Customer environment network functions virtualization (NFV)

• US 9,998,320 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2015
• Issued: 06/12/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CenturyLink Intellectual Property LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fargano, Michael J., Cook, Charles I., McBride, Kevin M., O'Brien, Jr., William, McManus, John
• Primary Examiner(s): Morlan, Robert M
• Application Number:
  US14/678,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20150288622A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2009/45595 Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/45558 Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/50 Allocation of resources, e.g. of the central processing unit [CPU]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5077 Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/5088 involving task migration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4625 Single bridge functionality, e.g. connection of two networks over a single bridge
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4641 Virtual LANs, VLANs, e.g. virtual private networks [VPN] LAN interconnection over a bridge based backbone H04L12/462; encapsulation techniques H04L12/4633; routing of packets H04L45/00; packet switches H04L49/00; virtual private networks for security H04L63/0272
• 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 41/0896 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 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5096 wherein the managed service relates to distributed or central networked applications
• 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 49/354 for supporting virtual local area networks [VLAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/102 Gateways arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways, H04L12/66
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/103 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 40/00 Systems for electrical power generation, transmission, distribution or end-user application management characterised by the use of communication or information technologies, or communication or information technology specific aspects supporting them

Abstract

Novel tools and techniques might provide for implementing interconnection gateway and/or hub functionalities. In some embodiments, a network functions virtualization (“NFV”) interconnection gateway or hub (“NFVIG” or “NFVIH”) might receive a set of network interconnection information from each of one or more sets of NFV entities and/or one or more sets of NFV-based customer devices, each set being located within a network separate from the networks in which the other sets are located. The NFVIG or NFVIH might be located within one of these networks or within a separate external network. The NFVIG or NFVIH might abstract each set of network interconnection information, and might establish one or more links among the sets of NFV entities and/or the sets of NFV-based customer devices based on such abstraction. The NFVIG or NFVIH might provide access to one or more virtualized network functions (“VNFs”) via the one or more links.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, with an interconnection gateway device within a first network and from one or more internal network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities, a first set of network connection information, each of the one or more internal NFV entities being located within the first network;

receiving, with the interconnection gateway device and from one or more NFV-based customer devices, a second set of network connection information, each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices being located within a second network external to the first network;

abstracting, with the interconnection gateway device, the first set of network connection information to generate a first set of abstracted network connection information;

abstracting, with the interconnection gateway device, the second set of network connection information to generate a second set of abstracted network connection information, wherein each of the first set of abstracted network connection information and the second set of abstracted network connection information is abstracted to be independent of any particular NFV entity or any particular NFV-based customer device in any network;

establishing, with the interconnection gateway device, one or more links between each of the one or more internal NFV entities and each of at least one NFV-based customer devices of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, based at least in part on one or more of the first set of abstracted network connection information or the second set of abstracted network connection information; and

providing access to one or more virtualized network functions (“

VNFs”

), via the one or more links.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is associated with a service provider, and the second network is associated with an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment, a customer environment, the customer environment comprising at least one of a customer residential premises, a multi-dwelling unit, a short-term lodging facility, a customer commercial premises, a customer business premises, a health-care facility, an industrial manufacturing facility, an industrial processing facility, a warehouse, a vehicle, or a public safety answering point (“

PSAP”

) facility.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs via the one or more links comprises sending one or more VNFs from at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities to at least one NFV-based customer device of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, via the one or more links.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs via the one or more links comprises providing at least one NFV-based customer device of the one or more NFV-based customer devices with access to one or more VNFs running on at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities, without sending the one or more VNFs from the at least one internal NFV entity to the at least one NFV-based customer device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more internal NFV entities comprises at least one of a NFV orchestrator, a network functions virtualization infrastructure (“

NFVI”

) system, a NFV management and orchestration (“

MANO”

) system, a VNF manager, a NFV resource manager, a virtualized infrastructure manager (“

VIM”

), a virtual machine (“

VM”

), a macro orchestrator, or a domain orchestrator.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises a device that is configured to request execution of VNFs and to access the VNFs being executed on at least one of the one or more internal NFV entities, without at least one of capacity or capability to locally execute the VNFs.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the interconnection gateway device comprises a physical gateway device, a gateway application hosted on a distributed computing platform, a gateway application hosted on a cloud computing platform, a VNF-based gateway application hosted on a centralized gateway hardware system, a gateway application hosted on a server, a VNF-based gateway application hosted on a computing device, or an external network-to-network interface (“

