SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PARTITIONED WIRELESS TELECOMMUNICATION NETWORK DEPLOYMENT

• US 20170105144A1
• Filed: 10/10/2016
• Published: 04/13/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Expeto Wireless, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Expeto Wireless, Inc.
• Inventors: BAIRD, Brian Lee, MACKENZIE, Ryley Kenneth John, STRAND, Terje
• Granted Patent: US 10,820,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 Network planning tools

Abstract

A system and method for intelligently partitioning a virtualized wireless telecommunication network that algorithmically identifies a desirably efficient partitioning scheme such as to desirably enhance at least one of performance, latency, processing efficiency, error detection and management, error propagation and confinement of errors and cost effectiveness of the wireless network is disclosed. A system and method provides for intelligently partitioning a virtualized wireless telecommunication network that desirably provides for deployment of virtualized network functions using micro containers using software defined networking (SDN), and to desirably reduce propagation and impact of failure or errors in one partition of the wireless network. A method provides for partitioning a virtualized wireless telecommunication network comprising deployment of virtualized network functions on micro containers using SDN to dynamically provide an entire wireless telecommunication core network system, such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network system.

Claims

1. A system for providing a partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprising:

an application programming interface for providing connection of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network to an external data network;

a controller comprising non-transitory computer executable instructions to;

define a plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

map connections to said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

control starting, stopping, and pausing operation of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

wherein said controller is connected to a database storing at least one of wireless network traffic and wireless network user data for said partitioned wireless telecommunication network; and

wherein each partitioned instance of said plurality of partitioned instances of said partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprises a plurality of micro containers, wherein each of said plurality of micro containers comprises non-transitory computer executable instructions to implement one or more wireless telecommunication network elements.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein said application programming interface comprises a graphical user interface.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein said graphical user interface comprises non-transitory computer executable instructions to allow a user to configure said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein said partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprises a long term evolution network, and wherein said wireless telecommunication network elements comprise wireless core packet network elements.

5. The system according to claim 4, wherein said wireless core packet network elements comprise one or more of:

serving gateway, packet data network gateway, mobility management entity, policy and charging rules function, and home subscriber server wireless core packet network functions.

6. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network is implemented as a software defined networking partitioned instance.

7. The system according to claim 1, wherein said controller comprises a computer readable medium storing said non-transitory computer executable instructions to:

define a plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

map connections to said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network; and

control starting, stopping, and pausing operation of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network.

8. The system according to claim 1, wherein said controller additionally comprises non-transitory computer executable instructions to:

store a replica of at least a portion of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network in said database; and

recover at least a portion of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network from said database.

9. The system according to claim 1, wherein each of said plurality of micro containers is implemented as a virtualized network function element.

10. The system according to claim 1, wherein said non-transitory computer executable instructions to define a plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprise at least one of:

instructions to divide wireless network traffic distribution across said plurality of partitioned instances;

instructions to divide wireless network user across said plurality of partitioned instances;

instructions to reduce hardware resources required for operating said plurality of partitioned instances; and

instructions to increase redundancy of said wireless telecommunication network elements.

11. A method for partitioning a wireless telecommunication network, comprising:

providing an application programming interface for connecting the partitioned wireless telecommunication network to an external data network;

defining a plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

mapping connections to said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

controlling starting, stopping, and pausing operation of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network;

storing at least one of wireless network traffic and wireless network user data for said partitioned wireless telecommunication network; and

implementing each of said plurality of partitioned instances of said partitioned wireless telecommunication network by execution in a plurality of micro containers, wherein each of said plurality of micro containers comprises non-transitory computer executable instructions to implement one or more wireless telecommunication network elements.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein said application programming interface comprises a graphical user interface.

13. The method according to claim 11, wherein said graphical user interface comprises non-transitory computer executable instructions to allow a user to configure said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network.

14. The method according to claim 11, wherein said partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprises a long term evolution network, and wherein said wireless telecommunication network elements comprise wireless core packet network elements.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein said wireless core packet network elements comprise one or more of:

serving gateway, packet data network gateway, mobility management entity, policy and charging rules function, and home subscriber server wireless core packet network functions.

16. The method according to claim 11, wherein implementing each of said plurality of partitioned instances of said partitioned wireless telecommunication network by execution in a plurality of micro containers comprises implementing each of said plurality of partitioned instances as a software defined networking partitioned instance.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein said controlling additionally comprises controlling at least one of provisioning, initialization and decommissioning of at least one partitioned instance of said plurality of partitioned instances of said partitioned wireless telecommunication network.

18. The method according to claim 11, additionally comprising:

storing a replica of at least a portion of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network in a database; and

recovering at least a portion of said plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network from said database.

19. The method according to claim 11, wherein implementing each of said plurality of partitioned instances of said partitioned wireless telecommunication network by execution in a plurality of micro containers comprises implementing each of said plurality of micro containers as a virtualized network function element.

20. The method according to claim 11, wherein defining a plurality of partitioned instances of the partitioned wireless telecommunication network comprises at least one of:

dividing wireless network traffic distribution across said plurality of partitioned instances;

dividing wireless network user across said plurality of partitioned instances;

dividing said partitioned instances across a minimum number of hardware resources; and

defining redundancy of at least a portion of said wireless telecommunication network elements across said partitioned instances.