Methods, systems, and computer readable media for a network function virtualization information concentrator

• US 9,838,483 B2
• Filed: 11/21/2013
• Issued: 12/05/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: McMurry, Sam Eric, Deo, Ajay Padmakar
• Primary Examiner(s): Salad, Abdullahi E
• Application Number:
  US14/086,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20150142940A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,475 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0823 characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0853 by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/122 of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/14 Network analysis or design
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/40 using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services

Abstract

Methods, systems, and computer readable media for analyzing virtualization related information related to a telecommunications network for managing network virtualization are disclosed. In one embodiment, a system for analyzing virtualization related information related to a telecommunications network for managing network virtualization includes an information concentrator for analyzing virtualization related information related to a telecommunications network. The information concentrator may include a first interface for receiving the virtualization related information and an analysis engine for collecting and analyzing the received information, for determining a set of network virtualization related data based on the information, and for directing the network virtualization related data set to a node for making virtualization decisions.

Claims

1. A method for analyzing information related to a telecommunications network for managing network virtualization, the method comprising:

at an information concentrator comprising a hardware processor and for collecting and analyzing virtualization related information;

receiving information from a plurality of computer information sources, including receiving network performance indicators for the telecommunications network from a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) plugin and network management information for the telecommunications network from a different computer information source;

determining, for a distributed computing system executing a plurality of telecommunications nodes in a virtualized environment for implementing a telecommunications network, a set of network virtualization related data based on the received information, wherein the plurality of telecommunications nodes includes a PCRF node for communicating with the PCRF plugin; and

directing the set of network virtualization related data to a node for making virtualization decisions for the distributed computing system executing the plurality of telecommunications nodes.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein directing the set of network virtualization related data to a node for making virtualization decisions comprises directing the data to at least one of:

a virtualization orchestrator;

a network orchestrator;

an application level orchestrator;

a network function virtualization orchestrator;

a cloud orchestrator;

a service orchestrator; and

a policy function.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving information comprises receiving information via a plugin module for receiving virtualization related information.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein receiving information includes receiving at least one of:

system performance indicators;

cloud management information; and

information related to external networks.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein directing the set of network virtualization related data comprises directing the set of network virtualization related data to an orchestration plugin for bi-directional communication between the information concentrator and the node for making virtualization decisions.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a set of network virtualization related data comprises analyzing the received information and identifying a network virtualization operation.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein analyzing the received information comprises at least one of:

filtering the received information;

applying an algorithm to the received information; and

detecting a trend or pattern within the received information.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a set of network virtualization related data comprises using information from at least one of:

a rules database for providing network virtualization operation rules; and

a state database for maintaining network state information.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving information comprises receiving at least one of:

information about the telecommunications network;

information about another telecommunications network;

information about an entity that is not a telecommunications network; and

information about conditions or events that affect subscribers of the telecommunications network.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the set of network virtualization related data comprises at least one of:

information related to assigning at least one additional network resource to a network component;

information related to removing at least one network resource from a network component;

information about a trend in network resource usage or requirements;

information about predicting future network resource usage or requirements; and

information about providing notification of an emergency condition.

11. A system for analyzing information related to a telecommunications network for managing network virtualization, the system comprising:

an information concentrator for analyzing information related to a telecommunications network, the information concentrator comprising;

a first interface for receiving the information from a plurality of computer information sources, including receiving network performance indicators for the telecommunications network from a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) plugin and network management information for the telecommunications network from a different computer information source; and

an analysis engine for collecting and analyzing the received information, for determining, for a distributed computing system executing a plurality of telecommunications nodes in a virtualized environment for implementing the telecommunications network, a set of network virtualization related data based on the information, and for directing the network virtualization related data set to a node for making virtualization decisions for the distributed computing system executing the plurality of telecommunications nodes, wherein the plurality of telecommunications nodes includes a PCRF node for communicating with the PCRF plugin.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the node for making virtualization decisions comprises at least one of:

a virtualization orchestrator;

a network orchestrator;

an application level orchestrator;

a network function virtualization orchestrator;

a cloud orchestrator;

a service orchestrator; and

a policy function.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the first interface comprises a first plugin module.

14. The system of claim 13 wherein the first plugin module is configured to receive at least one of:

system performance indicators;

cloud management information; and

network information from external telecommunications networks.

15. The system of claim 11 wherein the information concentrator includes a second interface for directing the determined set of network virtualization related data to a virtualization orchestrator.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the second interface comprises a orchestration plugin configured for bi-directional communication between the information concentrator and the virtualization orchestrator.

17. The system of claim 11 wherein the information related to the telecommunications network comprises at least one of:

information about the telecommunications network;

information about another telecommunications network;

information about an entity that is not a telecommunications network; and

information about conditions or events that affect subscribers of the telecommunications network.

18. The system of claim 11 wherein the analysis engine is configured to communicate with at least one of:

a rules database for providing network virtualization operation rules; and

a state database for maintaining network state information.

19. The system of claim 11 wherein the set of network virtualization related data comprises at least one of:

assigning at least one additional network resource to a network component;

removing at least one network resource from a network component;

identifying a trend in network resource usage or requirements;

predicting future network resource usage or requirements; and

providing notification of an emergency condition.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions embodied in a computer readable medium and when executed by a processor of a computer performs steps comprising:

at an information concentrator comprising a hardware processor and for collecting and analyzing virtualization related information;

receiving information from a plurality of computer information sources, including receiving network performance indicators for the telecommunications network from a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) plugin and network management information for the telecommunications network from a different computer information source;

determining, for a distributed computing system executing a plurality of telecommunications nodes in a virtualized environment for implementing a telecommunications network, a set of network virtualization related data based on the received information, wherein the plurality of telecommunications nodes includes a PCRF node for communicating with the PCRF plugin; and

directing the set of network virtualization related data to a node for making virtualization decisions for the distributed computing system executing the plurality of telecommunications nodes.