Admission of a Session to a Virtual Network Service

• US 20160353281A1
• Filed: 05/31/2016
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/01/2015
• 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: LEROUX, Philippe, SENARATH, Nimal Gamini, ZHANG, Hang, DAO, Ngoc Dung, VRZIC, Sophie
• Granted Patent: US 10,123,205 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0892 by using authentication-authorization-accounting [AAA] servers or protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/18 Service support devices; Network management devices

Abstract

An aspect of the disclosure provides a method of admitting a session from a user device subscribed to a service with a virtual network operator. The method includes receiving a service request from said user device at an Access Point and selecting a network function Authentication and Authorization (AA) function (AAF) to confirm the user device is authorized for the requested service, and transmitting the request to the selected network function AAA function. The AAAF which processes the request may reside with the virtual network operator (VNO). However, the VNO may share its AAA database with other network entities (for example, Telecom Connectivity Service Providers (TCSPs) or InPs), and allow those entities to perform the AAA functions.

Claims

1. A method of admitting a user session in a virtual network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a mobility management function in a core network domain, an attach request from a User Equipment associated with the virtual network;

performing an authentication challenge with the User Equipment and an Authentication Function associated with the virtual network and outside the core network domain; and

admitting the user equipment to a user session in the virtual network in response to successful completion of the authentication challenge.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of receiving includes receiving an attach request from a network access point outside the core network domain.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the Authentication Function is in the virtual network.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the authentication challenge is performed in response to completion of an admission control check.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the admission control check determines that there are sufficient resources in the virtual network to support the requested session.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the admission control check determines that there are sufficient resources in the core network domain to support the requested session.

7. The method of claim 3 wherein the authentication challenge includes obtaining an authentication challenge credential from an Authentication and Authorization function in the virtual network.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the authentication challenge further includes issuing an authentication challenge to the UE in accordance with the obtained authentication challenge credential.

9. The method of claim 3 further comprising, prior to admitting the user equipment, obtaining authorization for access to the virtual network for the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the Authentication Function is within a Radio Access Network associated with an access point from which the attach request is received.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the authentication function has been instantiated in the Radio Access Network in response to a request from the Virtual Network.

12. The method of claim 10 further including performing admission control for both the virtual network and core network domain prior to admitting the user equipment.

13. The method of claim 1 further including performing a Non Access Stratum security setup with the User Equipment.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of admitting the user equipment includes transmitting an attach acceptance response to an access point in a Radio Access Network.

15. A method of admitting a user session in a virtual network, the method comprising:

receiving, at a mobility management function in a core network domain, an attach request from a User Equipment associated with the virtual network;

performing an authentication challenge with the User Equipment and an Authentication Function associated with the virtual network and supplied with authentication data of subscribers of the virtual network; and

admitting the user equipment to a user session in the virtual network in response to successful completion of the authentication challenge.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the Authentication Function is within the core network and authentication data of subscribers of the virtual network is supplied to the Authentication Function by an entity outside of the core domain.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the virtual network is established within the core network domain to supply a virtual network service to the entity outside of the core domain.

18. A host comprising:

a processor;

machine readable memory storing machine executable instructions which when executed by the processor, instantiate an Authentication and Authorization (AA) function (AAF) for performing an admission check for a connection request received by an Access Point (AP), the connect request being a request to be admitted to a virtual network (VN) established within a core network, the AAF using AA information regarding a VN supplied by a Virtual Network Operator (VNO);

wherein the core network and the VNO have different administrative domains.

19. The host as claimed in claim 18 wherein the host resides within the VNO, and the machine executable instructions configure the host to:

receive the connection request from the core network;

authorize and authenticate the request; and

provide a response to the core network.20. The host as claimed in claim 19 wherein the host resides within the core network, and the machine executable instructions configure the host to;

receive the connection request from the AP;

authorize and authenticate the request using information received from the VNO; and

provide a response to the AP.