Methods and Systems for Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution

• US 20150382242A1
• Filed: 06/26/2015
• Published: 12/31/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Futurewei Technologies Incorporated (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Sunavala, Farhad, Sif, Mehdi Frederic
• Granted Patent: US 10,219,168 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic

Abstract

A method and a system for intelligent mobile function distribution are disclosed. An embodiment includes discovering, by an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity, resources available in a mobile network and moving mobile functions across the mobile network in accordance with the discovered resources, thereby allowing the mobile network to adapt to changing conditions.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

discovering, by an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity, resources available in a mobile network; and

moving mobile functions across the mobile network in accordance with the discovered resources, thereby allowing the mobile network to adapt to changing conditions.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein discovering resources comprises generating resources at a based station, and wherein moving the mobile functions across the mobile network comprises moving the mobile functions to the generated resources at the base station.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein generating the resources comprises generating a local SGW, a local PGW or a local MME at the base station.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising offloading control data or user data at the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME, the control data or the user data being sent by a user equipment (UE) located at the base station.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein moving mobile functions across the mobile network comprises dynamically generating and deleting the mobile functions at base stations.

6. A method comprising:

assigning, by an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity, a local SGW, a local PGW or a local MME to a base station located remote from a core of a mobile network; and

processing, by a base station, user data or control data of a first UE assigned to the base station through the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein assigning the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME to the base station comprises assigning the local SGW, the local PGW and the local MME to the base station, and wherein processing the user data or the control data comprises processing the user data and the control data through the local SGW, the local PGW and the local MME.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising a second UE assigned to the base station, wherein the user data or the control data of the second UE are not processed through the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME but through a SGW, a PGW or a MME at the core of the mobile network.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the first UE satisfies a policy “

alpha,” and

wherein the second UE satisfies a policy “

beta.”

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein processing the user data of the first UE comprises compressing video data with a first compression factor, wherein processing the user data of the second UE comprises compressing the video data with a second compression factor, and wherein the second compression factor is higher than the first compression factor.

11. The method according to claim 6, wherein assigning the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME to the base station comprises assigning the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME to a pool of base stations.

12. The method according to claim 6, wherein assigning the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME to the base station comprises assigning a virtual local SGW, a virtual PGW or a virtual MME to the base station.

13. The method according to claim 6, further comprising after assigning the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME to the base station, removing the local SGW, the local PGW or the local MME from the base station after a time period or after demand drops under a threshold value.

14. A method comprising:

discovering, by an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity, bandwidth constrains in a first geographical location but not in a second geographical location in close proximity to the first geographical location of a mobile network; and

dynamically limiting, by the iMOD entity, mobile functions at the first geographical location but not at the second geographical location, thereby allowing the mobile network to adapt to changing conditions.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein dynamically limiting mobile functions comprises instructing a PGW to compress video data with a first compression factor when an UE is in the first geographical location and to compress the video data with a second compression factor when the UE is in the second geographical location, wherein first compression factor is higher than the second compression factor.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first compression factor is 5-10 times higher than the second compression factor.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein dynamically limiting mobile functions comprises instructing the PGW to compress the video data with a lower compression factor in the first geographical location when the bandwidth constrains have eased.

18. The method according to claim 14, wherein the first geographical location is a stadium and the second geographical location is a parking lot or restaurant in close proximity to the stadium.

19. The method according to claim 14, wherein dynamically limiting mobile functions further comprises dynamically limiting mobile functions for a UE when the UE satisfies policy “

beta” and

not dynamically limiting the mobile functions for a further UE when the further UE satisfies policy “

beta.”

20. A method comprising:

implementing, by an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity, a complex policy comprising an “

alpha”

policy and a “

beta”

policy;

assigning, by a MME load balancer (MME LB), a first UE to a MME-1 when the first UE satisfies the “

alpha”

policy;

assigning, by the MME LB, a second UE to a MME-2 when the second UE satisfies the “

beta”

policy;

selecting, by the MME-1, a first sub mobile function so that the first sub mobile function processes user data for the first UE; and

selecting, by the MME-2, a second sub mobile function so that the second sub mobile function processes user data for the second UE,

wherein the first sub mobile function processes the user data for the first UE faster than the second sub mobile function processes the user data for the second UE.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first sub mobile function is located at a base station remote from a core of a mobile operator'"'"'s network while the second sub mobile function is located at the core.

22. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first sub mobile function comprises a SGW-1, and wherein the second sub mobile function comprises a SGW-2.

23. The method according to claim 20, wherein the first sub mobile function comprises a PGW-1, and wherein the second sub mobile function comprises a PGW-2.

24. An apparatus comprising:

a processor; and

a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

discover resources available in a mobile network using an Intelligent Mobile Function Distribution (iMOD) entity; and

move mobile functions across the mobile network in accordance with the discovered resources, thereby allowing the mobile network to adapt to changing conditions.