Managing radio-based private networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11601348-B2
Application number	US-202017118563-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2020
Priority date	Dec 10, 2020
Publication date	Mar 7, 2023
Grant date	Mar 7, 2023

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments for managing radio-based private networks. In one embodiment, a cellular network comprises at least one cell that provides a radio-based private network coverage of a site of an organization. The system further comprises at least one computing device in a cloud provider network that implements one or more network functions for an associated core network of the radio-based private network.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
at least one computing device in a cloud provider network; and
instructions executable in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the instructions cause the at least one computing device to at least:
receive a request from an organization to provision a radio-based private network, including a radio access network and an associated core network, to cover one or more buildings of the organization;
determine an arrangement of a plurality of cells to cover the one or more buildings;
automatically identify frequency spectrum for the plurality of cells via a spectrum reservation service;
cause cell equipment to be preconfigured to implement the plurality of cells before shipping the cell equipment to the organization; and
provision at least a portion of the associated core network for the organization in the cloud provider network.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein when executed the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to at least automatically probe an existing private network of the organization to determine at least one requirement for the radio-based private network or the associated core network.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein when executed the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to at least scale a quantity of resources allocated to the associated core network in the cloud provider network based at least in part on at least one of: a utilization metric or a latency metric.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein when executed the instructions further cause the at least one computing device to at least implement differentiated quality-of-service levels in the radio-based private network.

5. A cellular network, comprising:
at least one cell that provides a radio-based private network coverage for at least one site of an organization;
at least one computing device in a cloud provider network that implements at least one network function for an associated core network of the radio-based private network; and
a radio-based private network management service executable in the at least one computing device, wherein when executed the radio-based private network management service causes the at least one computing device to at least:
monitor at least one of: a utilization or a latency of the radio-based private network; and
in response to determining that the at least one of: the utilization or the latency meets a threshold criterion, preconfigure equipment to implement an additional cell for the radio-based private network before shipping the equipment to the organization.

6. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein when executed the radio-based private network management service further causes the at least one computing device to at least automatically identify additional frequency spectrum for the additional cell.

7. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein when executed the radio-based private network management service further causes the at least one computing device to at least automatically allocate additional computing capacity in the at least one computing device for the at least one network function.

8. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein
the at least one computing device is in at least one regional zone of a plurality of regional zones of a cloud provider network, and the at least one computing device is operated by a third-party separate from the organization.

9. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein the radio-based private network provides a first quality-of-service level for a first application of the organization, and a second quality-of-service level for a second application of the organization.

10. The cellular network of claim 5 , further comprising at least another computing device in a cloud provider substrate extension of the cloud provider network located on a premises of the organization, the at least another computing device implementing the at least one network function.

11. The cellular network of claim 10 , further comprising instructions executable in the at least one computing device that when executed cause the at least one computing device to at least:
receive a request from the organization to transfer the at least one network function from the at least one computing device to the at least another computing device; and
cause the at least one network function to be transferred from the at least one computing device to the at least another computing device in response to the request.

12. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein at least one radio unit and at least one antenna implementing the at least one cell are operated by a cloud service provider that also operates the cloud provider network.

13. The cellular network of claim 5 , wherein a usage metric corresponding to a usage of the radio-based private network is tracked for the organization by a cloud service provider.

14. A method, comprising:
receiving, by at least one computing device, a request from an organization for a provider to provision a radio-based private network and an associated core network to cover a site of the organization;
determining an arrangement of one or more cells to cover the site;
causing, by the at least one computing device, cell equipment to be preconfigured to implement the one or more cells before shipping the cell equipment to the organization; and
provisioning, by the at least one computing device, at least a portion of the associated core network for the organization in a cloud provider network.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
determining, by the at least one computing device, to add an additional cell to the radio-based private network; and
causing, by the at least one computing device, additional cell equipment to be preconfigured to implement the additional cell before shipping the additional cell equipment to the organization.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising scaling, by the at least one computing device, a quantity of computing resources allocated to one or more network functions of the associated core network in the cloud provider network.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising reserving, by the at least one computing device, frequency spectrum for the one or more cells via a spectrum reservation service.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising probing, by the at least one computing device, an existing private network of the organization to determine at least one requirement for the radio-based private network.

19. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
implementing, by the at least one computing device, a first quality-of-service level on the radio-based private network for a first device type; and
implementing, by the at least one computing device, a second quality-of-service level on the radio-based private network for a second device type.

20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the associated core network is provisioned in the cloud provider network.

Assignees

• Amazon Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gupta Diwakar
• Kostic Igor A
• Edara Kiran Kumar
• Hu Kaixiang
• Hall Shane Ashley
• Parulkar Ishwardutt

Classifications

• H04W88/18

  Service support devices; Network management devices · CPC title

• H04W36/14

  Reselecting a network or an air interface · CPC title

• H04W84/105

  PBS [Private Base Station] network (H04W84/12 - H04W84/16 take precedence) · CPC title

• H04W84/045

  using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B · CPC title

• H04W16/18 Primary

  Network planning tools · CPC title