E-NNI”

) device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of network connection information comprises information regarding at least one of latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, nodal connectivity, compute resources, storage resources, memory capacity, routing, operations support systems (“

OSS”

), or business support systems (“

BSS”

), and wherein the second set of network connection information comprises information regarding at least one of latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss, nodal connectivity, compute resources, storage resources, memory capacity, routing, OSS, or BSS.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of network connection information comprises information regarding at least one of fault, configuration, accounting, performance, or security (“

FCAPS”

), and wherein the second set of network connection information comprises information regarding at least one of fault, configuration, accounting, performance, or security (“

FCAPS”

).

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment, a customer residential premises, a multi-dwelling unit, or a short-term lodging facility, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a residential gateway device, a residential network device, a video recording device, a video playback device, a set-top box, an audio recording device, an audio playback device, an external speaker, a game console, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a portable gaming device, an image capture device, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, a television, a kitchen appliance, a thermostat, a sensing device, a home security control device, or a lighting system.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment, a customer commercial premises, or a customer business premises, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a commercial gateway device, a commercial network device, a video recording device, a video playback device, an image projection device, a set-top box, an audio recording device, an audio playback device, an external speaker, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant, an image capture device, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, a television, a telephone system, a local server system, a kitchen appliance, a thermostat, a sensing device, a commercial security control system, a doorway locking system, or a lighting system.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment or a health-care facility, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a commercial gateway device, a commercial network device, a video recording device, a video playback device, a set-top box, an audio recording device, an audio playback device, an external speaker, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a game console, a portable gaming device, an image capture device, an image projection device, a printer, a scanner, a data storage device, a television, a telephone system, a kitchen appliance, a thermostat, a sensing device, a commercial security control system, a doorway locking system, a lighting system, a health monitoring device, a diagnostic device, a medical device, a power generation system, or a medical vehicle dispatch control system.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment, an industrial manufacturing facility, an industrial processing facility, or a warehouse, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a commercial gateway device, a commercial network device, a video recording device, a video playback device, a set-top box, an audio recording device, an audio playback device, an external speaker, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, an image capture device, a telephone system, a data storage device, a printer, a scanner, an image projection device, a television, a kitchen appliance, an industrial process monitoring system, a thermostat, a sensing device, a home security control device, a lighting system, an industrial manufacturing robot, industrial manufacturing machinery, an industrial processing robot, industrial processing machinery, an industrial warehouse item transporting robot, or industrial warehouse item transporting machinery.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment or a vehicle, the vehicle comprising at least one of a bicycle, a motorbike, a car, an all-terrain vehicle, a snowmobile, a minivan, a truck, a van, a bus, a transport vehicle, an industrial vehicle, a government vehicle, a commercial vehicle, a recreational vehicle, a personal watercraft, a boat, a ship, an airplane, a helicopter, a personal aircraft, a space vehicle, a satellite, a probe, a drone, or a space station, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a vehicle control computer system, a vehicle-based navigation system, a vehicle-based gateway device, a vehicle-based network device, a vehicle-based audio system, a vehicle-based media recording and playback device, a vehicle lighting system, vehicle door opening/closing devices, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a portable gaming device, a data storage device, a vehicle climate control system, a sensing device, or an image capture device.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network is associated with at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment or a public safety answering point (“

PSAP”

) facility, and wherein each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprises at least one of a PSAP gateway device, a PSAP network device, a computer system, a data storage device, or a communications device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs via the one or more links comprises providing, via the interconnection gateway device, access to one or more VNFs via the one or more links.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs via the one or more links comprises providing access to one or more VNFs, via peering connection between at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities and at least one NFV-based customer device of one or more NFV-based customer devices.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein providing access to the one or more VNFs via the one or more links comprises bursting, using an application programming interface (“

API”

), one or more VNFs from at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities to at least one NFV-based customer device of the one or more NFV-based customer devices.

19. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

bursting at least one VNF of the one or more VNFs from a first pod to a second pod, based at least in part on one or more of time of day, geographic information, expected usage throughout a day, expected changes in usage throughout a day, one or more performance characteristics, or changes in one or more performance characteristics, wherein each of the first pod and the second pod comprises physical hardware resources that are part of an internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

service chaining two or more VNFs together to provide a single network service.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the two or more VNFs comprise at least one first service chained VNF provided by at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities and at least one second service chained VNF provided by at least one external NFV entity that is located outside of each of the first network and the second network, wherein service chaining two or more VNFs together to provide a single network service comprises service chaining the at least one first service chained VNF and the at least one second service chained VNF together to provide the single network service.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the two or more VNFs comprise two or more service chained VNFs provided by only one of at least one internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities or at least one external NFV entity of one or more external NFV entities that are located outside of each of the first network and the second network.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, with the interconnection gateway device and to at least one of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, a service catalog indicating at least one of a plurality of VNFs, a plurality of application programming interfaces (“

APIs”

), or a plurality of services offered by the one or more internal NFV entities.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the second set of network connection information comprises receiving, with the interconnection gateway device, the second set of network connection information from the one or more NFV-based customer devices via a second interconnection gateway device located within the second network.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

sending, with the interconnection gateway device and to at least one of the one or more NFV-based customer devices via the second interconnection gateway device, a service catalog indicating at least one of a plurality of VNFs, a plurality of application programming interfaces (“

APIs”

), or a plurality of services offered by the one or more internal NFV entities.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the second set of network connection information comprises receiving, with the interconnection gateway device, the second set of network connection information from the one or more NFV-based customer devices via an interconnection hub device located within an external network separate from each of the first network and the second network.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of abstracted network connection information include fine-grained information that is hidden from the one or more NFV-based customer devices, and wherein the second set of abstracted network connection information include coarse-grained information that is public information.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

certifying, with the interconnection gateway device, the one or more VNFs;

storing, with the interconnection gateway device, a record of the one or more VNFs that are certified in a database in communication with the interconnection gateway device.

29. A system, comprising:

an interconnection gateway device located within a first network, the interconnection gateway device comprising;

at least one first processor;

at least one first data storage device in communication with the at least one first processor, the at least one first data storage device having data stored thereon;

at least one first non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one first processor and with the at least one first data storage device, the at least one first non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a first set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one first processor, causes the interconnection gateway device to perform one or more functions;

one or more internal network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities located within the first network, each of the one or more internal NFV entities comprising;

at least one second processor;

at least one second data storage device in communication with the at least one second processor, the at least one second data storage device having data stored thereon;

at least one second non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one second processor and with the at least one second data storage device, the at least one second non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a second set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one second processor, causes the internal NFV entity to perform one or more functions, the second set of instructions comprising;

instructions for sending a first set of network connection information to the interconnection gateway device;

one or more NFV-based customer devices located within a second network that is external to the first network, each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices comprising;

at least one third processor;

at least one third data storage device in communication with the at least one third processor, the at least one third data storage device having data stored thereon;

at least one third non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one third processor and with the at least one third data storage device, the at least one third non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a third set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one third processor, causes the NFV-based customer device to perform one or more functions, the third set of instructions comprising;

instructions for sending a second set of network connection information to the interconnection gateway device;

wherein the first set of instructions comprises;

instructions for receiving, from the one or more internal NFV entities, the first set of network connection information;

instructions for receiving, from the one or more NFV-based customer devices, the second set of network connection information;

instructions for abstracting the first set of network connection information to generate a first set of abstracted network connection information;

instructions for abstracting the second set of network connection information to generate a second set of abstracted network connection information, wherein each of the first set of abstracted network connection information and the second set of abstracted network connection information is abstracted to be independent of any particular NFV entity or any particular NFV-based customer device in any network;

instructions for establishing one or more links between each of the one or more internal NFV entities and each of at least one NFV-based customer device of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, based at least in part on one or more of the first set of abstracted network connection information or the second set of abstracted network connection information; and

instructions for providing access to one or more virtualized network functions (“

VNFs”

) via the one or more links;

wherein the second set of instructions further comprises;

instructions for providing access or sending the one or more VNFs via the one or more links;

wherein the third set of instructions further comprises;

instructions for accessing or receiving the one or more VNFs via the one or more links.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the first network is associated with a first service provider, and the second network is associated with a customer environment, the customer environment comprising at least one of an Internet of things (“

IOT”

) environment, a customer residential premises, a multi-dwelling unit, a short-term lodging facility, a customer commercial premises, a customer business premises, a health-care facility, an industrial manufacturing facility, an industrial processing facility, a warehouse, a vehicle, or a public safety answering point (“

