System and Methods for Network Slice Reselection

• US 20170086118A1
• Filed: 08/10/2016
• Published: 03/23/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2015
• 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: Vrzic, Sophie
• Granted Patent: US 10,506,489 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0011 for data sessions of end-to-end connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/26 by agreed or negotiated communication parameters

Abstract

There is provided method for managing network resources by switching the slice used to support a user equipment (UE), in a process referred to as slice handover or slice switching. There are several reasons why a slice handover may be implemented, include movement of the UE and network load balancing. Further the UE can be switched to a new slice operated by the same service provider (intra-operator handover) or a different service provider (inter-operator handover).

Claims

1. A method for network slice reselection comprising:

receiving, over a network interface, an indication that a slice reselection triggering event associated with a mobile device attached to a first slice has occurred;

selecting a second slice as a target slice; and

initiating a migration of the mobile device to the selected target slice.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first slice and the second slice are operated by the same service provider.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first slice and the second slice are operated by different service providers.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the received indication that a slice reselection triggering event has occurred is indicative of a change in the service requirements of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the received indication is indicative of the mobile device receiving a clearer signal from a second access point.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the received indication is indicative of changes to the mobility requirements of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the received indication is indicative of the occurrence of a slice management event.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein a slice management event is selected from the group consisting of:

creating a new slice;

terminating an existing slice; and

modifying the capacity of an existing slice.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein initiating the migration of a mobile device to the target slice further includes initiating the migration of a group of mobile devices to the target slice.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a migration of the mobile device to the selected target slice includes sending messages to network components in order to migrate the mobile device to the target slice.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the method is executed by a node implementing a network slice selection function and the first slice belongs to a first network, and further comprising:

responsive to the slice selection function determining that the mobile device can be migrated to a second slice within the first network, selecting the second slice and transmitting an instruction towards the mobile device to instruct the mobile device to connect to the second slice.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting a second slice further comprises selecting a slice in a second network, and wherein initiating the migration further comprises transmitting a request for admission of the mobile device to a slice towards a node in the second network.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the received indication that a slice reselection triggering event has occurred is indicative of a change in the service requirements of the mobile device, and is further indicative of a movement of the mobile device to a service area associated with the second network.

14. The method of claim 1

wherein the slice reselection event occurs when differing capacities between network slices reaches a load-balancing threshold;

and

wherein receiving a trigger for a slice reselection based on the occurrence of a slice reselection event comprises receiving a trigger from a load monitoring function which measures the capacities loads of the slices.

15. A slice selection function comprising:

a network interface for receiving indications of triggering events and for transmitting instructions;

a processor;

a non-transient memory for storing instructions which when executed by the processor cause the slice selection function to;

upon receiving an indication that a slice reselection triggering event associated with a mobile device attached to a first slice has occurred, select a second slice as a target slice; and

initiate a migration of the mobile device to the selected target slice.

16. The slice selection function of claim 15 wherein a slice reselection triggering event occurs when there is a change in the service requirements of the mobile device.

17. The slice selection function of claim 16 wherein the service requirements of the mobile device changes in response to changes to the mobility requirements of the mobile device.

18. The slice selection function of claim 16 wherein the service requirements of the mobile device changes in response to the movement of the mobile device.

19. The slice selection function of claim 15 wherein the instructions which cause the slice selection function to initiate a migration of the mobile device to the selected target slice includes instructions which cause the slice selection function to send messages to network components in order to migrate the mobile device to the target slice.

20. The slice selection function of claim 19 wherein slice reselection triggering event includes a slice management event selected from the group consisting of:

creating a new slice;

terminating an existing slice; and

modifying the capacity of an existing slice.