Method and apparatus for network slicing

• US 10,644,955 B2
• Filed: 06/15/2016
• Issued: 05/05/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Hang, Li, Xu
• Primary Examiner(s): Kizou, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Abdullahi
• Application Number:
  US15/183,075
• Publication Number:
  US 20170054595A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,420 Days
• 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 41/0896 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 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5048 Automatic or semi-automatic definitions, e.g. definition templates
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5051 Service on demand, e.g. definition and deployment of services in real time

Abstract

Systems and methods for management of network slices in a communication network such as a 5th generation wireless communication network are provided. Network slicing formats of varying degrees of specificity are defined. An appropriate format may be selected for definition of a network slice. Different segments of a slice can be defined using different formats. Slice scoping, purposing, granularity, and resource usage are described. Slice creation and adaptation, and cloud resource management are also described.

Claims

1. A method for providing a network slice in a communication network, the network slice configured for use by one or more customers, the method comprising:

receiving, at a slice creation and management entity (SOME), an indication of a set of requirements to be satisfied by the communication network for the one or more customers; and

transmitting, by the SOME, instructions to a node in the communication network to allocate resources to a network slice having attributes determined in accordance with the set of requirements,

wherein the network slice is defined according to a network slice format selected from a set of predetermined network slice formats, wherein each of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for a predetermined set of said attributes, and wherein each of the plurality of network slice formats includes a different respective combination of unspecified parameters and specified parameters, the unspecified parameters and the specified parameters selected from a set of potential parameters, the method further comprising selecting and assigning values to the specified parameters.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network slice is a pre-existing network slice, and wherein providing the network slice comprises adapting the pre-existing network slice.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein providing the network slice comprises nesting the network slice within a pre-existing network slice.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the specified parameters for one of the predetermined network slice formats is strictly contained within specified parameters for another of the predetermined network slice formats.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein one of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for one or more function elements characterized as service-specific function elements, required function elements, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats has at least one unspecified parameter.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for two or more of the function elements and further specifies an ordering between the two or more of the function elements for data processing.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for placement of the one or more function elements within infrastructure of the communication network.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for one or more protocols to be used by the network slice.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for physical bandwidth allocations for use within the network slice, and a virtual network logical topology for the network slice.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for one or more protocols to be used by the network slice.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of potential parameters includes:

a virtual network graph structure;

service-specific function elements to be instantiated;

placement of service-specific function elements to be instantiated;

forwarding rules of network nodes involved in the network slice;

a service-specific data plane protocol to be used in the network slice;

a customized protocol stack to be used in the network slice;

physical bandwidth allocation for use within the slice; and

a virtual network physical topology to be used by the network slice.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising assigning values to the unspecified parameters subsequently to selection of the network slice format and prior to instantiation of the network slice.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting values of the unspecified parameters subsequently to instantiation of the network slice.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein different ones of the predetermined network slice formats specify different detail levels for defining the network slice at time of creation.

16. A slice creation and management entity (SOME) apparatus for providing a network slice in a communication network, the network slice configured for use by one or more customers, the apparatus comprising:

a processor operatively coupled to a memory; and

a network communication interface configured to;

receive an indication of a set of requirements to be satisfied by the communication network for the one or more customers; and

transmit instructions to a node in the communication network to allocate resources to a network slice having attributes determined in accordance with the set of requirements,

wherein the network slice is defined according to a respective network slice format selected from a set of predetermined network slice formats, wherein each of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for a predetermined set of said attributes, and wherein each of the plurality of network slice formats includes a different respective combination of unspecified parameters and specified parameters, the unspecified parameters and the specified parameters selected from a set of potential parameters, the method further comprising selecting and assigning values to the specified parameters.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the network slice is a pre-existing network slice, and wherein providing the network slice comprises adapting the pre-existing network slice.

18. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein providing the network slice comprises nesting the network slice within a pre-existing network slice.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the predetermined set of attributes specified by one of the predetermined network slice formats is different from the predetermined set of attributes specified by another of the predetermined network slice formats.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein one of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for one or more function elements characterized as service-specific function elements, required function elements, or a combination thereof.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats has at least one unspecified parameter.

22. The apparatus of claim 20, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats specifies parameters for two or more of the function elements and further specifies an ordering between the two or more of the function elements for data processing.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for placement of the one or more function elements within infrastructure of the communication network.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for one or more protocols to be used by the network slice.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for physical bandwidth allocations for use within the network slice, and a virtual network logical topology for the network slice.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said one of the predetermined network slice formats further specifies parameters for one or more protocols to be used by the network slice.

27. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the set of potential parameters includes:

a virtual network graph structure;

service-specific function elements to be instantiated;

placement of service-specific function elements to be instantiated;

forwarding rules of network nodes involved in the network slice;

a service-specific data plane protocol to be used in the network slice;

a customized protocol stack to be used in the network slice;

physical bandwidth allocation for use within the slice; and

a virtual network physical topology to be used by the network slice.

28. The apparatus of claim 16, further configured to assign values to the unspecified parameters subsequently to selection of the network slice format and prior to instantiation of the network slice.

29. The apparatus of claim 16, further configured to adjust values of the unspecified parameters subsequently to instantiation of the network slice.

30. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein different ones of the predetermined network slice formats specify different detail levels for defining the network slice at time of creation.

31. A system comprising:

the apparatus of claim 16; and

an internal SOME provided within the network slice, the internal SOME operatively coupled to the SOME, the internal SOME having a processor operatively coupled to a memory and a network communication interface, the internal SOME configured to configured to allocate resources for supporting one or more services or applications of the network slice.

32. The apparatus of claim 31, wherein the internal SOME is configured to allocate resources of the network slice to a plurality of network sub-slices.