Data analytics management (DAM), configuration specification and procedures, provisioning, and service based architecture (SBA)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10917800-B2
Application number	US-201916441940-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 14, 2019
Priority date	Jun 22, 2018
Publication date	Feb 9, 2021
Grant date	Feb 9, 2021

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatuses for service based architecture (SBA) for data analytics management (DAM). Configuration specifications are provided for configuring DAM entities for infrastructure management by infrastructure managers (InfMs), customer service managers (CSMs) for network slice subnet instance (NSSI), network slice instance (NSI) and service instance (SI) management, content and forwarding managers (CFM) for content and content cache management. Also provided are methods and apparatus for data analytics service provisioning regardless of DAM architecture.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising: a computer processor, a memory and a network interface and configured to:
receive, via the network interface, configuration instructions specifying one or more of:
an identification of one or more of network slices;
an identification of one or more network devices supporting one or more of the network slices; and

the configuration instructions additionally specifying one or more of:
a type of analysis to be performed by processing operations; and
a response mode indicative of conditions under which results of the processing operations are to be transmitted toward the one or more network slice management devices;
interact, via the network interface, with one or more network devices to obtain network operating information therefrom based on the configuration instructions;
process, by the computer processor, the obtained network operating information according to processing operations specified in the received configuration instructions, the processing operations providing resource related analytics; and
transmit, via the network interface, results of the processing operations toward one or more network management devices or another networked apparatus, based on the configuration instructions.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing operations provide a prediction of resource availability at a specified time, for use by an infrastructure manager apparatus.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the configuration instructions are provided as part of a request for a data analytics service to be provided by the apparatus, and wherein the configuration instructions further specify one or more of: an identification of network resources holding the one or more network devices, the one or more network devices belonging to a single network domain; an identification of communication parameters; and statistics to be generated and transmitted in the results of the processing operations.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , the configuration instructions further specifies an aspect of the one or more of network slices for which operating information is to be obtained; and wherein said aspect of the network for which the operating information is to be obtained includes one or more of: a network infrastructure type; a network infrastructure instance; a network slice instance, a network slice subnet instance, a communication service instance, a network location, a network customer, and an application supported by the network.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network devices include at least one of: a physical network function; a virtual network function; a domain-specific management and orchestration device; and another apparatus configured to interact with network devices to obtain and process network operating information based on further configuration instructions.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processing operations include at least one of: determining resource availability; determining resource utilization; determining an infrastructure modification or management decision for improving network operations; determining quality of communication service metrics; determining a packet count; determining a probability of a content request; determining a content provisioning delay; and determining a probability of a content cache miss.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the network operating information includes at least one of: session level data; network slice level data; network slice subnet level data; network function level data; and infrastructure data.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network management devices include at least one of: an operation support system; a network slice management function; a network slice subnet management function; an infrastructure manager; a customer service manager; and a content forwarding manager.

9. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network devices belong to a plurality of network domains including one or more of: a radio access network domain; a transport network domain; and a core network domain, and the results of the processing operations pertain to at least one of the plurality of network domains.

10. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more network devices support a network slice instance or a network slice subnet instance specified in the configuration instructions, and the results of the processing operations pertain to the network slice instance or a network slice subnet instance.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a plurality of separate sub-apparatuses each comprising a respective computer processor, a respective memory and a respective network interface and operatively coupled via a communication network, wherein each of the plurality of sub-apparatuses is configured to:
interact, via the respective network interface, with some or all of the one or more network devices to obtain respective network operating information therefrom based directly or indirectly on the configuration instructions;
process, by the respective computer processor, the obtained respective network operating information according to respective processing operations based directly or indirectly on the configuration instructions; and
transmit, via the respective network interface, results of the respective processing operations toward another one of the sub-apparatuses, or one or more network management devices, based directly or indirectly on the configuration instructions.

12. A method in a communication network, comprising:
configuring one or more networked analytics functions with specific configuration parameters to implement one or more network analytics operations related to resources used by a network slice;
receiving a request message, from a network management device, for a specified resource analysis which the one or more networked analytics functions are configured to provide;
obtaining, by the one or more networked analytics functions, network operating information from one or more network devices for implementing the specified resource analysis;
processing, by the one or more networked analytics functions, the obtained network operating information according to processing operations for implementing the specified resource analysis; and
transmitting, via the network interface, results of the processing operations toward the network management device.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network management device is one of: an operation support system; a network slice management function; a network slice subnet management function; an infrastructure manager; a customer service manager; and a content forwarding manager.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein configuring the one or more networked analytics functions comprises configuring a centralized network analytics function and causing the centralized network analytics function to configure one or more domain-specific network analytics functions.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein configuring the one or more networked analytics functions comprises providing the configuration parameters directly from a configuration manager apparatus to a centralized network analytics function and to one or more domain-specific network analytics functions for configuration thereof.

16. The method of claim 12 , further comprising transmitting a notification, from one or more of the networked analytics functions, a configuration manager apparatus providing the configuration parameters, or a combination thereof, toward the network management device, the notification indicative of

Assignees

• Rahman Mohammad Moshiur
• Bor Yaliniz Remziye Irem
• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Liang Chengchao
• Zhang Hang
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Rahman Mohammad Moshiur
• Bor-Yaliniz Remziye Irem
• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Liang Chengchao
• Zhang Hang

Classifications

• H04L41/122

  of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV] · CPC title

• H04L41/40

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

• H04W28/16

  Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service] · CPC title

• H04L41/0823

  characterised by the purposes of a change of settings, e.g. optimising configuration for enhancing reliability (for optimising operational conditions of wireless networks H04W24/02) · CPC title

• H04W24/02 Primary

  Arrangements for optimising operational condition · CPC title