NEXT GENERATION MOBILITY CORE NETWORK CONTROLLER FOR SERVICE DELIVERY

• US 20180359337A1
• Filed: 06/09/2017
• Published: 12/13/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/09/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Kodaypak, Rajendra Prasad, Wang, Jianrong, Wang, Jiansong
• Granted Patent: US 10,601,932 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1886 with traffic restrictions for efficiency improvement, e.g. involving subnets or subdomains
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0803 Configuration setting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0806 for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0897 by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/20 the monitoring system or the monitored elements being virtualised, abstracted or software-defined entities, e.g. SDN or NFV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/00 Local resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties

Abstract

Network and/or application resources can be dynamically instantiated based on service attributes and/or network capabilities. In one aspect, a customized and/or localized core slice can be selected that can deliver the requested service with target performance parameters. According to an aspect, dynamic selection, control, and/or management reporting can be provided for core network slices. Moreover, optimal core network slice selection can be performed to reduce network transport costs and efficiently deliver various services using an optimal core slice that matches a service profile being requested by an end user and/or device.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving trigger data from a service abstraction layer device, wherein the trigger data is determined in response to receiving a request for a service associated with a user equipment that is served by an access network device coupled to the service abstraction layer device; and

based on an analysis of the trigger data, instantiating a localized network slice of network resources that is employable to perform network functions to deliver the service via a portion of the network resources that is determined to satisfy a proximity criterion associated with a location related to the user equipment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the network functions within the localized network slice are customized based on an attribute of the service.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instantiating comprises:

in response to determining that the service is not classified as a delay tolerant service, instantiating the localized network slice or instantiating a service function chain within a pre-existing network slice.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the instantiating comprises:

in response to determining that the service has been assigned a priority that is determined to satisfy a high priority criterion, instantiating the localized network slice or instantiating a service function chain within a pre-existing network slice.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the instantiating comprises:

in response to determining that the service is determined to satisfy a high revenue generation criterion, instantiating the localized network slice or instantiating a service function chain within a pre-existing network slice.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the instantiating comprises:

in response to determining that a performance metric associated with the localized network slice satisfies a defined performance criterion, instantiating the localized network slice or instantiating a service function chain within a pre-existing network slice.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger data comprises classification data that represents a category of the user equipment.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger data comprises network data that represents load data associated with a network device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger data comprises service characteristic data that represents a characteristic of the service.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger data comprises location data that represents the location of the user equipment.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the trigger data comprises access type data that represents a type of radio access technology supported by the user equipment.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

directing, to the access network device, address data indicative of a control plane device of the localized network slice to facilitate steering of communication data associated with the service between the access network device and the control plane device.

13. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, trigger data from a service abstraction layer device of a network, wherein the trigger data has been determined in response to receiving a request for a service associated with a user equipment served by an access network device coupled to the service abstraction layer device; and

in response to determining that the trigger data satisfies a defined selection criterion, instantiating, by the system, network resources for a network slice of the network that are employable to perform the service, wherein the network resources are determined to satisfy a proximity criterion associated with a location related to the user equipment.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the network resources comprise first network resources, the network slice comprises a first network slice, and further comprising:

in response to determining that the trigger data fails to satisfy the defined selection criterion, allocating, by the system, pre-instantiated second network resources for a second network slice of the network that are employable to perform the service.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the trigger data comprises receiving location data indicative of the location of the user equipment.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the trigger data comprises receiving latency data indicative of a latency attribute associated with the service.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the receiving the trigger data comprises receiving category data indicative of a class of the user equipment.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the trigger data comprises receiving quality of experience data indicative of a quality of experience associated with the service.

19. A machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving, from a service abstraction layer device of a network, trigger data that has been determined subsequent to receiving a request for a service associated with a user equipment served by an access network device that is coupled to the service abstraction layer device; and

based on an analysis of the trigger data, determining association data that represents an association between network slices of the network.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the association comprises a one-to-one association between the network slices.