Managing network slice bandwidth for remote game sessions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12021758-B2
Application number	US-202018034845-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 29, 2020
Priority date	Oct 29, 2020
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A multisession remote game scheme in a distributed network architecture including a dedicated network slice for gaming. A remote game rendering application service deployed in a trusted edge data network includes a remote render system (RRS) manager operative to instantiate one or more remote game rendering engines coupled to respective game engines. RRS manager interfaces to a remote gaming back office disposed in an external network, wherein the RRS manager instantiates and manages a plurality of gaming sessions responsive to game session setup requests propagated from the back office on behalf of clients. An edge routing application is configured to provide edge network location information of the game engines to the remote game back office. A multisession game slice bandwidth manager is operative to allocate a respective bandwidth to each of the plurality of gaming sessions from a dedicated bandwidth of the network slice serving the plurality of gaming sessions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for managing network slice bandwidth for remote game sessions, the method comprising:
populating a remote game session list that identifies multiple remote game sessions sharing a network slice having a slice bandwidth size, each remote game session identified in the remote game session list with a session identifier (ID) and having a bandwidth ceiling, a bandwidth floor, and a tier, wherein the bandwidth ceiling, the bandwidth floor, and the tier corresponding to a particular respective remote game session are determined based on at least one of: a quality of service (QoS) indication identified in a session request from a gaming client device with respect to a game title, a game profile table associated with the game title, and one or more device capability parameters indicated in the session request; and
responsive to detecting a triggering input, performing a bandwidth allocation process to determine a bandwidth allocated to each respective remote game session, wherein the bandwidth allocation process includes an initial assignment of the bandwidth floors to respective remote game sessions and iteratively incrementing respective bandwidth allocations to one or more remote game sessions based on respective adequacy values determined using at least one of respective tier, bandwidth floor and ceiling parameters.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising performing a culling process on a subset of the remote game sessions, after the initial assignment, upon determining that a sum of the bandwidth floors exceeds the slice bandwidth size.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the bandwidth ceiling, the bandwidth floor, and the tier corresponding to a particular respective remote game session are obtained from a delivery manager instantiated by a remote render system (RRS) manager with respect to the particular respective remote game session.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the triggering input comprises at least one of: an increase in the slice bandwidth size, a decrease in the slice bandwidth size, an addition of a new remote game session to the network slice, a termination of an ongoing remote game session from the network slice, and a network quality change indication relative to the network slice.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
providing a notification to a gaming client device that a bandwidth allocated to a remote game session associated with the gaming client device with respect to a particular game title is less than the bandwidth floor of the associated remote game session; and
performing one of: (i) terminating the associated remote game session; or (ii) responsive to receiving an override request from the gaming client device, continuing to maintain the associated remote game session as a low quality session.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising, responsive to the override request from the gaming client device, providing a message to a management entity for facilitating a credit to be issued to a subscriber user of the gaming client device with respect to the particular game title.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the associated remote game session is one of a new session to be added with respect to the particular game title or an ongoing session with respect to the particular game title.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of iteratively incrementing respective bandwidth allocations is performed for a subset of remote game sessions having a minimum adequacy value.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein a bandwidth allocation of a candidate remote game session belonging to the subset is incremented subject to the bandwidth ceiling of the candidate remote game session.

10. A network slice bandwidth management system, comprising:
one or more processors;
a database containing a remote game session list that identifies multiple remote game sessions sharing a network slice having a slice bandwidth size, each remote game session identified in the remote game session list with a session identifier (ID) and having a bandwidth ceiling, a bandwidth floor, and a tier, wherein the bandwidth ceiling, the bandwidth floor, and the tier corresponding to a particular respective remote game session are determined based on at least one of: a quality of service (QoS) indication identified in a session request from a gaming client device with respect to a game title, a game profile table associated with the game title, and one or more device capability parameters indicated in the session request; and
a persistent memory having program instructions stored thereon, the program instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, configured to:
responsive to detecting a triggering input, perform a bandwidth allocation process to determine a bandwidth allocated to each respective remote game session, wherein the bandwidth allocation process includes an initial assignment of the bandwidth floors to respective remote game sessions and iteratively increment respective bandwidth allocations to one or more remote game sessions based on respective adequacy values determined using at least one of respective tier and ceiling parameters.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions for performing, after the initial assignment, a culling process on a subset of the remote game sessions, responsive to determining that a sum of the bandwidth floors exceeds the slice bandwidth size.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein the bandwidth ceiling, the bandwidth floor, and the tier corresponding to a particular respective remote game session are obtained from a delivery manager instantiated by a remote render system (RRS) manager with respect to the particular respective remote game session.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein the triggering input comprises at least one of: an increase in the slice bandwidth size, a decrease in the slice bandwidth size, an addition of a new remote game session to the network slice, a termination of an ongoing remote game session from the network slice, and a network quality change indication relative to the network slice.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions configured to:
provide a notification to a gaming client device that a bandwidth allocated to a remote game session associated with the gaming client device with respect to a particular game title is less than the bandwidth floor of the associated remote game session; and
perform one of: (i) terminating the associated remote game session; or (ii) responsive to receiving an override request from the gaming client device, continuing to maintain the associated remote game session as a low quality session.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the program instructions further comprise instructions configured to, responsive to the override request from the gaming client device, provide a message to a management entity for facilitating a credit to be issued to a subscriber user of the gaming client device with respect to the particular game title.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the associated remote game session is one of a new session to be added with respect to the particular game title or an ongoing session with respect to the particular game title.

17. The system of claim 10 , wherein the program instructions for iteratively incrementing respective bandwidth allocations comprise instructions operative to perform incrementing for a subset of remote game sessions having a minimum adequacy value.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M
• Phillips Chris

Inventors

• Phillips Chris
• Forsman Jr Robert Hammond
• Brodin Per-Erik

Classifications

• H04L47/76

  using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions · CPC title

• H04L67/131

  Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality · CPC title

• A63F13/355

  Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client · CPC title

• H04L41/0895

  Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements · CPC title

• H04L47/803 Primary

  Application aware · CPC title