Multi-access edge computing (MEC) service provision based on local cost measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10567291-B2
Application number	US-201816150121-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2018
Priority date	Nov 22, 2017
Publication date	Feb 18, 2020
Grant date	Feb 18, 2020

Abstract

Embodiments herein may include systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media, for a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system. An apparatus for MEC may include a communication interface, a local cost measurements module, and a service allocation module. The communication interface may receive, from a UE, a request for a service to be provided to the UE. The local cost measurements module may collect a set of local cost measurements for the service. The service allocation module may determine to allocate the service to a MEC host based on an allocation policy related to a cost for the MEC host to provide the service or a cost for a service provider to provide the service in view of the one or more local cost measurements. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A multi-access edge computing management apparatus, comprising:
communications circuitry configured to communicate with an access network;
processing circuitry; and
a memory device including instructions embodied thereon, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the processing circuitry, configure the processing circuitry to perform operations to:
send a request to one or more entities in the access network to report cost measurements and quality of service measurements for providing services;
receive, from the one or more entities, a set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for providing services;
receive, from a user equipment (UE), a request for a service to be provided to the UE;
identify a subset of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the service from the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements, wherein the subset of cost and quality of service measurements includes path cost measurements and path quality of service measurements between entities along paths from the UE to a service provider that provides the service to the UE;
determine a path from the UE to the service provider based on the path quality of service measurements, wherein each measurement of the path quality of service measurements exceeds a predetermined threshold of an allocation policy;
determine a cost for the service provider to provide the service to the UE based on the path cost measurements between the entities of the path; and
allocate the service to the UE using the entities along the path.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more entities include the UE, one or more access points, one or more MEC hosts, or the service provider.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the communication circuitry is configured to receive a request to collect the set of cost measurements for providing the services to the UE, before sending the request to the one or more entities.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , the operations further to: determine a second path from the UE to the service provider based on the quality of service measurement between entities along the second path, wherein each quality of service measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold of an allocation policy; determine a second cost for the service provider to provide the service to the UE based on the cost measurements between the entities of the second path; and select a service path, between the path and the second path, for the services, based on the cost and the second cost.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the services includes one or more cost measurements and quality of service measurements obtained from historical data.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a first entity along the path from the UE to the service provider includes an access point configured to provide access to the service for the UE according to a standard from: an 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards family, an IEEE 802.11 standards family, or an 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) standards family.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , the operations further to: construct a cost graph based on the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the service, wherein the cost graph includes one or more nodes corresponding to the UE, the service provider, the one or more access points, and one or more MEC hosts, and an edge between two nodes of the cost graph corresponding to a cost measurement and a quality of service measurement between the two nodes; and update the cost graph when an additional MEC host is available to provide the service or a MEC host is no longer available to provide the service.

8. At least one non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions, wherein the instructions when executed by a processing circuitry of a computing device, cause the processing circuitry to:
send a request to one or more entities in an access network to report cost measurements and quality of service measurements for providing services;
receive, from the one or more entities, a set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for providing services;
receive, from a user equipment (UE), a request for a service to be provided to the UE;
identify a subset of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the service from the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements, wherein the subset of cost measurements and quality of service measurements includes path cost measurements and path quality of service measurements between entities along paths from the UE to a service provider that provides the service to the UE;
determine a path from the UE to the service provider based on the path quality of service measurements, wherein each measurement of the path quality of service measurements exceeds a predetermined threshold of an allocation policy;
determine a cost for the service provider to provide the service to the UE based on the path cost measurements between the entities of the path; and
allocate the service to the UE using the entities along the path.

9. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the one or more entities include the UE, one or more access points, one or more MEC hosts, or the service provider.

10. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions to: receive a request to collect the set of cost measurements for providing the services to the UE, before sending the request to the one or more entities.

11. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions to: determine a second path from the UE to a service provider based on the quality of service measurement between entities along the second path, wherein each quality of service measurement exceeds a predetermined threshold of an allocation policy; determine a second cost for the service provider to provide the services to the UE based on the cost measurements between the entities of the second path; and select a service path, between the path and the second path, for the service, based on the cost and the second cost.

12. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the services includes one or more cost measurements and quality of service measurements from historical data.

13. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , wherein a first entity along the path from the UE to the service provider includes an access point configured to provide access to the service for the UE according to a standard from: an 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards family, an IEEE 802.11 standards family, or an 3GPP 5G new radio (NR) standards family.

14. The at least one non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8 , further comprising instructions to: construct a cost graph based on the set of cost measurements and quality of service measurements for the service, wherein the cost graph includes one or more nodes corresponding to the UE, the service provider, the one or more access points, and one or more MEC hosts, and an edge between two nodes of the cost graph corresponding to a cost measurement and a quality of service measurement between the two nodes; and update the cost graph when an additional MEC host is available to provide the service or a MEC host is no longer available to provide the service.

15. A method, performed by a multi-access edge computing management

Assignees

• Intel Ip Corp

Inventors

• Sabella Dario
• Roth Kilian

Classifications

• H04M15/8044

  Least cost routing · CPC title

• H04M15/66

  Policy and charging system · CPC title

• H04M15/8083

  involving reduced rates or discounts, e.g. time-of-day reductions or volume discounts · CPC title

• H04L47/824

  Applicable to portable or mobile terminals · CPC title

• H04L47/822

  Collecting or measuring resource availability data · CPC title