Supporting low latency applications at the edge of wireless communication networks

• US 9,781,024 B2
• Filed: 06/25/2015
• Issued: 10/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Verma, Dinesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Kassim, Khaled
• Assistant Examiner(s): ALI, SYED
• Application Number:
  US14/749,693
• Publication Number:
  US 20160285745A1
• Time in Patent Office: 831 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/026 using flow identification
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route

Abstract

Various embodiments manage data flow between at least one wireless communication device and at least one application executing at an edge of the wireless communication network. In one embodiment, a first flow regenerator disposed within the network generates a replicated set of data packets. The replicated set of data packets are a copy of a set of data packets being transmitted between an application disposed on a first node at an edge of the network and a wireless communication device. The first flow regenerator sends the replicated set of data packets to a second flow regenerator disposed in the network. The replicated set of data packets are sent to the second flow regenerator through at least a second node disposed between the first flow regenerator and the second flow regenerator. The second node is configured to perform one or more book-keeping operations on the replicated set of data packets.

Claims

1. A method for managing data flow between at least one wireless communication device and at least one application executing at an edge of a wireless communication network, the method comprising:

generating, by a first flow regenerator disposed within a wireless communication network, a replicated set of data packets, where the replicated set of data packets are a copy of set of data packets being transmitted only between an application disposed on a first node at an edge of the wireless communication network and a wireless communication device;

changing at least one characteristic of the replicated set of data packets, where the at least one characteristic that is changed indicates to a second flow regenerator that the replicated set of data packets is to be removed from the wireless communication network; and

sending, by the first flow regenerator, the replicated set of data packets to the second flow regenerator disposed in the wireless communication network, the replicated set of data packets being sent to the second flow regenerator through at least a second node disposed between the first flow regenerator and the second flow regenerator, where the second node is configured to perform one or more book-keeping operations on the replicated set of data packets, wherein the one or more book-keeping operations comprises generating a set of call detail records for the replicated set of data packets, wherein each of the set of call detail records is a formatted measure of service usage by the wireless communication device;

receiving, by the second flow regenerator, the replicated set of data packets;

analyzing, by the second flow regenerator, the replicated set of data packets;

determining, by the second flow regenerator, that the at least one characteristic of the replicated set of data packets has been changed by the first flow regenerator; and

removing, by the second flow regenerator, the replicated set of data packets from the wireless communication network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first node is a base station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of data packets are being transmitted from the wireless communication device to the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of data packets are being transmitted from the application to the wireless communication device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is configured to

receive a request for data from the wireless communication device;

at least one of generate the data and obtain the data from the first flow regenerator based on receiving the request; and

provide the data to the wireless communication device.