METHODS AND APPARATUS TO CONFIGURE VIRTUAL PRIVATE MOBILE NETWORKS TO REDUCE LATENCY

• US 20120311107A1
• Filed: 06/06/2011
• Published: 12/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/06/2011
• 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: Van der Merwe, Jacobus, Chen, Xu, Coskun, Baris, de los Reyes, Gustavo, Lee, Seungjoon, Mathur, Suhas, Baliga, Arati, Xu, Gang
• Granted Patent: US 9,432,258 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/220
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• 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 41/083 for increasing network speed
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0895 Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0858 One way delays
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/087 Jitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/304 due to measured or perceived resources with higher communication quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to configure virtual private mobile networks for latency are disclosed. A disclosed example method includes provisioning logically a virtual private mobile network within a wireless network to reduce latency of a communication associated with a latency sensitive application, determining a mobile device is communicatively coupling to the wireless network via the latency sensitive application, and coupling the mobile device to the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency of the communication associated with the latency sensitive application.

Claims

1. A method to configure a virtual private mobile network, the method comprising:

provisioning logically the virtual private mobile network within a wireless network to reduce latency of a communication associated with a latency sensitive application;

determining a mobile device is communicatively coupling to the wireless network via the latency sensitive application; and

coupling the mobile device to the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency of the communication associated with the latency sensitive application.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein provisioning the virtual private wireless network includes:

identifying available network elements within the wireless network; and

configuring a portion of a control plane and a portion of a data plane of the identified network elements for the virtual private mobile network.

3. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein a client requests the virtual private mobile network to process communications associated with latency sensitive applications separate from a second virtual private mobile network operated by the client for communications that are not latency sensitive.

4. A method as defined in claim 3, wherein the latency sensitive applications include a gaming application, a video editing application, a video streaming application, an audio streaming application, a cloud computing application, or a social network application.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the latency sensitive application is communicating with a content server via the virtual private mobile network, the content server hosted by a local packet data network gateway within the wireless network and proximate to the content server.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency includes performing content routing via a network tunnel between the mobile device and a content server.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency includes implementing network in-band controls to equalize latency between mobile devices communicatively coupled together to host a network gaming application.

8. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein configuring the virtual private network to reduce latency includes implementing network protocols to offload mobile device processing to a network element hosting the virtual private mobile network.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein communicatively coupling the mobile device to the virtual private mobile network includes using over the air programming to provision a subscriber identity module card associated with the mobile device with an access point name corresponding to the virtual private mobile network.

10. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising configuring a second virtual private mobile network that is configured to reduce latency for a first type of latency applications, the virtual private mobile network being configured to reduce latency for a second type of latency applications.

11. An apparatus to configure a virtual private mobile network, the apparatus comprising:

a latency processor to;

provision logically the virtual private mobile network within a wireless network; and

determine a mobile device is communicatively coupling to the wireless network via a latency sensitive application;

a network manager to configure the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency of communications; and

a device migrator to couple the mobile device to the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency of a communication associated with the latency sensitive application, the mobile device previously coupled to a second virtual private network.

12. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the mobile device was previously communicatively coupled to an un-virtualized portion of the wireless network.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein a network element within the wireless network is to identify the communications associated with the mobile device correspond to the latency sensitive application and notify the latency manager regarding the identified communications.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the latency processor is to provision the virtual private mobile network by:

determining the communications associated with the latency sensitive application have a destination address of a content server;

determining a local packet data network gateway that is physically close to the content server; and

provisioning the virtual private mobile network on the local packet data network gateway.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the latency processor is to provision the virtual private mobile network by:

determining the communications associated with the latency sensitive application have a destination address corresponding to a mobility data center;

provisioning the virtual private mobile network on the mobility data center; and

transferring processing functions of the latency sensitive application to the mobility data center.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 11, wherein the network manager is to configure the virtual private mobile network by implementing routing protocols and forwarding tables to reduce latency of communications.

17. A tangible machine-accessible medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to at least:

provision logically a virtual private mobile network within a wireless network to reduce latency of communications associated with applications that are latency sensitive;

determine a mobile device is communicatively coupling to the wireless network via a latency sensitive application; and

couple the mobile device to the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency of a communication associated with the latency sensitive application.

18. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to configure the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency by implementing network in-band controls to equalize latency between mobile devices communicatively coupled together that are hosting a network gaming application.

19. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to configure the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency by implementing network protocols to offload mobile device processing to a network element hosting the virtual private mobile network.

20. A tangible article of manufacture as defined in claim 17, wherein the machine-readable instructions, when executed, cause the machine to configure the virtual private mobile network to reduce latency by performing content routing via a network tunnel between the mobile device and a destination.