System and method for hosting mobile packet core and value-added services using a software defined network and service chains

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11044203-B2
Application number	US-201615171892-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 2, 2016
Priority date	Jan 19, 2016
Publication date	Jun 22, 2021
Grant date	Jun 22, 2021

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include receiving traffic associated with at least one of a mobile network and a Gi-Local Area Network (Gi-LAN), wherein the traffic comprises one or more packets; determining a classification of the traffic to a service chain, wherein the service chain comprises one or more service functions associated at least one of one or more mobile network services and one or more Gi-LAN services; routing the traffic through the service chain; and routing the traffic to a network using one of a plurality of egress interfaces, wherein each egress interface of the plurality of egress interfaces is associated with at least one of the one or more mobile network services and the one or more Gi-LAN services.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a classifier at a first forwarding function in a mobile service infrastructure comprising a decomposed mobile packet core, traffic associated with at least one of a mobile packet core network and a Gi-Local Area Network (Gi-LAN), wherein the traffic comprises one or more packets, wherein the mobile service infrastructure comprises one or more mobile packet core network services and one or more Gi-LAN services, wherein the Gi-LAN services are within a service layer in the decomposed mobile packet core;
determining, at the classifier and using at least information received from a classification agent in the service layer, a classification of the traffic to a service chain by:
routing a packet associated with the traffic to the classification agent when no classification for the traffic is stored at the first forwarding function;
receiving an encapsulated packet and the classification for the traffic to the first forwarding function with a classification determined by the classification agent, wherein the encapsulated packet further comprises:
a service chain label stack constructed at the classification agent, wherein the service chain label stack comprises one or more labels and wherein each label corresponds to one of a plurality of applications associated with a service path identifier,
wherein each application comprises one or more service functions, wherein the service chain comprises at least one service function associated with the one or more mobile packet core network services and at least one service function associated with the one or more Gi-LAN services within the service layer; and

routing the traffic through the service chain; and
routing the traffic to a network using one of a plurality of egress interfaces, wherein at least two of the plurality of egress interfaces are associated with different service functions in the service chain, and wherein each egress interface of the plurality of egress interfaces is associated with at least one of the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more Gi-LAN services.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
configuring at least one mobile packet core network fast-path comprising one or more service functions to perform only decapsulation and encapsulation operations on traffic; and
configuring at least one mobile packet core network slow-path comprising one or more service functions to perform decapsulation and encapsulation operations on traffic and to perform one or more operations associated with one or more mobile packet core network services on traffic.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein one or more service functions configured for a particular mobile packet core network fast-path perform at least one of: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) decapsulation and encapsulation operations on the one or more packets.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the classification is performed based on at least one of:
policy information associated with a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF);
charging information associated with an Online Charging System (OCS); and
charging information associated with an Offline Charging System (OfCS).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein routing the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more Gi-LAN services and routing the traffic to the network from an egress interface associated with the one or more Gi-LAN services.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein routing the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more Gi-LAN services and routing the traffic to the network from an egress interface associated with the one or more mobile packet core network services.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the traffic is associated with at least one of a bearer and a flow for a particular subscriber and wherein the classification is determined for at least one of the bearer and the flow for the particular subscriber.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing data representing a network graph for a plurality of service chains, wherein each service chain is identified by a service path identifier.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a particular service function is included within a plurality of the plurality of service chains.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises:
determining whether a classification for the traffic is stored at the first forwarding function;
determining the classification for the traffic at the classification function; and
returning the packet and the classification for the traffic to the first forwarding function.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
constructing a service path identifier at the classification function based on the classification; and
encapsulating the packet with the service path identifier to return to the first forwarding function.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
constructing service chain label stack at the classification agent, wherein the service chain label stack; and
encapsulating the packet with the service chain label stack to return to the first forwarding function.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
storing the service chain label stack at the first forwarding function; and
appending subsequent packets for the traffic with the service chain label stack.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
load balancing the traffic to one of a plurality of service chain paths, wherein each service chain path comprises one or more service functions to perform operations associated with the service chain to which the traffic is classified.

15. A system comprising:
a mobile service infrastructure comprising a decomposed mobile packet core, wherein the decomposed mobile packet core comprises one or more mobile packet core network services and one or more Gi-LAN services and one or more classification agents in a service layer in the decomposed mobile packet core;
at least one service chain comprising one or more service functions;
at least one classifying forwarding function in the mobile service infrastructure configured to:
receive, at first forwarding function, traffic associated with at least one of a mobile packet core network and a Gi-Local Area Network (Gi-LAN), wherein the traffic comprises one or more packets;
determine a classification of the traffic to a service chain using at least information received from a classification agent in the service layer by:
route a packet associated with the traffic to the classification agent when no classification for the traffic is stored at the first forwarding function;
receiving an encapsulated packet and the classification for the traffic to the first forwarding function with a classification determined by the classification agent, wherein the encapsulated packet further comprises:
a service chain label stack constructed at the classification agent, wherein the service chain label stack comprises one or more labels and wherein each label corresponds to one of a plurality of applications associated with a service path identifier,
wherein each application comprises one or more service functions, wherein the service chain comprises at least one service function associated with the one or more mobile packet core network services and at least one service function associated with the one or more Gi-LAN services within the service layer; and

route the traffic through the ser

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Bosch Hendrikus G P
• Napper Jeffrey
• Duminuco Alessandro
• La Roche Humberto J
• Mullender Sape Jurriën
• Kumar Surendra M
• Samuel Louis Gwyn
• Brinckman Bart A
• Dodd-Noble Aeneas Sean
• Martini Luca

Classifications

• H04L41/0897

  by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities · CPC title

• H04L41/40

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

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title

• H04L41/0896

  Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities (flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76) · CPC title

• H04L47/29

  using a combination of thresholds · CPC title