Method of processing a data packet relating to a service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10897421-B2
Application number	US-201515306992-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 13, 2015
Priority date	Apr 30, 2014
Publication date	Jan 19, 2021
Grant date	Jan 19, 2021

Abstract

Method of processing a data packet relating to a service, said packet being conveyed by an interconnection gateway between a mobile communication network and a packet communication network, destined for said packet communication network The method comprises a step of obtaining by a virtualized node an identifier of the service to which the packet relates and a step of obtaining on the basis of the service identifier a sequence of at least one elementary network function for processing said packet The packet is transmitted to a virtualized node in order to apply the current function and if there exists a function following the current function in the sequence selection of selecting a next virtualized node able to implement said following function. If no function following the current function in the sequence exists, the virtualized node transmits the output packet to the packet communication network.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of processing a data packet relating to a service, said packet being conveyed by an interconnection gateway ( 10 ) between a mobile communication network ( 100 ) and a packet communication network ( 200 ), destined for said packet communication network, said method comprising following acts performed by a virtualized node ( 32 ):
analyzing the received data packet and based on this analysis, obtaining an identifier of the service to which the packet relates;
characterized in that said method furthermore comprises:
obtaining on request, said request comprising the service identifier, from an elementary network functions control entity, a sequence ( 70 ) in the form of at least one elementary network function ( 30 , 40 , 60 ) list so as to process said packet;
to process the packet, the first network elementary function ( 30 ) of the sequence corresponding at the first iteration to a current function, the packet being transmitted as input of the virtualized node ( 32 , 42 , 61 ) able to implement the current function:
applying (E 4 ) of the current function to the packet as input so as to obtain a packet as output by the virtualized node ( 32 );
if there exists (E 6 ) a next function ( 40 ) following the current function in the sequence:
selecting (E 61 , E 62 ) of a next virtualized node ( 42 ) able to implement said next function ( 40 ) following the current function in the sequence, said next function ( 40 ) then becoming current function;
dispatching (E 63 ) of the output packet to the next selected virtualized node ( 42 ), the output packet thus becoming input packet for the application of the current function;

if there does not exist (E 6 ) any next function ( 40 ) following the current function in the sequence, transmitting (E 64 ) of the packet as output to the packet communication network.

2. The processing method according to claim 1 , in which the application of the current function to the packet triggers an updating of said sequence of at least one elementary network function.

3. The processing method according to claim 1 , furthermore comprising an step act of obtaining, from the elementary network functions control entity, a lookup table of correspondence between at least one the service and the sequence of at least one elementary network function so as to process a packet relating to the service, upon the establishment of a user session between a user terminal and the interconnection gateway.

4. The processing method according to claim 3 , in which said lookup table of correspondence is determined by the elementary network functions control entity as a function of a profile associated with the user terminal.

5. The processing method according to claim 1 , furthermore comprising an step act of obtaining, from a virtualized nodes control entity, a list of virtualized nodes which are available and able to implement an elementary network function, and in which the next virtualized node is selected on the basis of said list.

6. The processing method according to claim 1 , furthermore comprising an act of dispatching, by the virtualized node implementing the current function, to a virtualized nodes control entity, a notification indicating a state of loading of the node.

7. A system ( 300 ) for processing a packet, designed to process a data packet relating to a service, said packet being conveyed by an interconnection gateway ( 10 ) between a mobile communication network ( 100 ) and a packet communication network ( 200 ), destined for said packet communication network, said system comprising at least one virtualized node ( 31 - 32 , 41 - 43 , 51 , 61 - 63 , 80 ), said at least one virtualized node comprising at least one hardware component configured to:
analyzing the received data packet and based on this analysis, obtain an identifier of the service to which the packet relates;
obtain on request, said request comprising the service identifier, from an elementary network functions control entity, a sequence in the form of at least one elementary network function list so as to process said packet;
and the first network elementary function of the sequence corresponding at the first iteration to a current function:
apply the current function to the input packet so as to obtain an output packet;
verify whether there exists a next function following the current function in the sequence, and if appropriate,
select, when there exists a next function following the current function in the sequence, a next virtualized node designed to implement said function following the current function in the sequence, said next function then becoming current function;
dispatch, when there exists a next function following the current function in the sequence, an output packet to a node selected by the selection module, the output packet thus becoming input packet for the application of the current function and designed to, when there does not exist any next function following the current function in the sequence, to transmit the output packet to the packet communication network.

8. The system according to claim 7 , comprising in a user plane ( 320 ):
at least one virtualized node ( 31 - 32 , 41 - 43 , 51 , 61 - 63 ) able to implement an elementary network function ( 30 , 40 , 50 , 60 ) so as to process the packet relating to a service;

and in a control plane ( 310 ):
an elementary network functions control entity ( 400 ), designed to control the elementary network functions implemented by virtualized nodes belonging to the user plane, comprising at least one hardware component configured to:
receive, from a virtualized node implementing an elementary network function so as to process said packet, an elementary network functions sequence request, said request comprising an identifier of the service;
obtain the sequence in the form of at least one elementary network function list so as to process the packet on the basis of the identifier of the service;
dispatch to a virtualized node the sequence in the form of at least one elementary network function list so as to process the packet.

9. The system according to claim 7 , furthermore comprising a virtualized nodes control entity ( 500 ), designed to control said at least one virtualized node of the user plane, comprising at least one hardware component configured to:
collect availability information in respect of at least one virtualized node, for the implementation of an elementary network function;
dispatch to a virtualized node a list of virtualized nodes which are available and able to implement an elementary network function;
update a list of virtualized nodes which are available and able to implement an elementary network function, the dispatching module then also being designed to dispatch an update of the list.

10. The system according to claim 7 , in which the elementary network functions control entity furthermore comprises at least one hardware component configured to:
receive, from the interconnection gateway 10 , information relating to a context shared between a user terminal that sent the data packet and said interconnection gateway;
dispatch at least one table storing at least one association between a service and a sequence in the form of at least one elementary network function list, to a virtualized node, upon the establishment of a user session between a user terminal and the interconnection gateway.

11. The system according to claim 8 , in which the elementary network functions control entity ( 400 ) furthermore comprises at least one hardware component configured to:
obtain a user profile associated with the user terminal that sent the data packet;
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Assignees

• Orange

Inventors

• Zhou Yu
• He Ruan

Classifications

• H04L45/745 Primary

  Address table lookup; Address filtering · CPC title

• H04W92/02 Primary

  Inter-networking arrangements · CPC title

• H04L45/306

  Route determination based on the nature of the carried application · CPC title

• H04W76/12

  Setup of transport tunnels · CPC title

• H04L12/66

  Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways · CPC title