SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PLACING VIRTUAL SERVING GATEWAYS FOR MOBILITY MANAGEMENT

• US 20160373936A1
• Filed: 08/22/2016
• Published: 12/22/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Hang Zhang, Ngoc Dung Dao, Xu Li
• Inventors: Li, Xu, Dao, Ngoc-Dung, Zhang, Hang
• Granted Patent: US 9,860,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Methods and systems for determining placement of a virtual serving gateway. The method includes obtaining a set of input information. The input information includes network information and configuration information providing one or more parameters for placing the virtual serving gateway, and includes at least one mobility insensitivity criterion. Placement of the virtual serving gateway at one or more physical hosts is determined in accordance with the network information and the configuration information. The virtual serving gateway is distributively placeable across physical hosts. A set of output information is generated. The output information includes information identifying placement of the virtual serving gateway at the physical hosts, and a hosting percentage for each physical host.

Claims

1. A method for placing a virtual serving gateway for serving a mobile device in a physical network, the method comprising:

obtaining a set of input parameters including at least one mobility insensitivity criterion, the set of input parameters providing information for evaluating one or more host candidates in the physical network; and

generating a set of output information indicating placement of the virtual serving gateway over one or more physical hosts selected from the one or more host candidates in accordance with the set of input parameters, the set of output information further indicating a respective hosting percentage for each physical host.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein mobility sensitivity of a host candidate is quantified based on a moving speed of the mobile device and a physical distance between the host candidate and the mobile device, and the at least one mobility insensitivity criterion specifies a maximum or minimum threshold for the mobility sensitivity.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of input parameters includes information representing cached content stored at each host candidate and information representing content access by the mobile device, wherein evaluation of the one or more host candidates includes a determination of the potential of the mobile device to access the cached content.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein a multi-objective joint optimization process is used to select the one or more physical hosts from the one or more host candidates.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the multi-objective joint optimization process solves a joint optimization problem of minimizing network resource utilization, minimizing operational cost, and maximizing content sharing potential.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one mobility insensitivity criterion is used as a constraint in the multi-objective joint optimization process.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a trigger signal indicating a request for generation of a new virtual network topology, and performing the obtaining and generating in response to receipt of the trigger signal.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the trigger signal is received from a software-defined networking controller, and the trigger signal comprises an update to the set of input parameters.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting the set of output information to a software-defined networking controller.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of input parameters include a requirement for one or more functionalities to be provided by the virtual serving gateway, the method further comprising:

generating a second set of output information defining the one or more functionalities to be provided by the one or more physical hosts; and

transmitting the second set of output information to a software-defined protocol system.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein mobility sensitivity of a host candidate is quantified based on a moving speed of the mobile device and a physical distance between the host candidate and the mobile device, and the at least one mobility insensitivity criterion specifies a maximum or minimum threshold for the mobility sensitivity.

11. A system for placing a virtual serving gateway for serving a mobile device in a physical network, the system comprising a processing device configured to cause the system to:

obtain a set of input parameters including at least one mobility insensitivity criterion, the set of input parameters providing information for evaluating one or more host candidates in the physical network; and

generate a set of output information indicating placement of the virtual serving gateway over one or more physical hosts selected from the one or more host candidates in accordance with the set of input parameters, the set of output information further indicating a respective hosting percentage for each physical host.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the set of input parameters includes information representing cached content stored at each host candidate and information representing content access by the mobile device, evaluation of the one or more host candidates includes a determination of the potential of the mobile device to access the cached content.

14. The system of claim 11 wherein a multi-objective joint optimization process is used to select the one or more physical hosts from the one or more host candidates.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the multi-objective joint optimization process solves a joint optimization problem of minimizing network resource utilization, minimizing operational cost, and maximizing content sharing potential.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the at least one mobility insensitivity criterion is used as a constraint in the multi-objective joint optimization process.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing device is further configured to cause the system to:

receive a trigger signal indicating a request for generation of a new virtual network topology, and perform the obtaining and generating in response to receipt of the trigger signal.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the trigger signal is received from a software-defined networking controller, and the trigger signal comprises an update to the set of input parameters.

19. The system of claim 11, wherein the processing device is further configured to cause the system to transmit the set of output information to a software-defined networking controller.

20. The system of claim 11, wherein the set of input parameters include a requirement for one or more functionalities to be provided by the virtual serving gateway, wherein the processing device is further configured to cause the system to:

generate a second set of output information defining the one or more functionalities to be provided by the one or more physical hosts; and

transmit the second set of output information to a software-defined protocol system.