Automated provisioning of radios in a virtual radio access network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10797968-B2
Application number	US-201916364871-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 26, 2019
Priority date	Nov 15, 2018
Publication date	Oct 6, 2020
Grant date	Oct 6, 2020

Abstract

In one example, a Network Functions Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO) obtains a radio service descriptor defining communication parameters for a radio in a virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN). Based on the radio service descriptor, the NFVO determines whether a virtual Distributed Unit (vDU) that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters and a virtual Centralized Unit (vCU) that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters are already instantiated in the vRAN. If it is determined that the vDU or the vCU is not already instantiated, the NFVO automatically instantiates the vDU or the vCU in the vRAN.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at one or more processors:
obtaining a radio service descriptor defining communication parameters for a radio in a virtual Radio Access Network;
based on the radio service descriptor, determining whether a virtual distributed unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters and a virtual centralized unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters are already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network based at least in part on an anticipated bandwidth availability of the virtual distributed unit; and
if it is determined that the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit is not already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network, automatically instantiating the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit in the virtual Radio Access Network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the radio service descriptor includes obtaining physical radio parameters.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the radio service descriptor includes obtaining Layer 2 radio parameters.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the radio service descriptor includes obtaining Layer 3 radio parameters.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein obtaining the radio service descriptor includes obtaining radio frequency parameters.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically instantiating the virtual distributed unit in the virtual Radio Access Network includes automatically instantiating the virtual distributed unit in accordance with one or more pre-existing rules regarding whether a type of the virtual distributed unit can associate with a type of the radio.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein automatically instantiating the virtual centralized unit in the virtual Radio Access Network includes automatically instantiating the virtual centralized unit in accordance with one or more pre-existing rules regarding whether a type of the virtual centralized unit can associate with a type of the virtual distributed unit.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising automatically instantiating, in the virtual Radio Access Network, an element management system that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the virtual distributed unit is already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network includes determining whether the virtual distributed unit is already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network based on radio frequency parameters of the virtual distributed unit.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining whether the virtual distributed unit is already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network includes determining whether the virtual distributed unit is already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network based on available compute, memory, storage, and/or network resources of the virtual distributed unit.

11. An apparatus comprising:
a communication interface configured to obtain and/or provide network communications; and
a processor coupled to the communication interface, wherein the processor is configured to:
obtain a radio service descriptor defining communication parameters for a radio in a virtual Radio Access Network;
based on the radio service descriptor, determine whether a virtual distributed unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters and a virtual centralized unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters are already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network based at least in part on an anticipated bandwidth availability of the virtual distributed unit; and
if it is determined that the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit is not already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network, automatically instantiate the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit in the virtual Radio Access Network.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes physical radio parameters.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes Layer 2 radio parameters.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes Layer 3 radio parameters.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes radio frequency parameters.

16. One or more non-transitory computer readable storage media encoded with instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:
obtain a radio service descriptor defining communication parameters for a radio in a virtual Radio Access Network;
based on the radio service descriptor, determine whether a virtual distributed unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters and a virtual centralized unit that is configured in accordance with the communication parameters are already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network based at least in part on an anticipated bandwidth availability of the virtual distributed unit; and
if it is determined that the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit is not already instantiated in the virtual Radio Access Network, automatically instantiate the virtual distributed unit or the virtual centralized unit in the virtual Radio Access Network.

17. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes physical radio parameters.

18. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes Layer 2 radio parameters.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes radio frequency parameters.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer readable storage media of claim 16 , wherein the radio service descriptor includes Layer 3 radio parameters.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Suthar Om Prakash
• Mukherjee Arghya
• Dasgupta Santanu

Classifications

• H04L41/0894

  Policy-based network configuration management · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L41/40

  using virtualisation of network functions or resources, e.g. SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/342

  between virtual entities, e.g. orchestrators, SDN or NFV entities · CPC title

• H04L41/5054 Primary

  Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components · CPC title