Systems and methods for managing network traffic with a network operator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10374965-B2
Application number	US-201615169376-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jun 1, 2015
Publication date	Aug 6, 2019
Grant date	Aug 6, 2019

Abstract

A method for managing network slice enabled traffic on a communications network is disclosed. The network slice is instantiated on the communications network for providing connectivity resources to a network operator using the communications network. The method comprises measuring a traffic level indicative of the traffic enabled by the network slice; and adjusting the traffic enabled by the network slice in accordance with the traffic level and a network operator enabled function associated with the network slice.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for managing network slice enabled traffic on a communications network, the network slice instantiated on the communications network for providing connectivity resources to a network operator using the communications network, the method comprising:
receiving a traffic level measurement indicative of the traffic carried within the network slice, the traffic including a plurality of flows;
determining that the received traffic level measurement is indicative of an unwanted traffic profile; and
transmitting an instruction to a network operator accessible function associated with the network slice, the instruction including a modified traffic management parameter that prioritizes at least one of the plurality of flows to adjust the unwanted traffic profile within the slice.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving modified traffic management parameters from the network operator accessible function.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic level is measured through a traffic monitoring function associated with the network slice.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the modified traffic management parameter reduces traffic carried in the slice in response to a comparison of the received traffic level measurement to a threshold.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of transmitting an instruction comprises transmitting an instruction to block at least one of the plurality of flows.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the traffic carried within the network slice is generated by at least one user equipment communicatively coupled to the communications network.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein transmitting an instruction includes transmitting an instruction to the at least one user equipment to reduce the traffic carried within the network slice.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein transmitting an instruction includes transmitting an instruction to the at least one user equipment to move into another geographical area not served by the network slice.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein transmitting an instruction includes transmitting an instruction to the at least one user equipment to access the communications network during another time.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
comparing the received traffic level measurement to a resource allocation threshold; and
wherein transmitting an instruction comprises transmitting an instruction to the network operator accessible function acquire additional connectivity resources for the network slice from the communications network when comparing the traffic level measurement to the resource allocation threshold indicates that available resources are below a threshold.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the resource allocation threshold comprises a proportion of connectivity resources of the communications network allocated to the network slice.

12. A network controller for managing traffic on a communications network corresponding to user equipment associated with a network operator, the network controller comprising:
a processor;
an input interface for receiving a traffic level from the communications network indicative of the traffic corresponding to the user equipment, and parameters from the network operator for adjusting the traffic on the communications network in accordance with the traffic level, wherein the traffic corresponding to the user equipment comprises a plurality of flows;
an output interface for transmitting messages to a network function; and
a non-transient memory storing processor-executable code that when executed by the processor causes the network controller to transmit, over the output interface, an instruction to a network operator accessible function to modify traffic management parameters to adjust a traffic profile within the slice in accordance with a determination that the received traffic level measurement is indicative of an unwanted traffic profile, the instruction further including a modified traffic management parameter to prioritize at least one of the plurality of flows.

13. The network controller of claim 12 wherein the memory further comprises processor-executable code to cause the network controller to compare the traffic level to a threshold, and when the traffic level meets the threshold, transmit an instruction over the output interface to the user equipment to reduce the generated traffic.

14. A method for managing network slice enabled traffic on a communications network, the network slice instantiated on the communications network for providing connectivity resources to a network operator using the communications network, the method comprising:
receiving a traffic level indicative of the traffic enabled by the network slice, the traffic including a plurality of flows; and instructing the network slice to adjust the traffic according to the traffic level based at least in part on a modified traffic management parameter that prioritizes at least one of the plurality of flows to adjust an unwanted traffic profile within the slice.

15. A method for managing traffic enabled by a network slice on a communications network, the method comprising: providing parameters to a network operator accessible function associated with the network slice, the parameters for instructing the network operator accessible function to manage traffic in accordance with a traffic level indicative of the traffic enabled by the network slice; wherein the traffic enabled by the network slice comprises a plurality of flows, and the parameters further include a modified traffic management parameter to prioritize at least one of the plurality of flows to adjust an unwanted traffic profile within the slice.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the traffic enabled by the network slice is generated by at least one user equipment communicatively coupled to the communications network.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the parameters include instructions that the at least one user equipment reduce the traffic carried within the network slice.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the parameters include instruction instructions that the at least one user equipment move into another geographical area not served by the network slice.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein the parameters include instructions that the at least one user equipment access the communications network during another time.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the method further comprising: receiving the parameters by the network operator accessible function.

Assignees

• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Zhang Hang
• Vrzic Sophie
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Zhang Hang
• Vrzic Sophie

Classifications

• H04L47/20

  Traffic policing · CPC title

• H04L47/41 Primary

  by acting on aggregated flows or links · CPC title

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L41/14

  Network analysis or design · CPC title

• H04L41/5087

  wherein the managed service relates to voice services (management of VoIP services H04M7/0081) · CPC title