Federated insertion of 3rd party software as a service for network slices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10863333-B2
Application number	US-201916277309-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 15, 2019
Priority date	Feb 15, 2019
Publication date	Dec 8, 2020
Grant date	Dec 8, 2020

Abstract

Systems, methods, and computer-readable mediums for federating an enterprise and a SaaS provider across one or more network slices of a network service provider. A SaaS provided by a SaaS provider for provisioning to an enterprise can be recognized. One or more network slices within a network of a network service provider between the enterprise and the SaaS provider can be identified. The one or more network slices can be used to provision the SaaS to the enterprise. As follows, the SaaS provider can be federated with the enterprise across one or more network service providers, including the network service provider. Specifically, the SaaS provider can be federated with the enterprise by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the network service provider with the SaaS provisioned by the SaaS provider to the enterprise.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
recognizing a software as a service (SaaS), provided by a SaaS provider, for provisioning by the SaaS provider to an enterprise;
identifying one or more network slices within a network of a network service provider between the enterprise and the SaaS provider for provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise; and
federating the SaaS provider with the enterprise across one or more network service providers, including the network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the network service provider with the SaaS provisioned by the SaaS provider to the enterprise;
wherein each of the network slices forms a complete Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for providing services to user equipment.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recognizing an additional SaaS, provided by a provider, for provisioning to the enterprise; and
federating the provider with the enterprise across the one or more network service providers, including the network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the network service provider with the additional SaaS provisioned by the provider to the enterprise.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the provider of the additional SaaS is the SaaS provider provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the provider of the additional SaaS is a different SaaS provider from the SaaS provider provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
recognizing an additional SaaS, provided by a provider, for provisioning to the enterprise;
identifying one or more network slices of another network service provider between the enterprise and provider for provisioning the additional SaaS to the enterprise; and
federating the provider with the enterprise across the one or more network service providers, including the another network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the another network service provider with the additional SaaS provisioned by the provider to the enterprise.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the provider of the additional SaaS is the SaaS provider provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise.

7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the additional SaaS provisioned by the provider to the enterprise over the one or more network slices of the another network service provider is a same SaaS as the SaaS provisioned by the SaaS provider over the one or more network slices of the network service provider.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the provider of the additional SaaS is a different SaaS provider from the SaaS provider provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising registering an Open Authorization (“OAuth”) client of the SaaS for the one or more network slices between the enterprise and the SaaS provider as part of federating the SaaS provider with the enterprise across the one or more network slices, wherein enterprise client access to the SaaS through the one or more network slices is controlled based on the OAuth client for each network slice of the one or more network slices.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein registering the OAuth client of the SaaS for the one or more network slices includes generating an OAuth token of the SaaS for the one or more network slices, wherein the enterprise client access to the SaaS through the one or more network slices is controlled using the OAuth token.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the OAuth token is generated based on an identifier of the SaaS uniquely associated with the one or more network slices between the enterprise and the SaaS provider.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising receiving, from the enterprise, a SaaS policy for the OAuth client of the SaaS, wherein the enterprise client access to the SaaS through the one or more network slices between the enterprise and the SaaS provider is controlled based on the SaaS policy.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network slices of the network service provider are assigned to the enterprise in response to the enterprise registering the SaaS with the network service provider, and the one or more network slices of the network service provider are assigned to the enterprise based on characteristics of scopes of the SaaS.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the network of the network service provider is a 5G network.

15. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored therein instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
recognizing a software as a service (SaaS), provided by a SaaS provider, for provisioning by the SaaS provider to an enterprise;
identifying one or more network slices within a 5G network of a network service provider between the enterprise and the SaaS provider for provisioning the SaaS to the enterprise; and
federating the SaaS provider with the enterprise across one or more network service providers, including the network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the network service provider with the SaaS provisioned by the SaaS provider to the enterprise;

wherein each of the network slices forms a complete Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for providing services to user equipment.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
recognizing an additional SaaS, provided by a provider, for provisioning to the enterprise; and
federating the provider with the enterprise across the one or more network service providers, including the network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the network service provider with the additional SaaS provisioned by the provider to the enterprise.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
recognizing an additional SaaS, provided by a provider, for provisioning to the enterprise;
identifying one or more network slices of another network service provider between the enterprise and provider for provisioning the additional SaaS to the enterprise; and
federating the provider with the enterprise across the one or more network service providers, including the another network service provider, by uniquely associating the one or more network slices provided by the another network service provider with the additional SaaS provisioned by the provider to the enterprise.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising registering an Open Authorization (“OAuth”) client of the SaaS for the one or more network slices between the enterprise and the SaaS provider as part of federating the SaaS provider with the enterprise across the one or more network slices, wherein enterprise client access to the SaaS through the one or more network slices is controlled based on the OAuth client for each network slice of the one or more network slices.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, fur

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Patil Prashanth
• Ravindranath Ram Mohan

Classifications

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W24/02

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title

• H04W8/18

  Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data · CPC title

• H04W48/18 Primary

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W4/50 Primary

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title