responsive to the telecommunications data.

9. A system for operating a telecommunications network, the system comprising:

an off-premises cloud computing system; and

an on-premises computing system comprising at least one processor and configured for;

executing one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network; and

offloading one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises sending telecommunications data to the off-premises cloud computing system using a cloud application programming interface (API) for an application implementing one of the other telecommunications functions;

wherein the off-premises cloud computing system is configured to execute an event recorder to record events generated by applications implementing the other telecommunications functions executing on the off-premises cloud computing system, and wherein the off-premises cloud computing system is configured to replay services after cloud services become available following an outage using events recorded prior to the outage.

10. A method for operating a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

executing, at an on-premises computing system comprising at least one processor, one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network;

offloading, at the on-premises computing system using an on-premises network, one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to an off-premises cloud computing system remote from the on-premises network, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises sending telecommunications data to the off-premises cloud computing system using a cloud application programming interface (API) for an application implementing one of the other telecommunications functions; and

executing an event recorder to record events generated by the telecommunications network or the network-impacting telecommunications functions or both, and replaying the recorded events after cloud services become available following an outage.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the network-impacting telecommunications functions is capable, in operation, of disrupting service on the telecommunications network and each of the other telecommunications functions is not capable, in operation, of disrupting service on the telecommunications network.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein each of the network-impacting telecommunications functions is defined in a telecommunications standards document as a network-impacting function.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the on-premises computing system comprises a first computer system, and wherein executing the network-impacting telecommunications functions comprises executing a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) on the first computer system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the on-premises computing system comprises a second computer system and a third computer system, and wherein executing the network-impacting telecommunications functions comprises executing a session border controller (SBC) on the second computer system and executing a Diameter signaling router (DSR) on the third computer system.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises offloading one or more of:

a sponsored data function, a complex billing/charging function, and a network analytics function.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises offloading a shared quota function enabling multiple subscribers to share a same quota for network utilization of the telecommunications network.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises receiving, using the on-premises network and an on-premises application programming interface (API) for the application, application-specific data responsive to the telecommunications data.

18. A method for operating a telecommunications network, the method comprising:

executing, at an on-premises computing system comprising at least one processor, one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network; and

offloading, at the on-premises computing system using an on-premises network, one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to an off-premises cloud computing system remote from the on-premises network, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises sending telecommunications data to the off-premises cloud computing system using a cloud application programming interface (API) for an application implementing one of the other telecommunications functions; and

configuring the off-premises cloud computing system to execute an event recorder to record events generated by applications implementing the other telecommunications functions and executing on the off-premises cloud computing system, and configuring the off-premises cloud computing system to replay services after cloud services become available following an outage using events recorded prior to the outage.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by one or more processors control the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

executing, at an on-premises computing system comprising at least one processor, one or more network-impacting telecommunications functions for a telecommunications network;

offloading, at the on-premises computing system using an on-premises network, one or more other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to an off-premises cloud computing system remote from the on-premises network, wherein offloading the other telecommunications functions for the telecommunications network to the off-premises cloud computing system comprises sending telecommunications data to the off-premises cloud computing system using a cloud application programming interface (API) for an application implementing one of the other telecommunications functions; and

executing an event recorder to record events generated by the telecommunications network or the network-impacting telecommunications functions or both, and replaying the recorded events after cloud services become available following an outage.