PSAP”

) facility.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein each of the one or more internal NFV entities comprises at least one of a NFV orchestrator, a network functions virtualization infrastructure (“

NFVI”

) system, a NFV management and orchestration (“

MANO”

) system, a VNF manager, a NFV resource manager, a virtualized infrastructure manager (“

VIM”

), a virtual machine (“

VM”

), a macro orchestrator, or a domain orchestrator.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the interconnection gateway device comprises a physical gateway device, a gateway application hosted on a distributed computing platform, a gateway application hosted on a cloud computing platform, a VNF-based gateway application hosted on a centralized gateway hardware system, a gateway application hosted on a server, a VNF-based gateway application hosted on a computing device, or an external network-to-network interface (“

E-NNI”

) device.

33. The system of claim 29, wherein the first set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for bursting at least one VNF of the one or more VNFs from a first pod to a second pod, based at least in part on one or more of time of day, geographic information, expected usage throughout a day, expected changes in usage throughout a day, one or more performance characteristics, or changes in one or more performance characteristics, wherein each of the first pod and the second pod comprises physical hardware resources that are part of an internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities.

34. The system of claim 29, wherein the first set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for service chaining two or more VNFs together to provide a single network service.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the first set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for sending, to at least one of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, a service catalog indicating at least one of a plurality of VNFs, a plurality of application programming interfaces (“

APIs”

), or a plurality of services offered by the one or more internal NFV entities.

36. The system of claim 29, wherein the first set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for certifying the one or more VNFs; and

instructions for storing a record of the one or more VNFs that are certified in a database in communication with the interconnection gateway device.

37. An interconnection gateway device, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one data storage device in communication with the at least one processor, the at least one data storage device having data stored thereon; and

at least one non-transitory computer readable medium in communication with the at least one processor and the at least one data storage device, the at least one non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon computer software comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, causes the interconnection gateway device to perform one or more functions, the set of instructions comprising;

instructions for receiving, from one or more internal network functions virtualization (“

NFV”

) entities, a first set of network connection information, each of the one or more internal NFV entities being located within the first network in which the interconnection gateway device is located;

instructions for receiving, from one or more NFV-based customer devices, a second set of network connection information, each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices being located within a second network external to the first network;

instructions for abstracting the first set of network connection information to generate a first set of abstracted network connection information;

instructions for abstracting the second set of network connection information to generate a second set of abstracted network connection information, wherein each of the first set of abstracted network connection information and the second set of abstracted network connection information is abstracted to be independent of any particular NFV entity or any particular NFV-based customer device in any network;

instructions for establishing one or more links between each of the one or more internal NFV entities and each of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, based at least in part on one or more of the first set of abstracted network connection information or the second set of abstracted network connection information; and

instructions for providing access to one or more virtualized network functions (“

VNFs”

) via the one or more links.

38. The interconnection gateway device of claim 37, wherein each of the one or more internal NFV entities comprises at least one of a NFV orchestrator, a network functions virtualization infrastructure (“

NFVI”

) system, a NFV management and orchestration (“

MANO”

) system, a VNF manager, a NFV resource manager, a virtualized infrastructure manager (“

VIM”

), a virtual machine (“

VM”

), a macro orchestrator, or a domain orchestrator.

39. The interconnection gateway device of claim 37, wherein the set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for bursting at least one VNF of the one or more VNFs from a first pod to a second pod, based at least in part on one or more of time of day, geographic information, expected usage throughout a day, expected changes in usage throughout a day, one or more performance characteristics, or changes in one or more performance characteristics, wherein each of the first pod and the second pod comprises physical hardware resources that are part of an internal NFV entity of the one or more internal NFV entities.

40. The interconnection gateway device of claim 37, wherein the set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for service chaining two or more VNFs together to provide a single network service.

41. The interconnection gateway device of claim 37, wherein the set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for sending, to at least one of the one or more NFV-based customer devices, a service catalog indicating at least one of a plurality of VNFs, a plurality of application programming interfaces (“

APIs”

), or a plurality of services offered by the one or more internal NFV entities.

42. The interconnection gateway device of claim 37, wherein the set of instructions further comprises:

instructions for certifying the one or more VNFs; and

instructions for storing a record of the one or more VNFs that are certified in a database in communication with the interconnection gateway device.