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-11509591-B2
Application number	US-202117334335-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 28, 2021
Priority date	Jan 19, 2016
Publication date	Nov 22, 2022
Grant date	Nov 22, 2022

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 (data-plane), 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 data-plane 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 data-plane services.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving traffic at a classifier associated with a first forwarding function in a first service layer of a mobile service infrastructure, the traffic comprising one or more packets;
determining at the classifier a classification of the traffic;
forwarding the traffic to the first forwarding function as an encapsulated packet,
wherein the encapsulated packet further comprises: a network service header (NSH) encoding metadata and service path information, a service path identifier associated with a service chain, a service index, and one or more service function labels,
wherein the service chain comprises at least one service function associated with one or more mobile packet core network services and at least one service function associated with one or more data-plane services within the first service layer;

forwarding the traffic through the service chain associated with the service path identifier; and
forwarding 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 data-plane 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 forwarding the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more data-plane services and forwarding the traffic to the network from an egress interface associated with the one or more data-plane services.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein forwarding the traffic includes multiplexing the traffic between the one or more mobile packet core network services and the one or more data-plane services and forwarding 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;
and if not, forwarding the traffic to a classification agent;
determining the classification for the traffic at the classification agent; 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 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 NSH and a list of labels at the classification agent; and
encapsulating the packet with the NSH and list of labels to return to the first forwarding function.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising:
storing classification information for the traffic at the first forwarding function; and
forwarding subsequent traffic with the same classification without re-classifying the traffic.

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. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:
receiving the traffic at a second classifier associated with a second forwarding function in a second service layer of a mobile service infrastructure;
determining, at the second classifier a classification of the traffic to a service chain within the second service layer;
forwarding the traffic to the second forwarding function as an encapsulated packet, wherein the encapsulated packet further comprises:
a network service header (NSH) encoding metadata and second service path information, a second service path identifier, a second service index, and one or more service function labels;
wherein the second 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 data-plane services within the second service layer; and

forwarding the traffic through the second service chain associated with the second service path identifier; and
forwarding 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 data-plane services.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the second service layer is in series with the first service layer.

17. A system comprising:
a mobile service infrastructure comprising:
a decomposed mobile packet core,
wherein the decomposed mobile packet core comprises a series of mobile core and data-plane functions,
wherein the mobile core and the data-plane functions are grouped into at least one service layer,
wherein a service layer includes: one or more mobile packet core network services and one or more data-plane services and at least one service chain comprising one or more service functions; and

at least one classifying and forwarding function in the mobile service infrastructure configured to:
receive, at a classifier associated with a first forwarding function in the service layer of a mobile service infrastructure traffic comprising one or more packets;
determine a classification of the traffic to a service chain;
forward the traffic to the service chain as one or more encapsulated packets, wherein an encapsulated pa

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

• H04L47/29

  using a combination of thresholds · CPC title

• H04L47/25 Primary

  with rate being modified by the source upon detecting a change of network conditions · 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

• H04L45/64

  using an overlay routing layer · CPC title