Methods, systems, and computer readable media for optimizing network traffic distribution using timeslot-based tracked producer network function (NF) performance during producer NF selection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12022316-B2
Application number	US-202117356461-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 23, 2021
Priority date	Jun 23, 2021
Publication date	Jun 25, 2024
Grant date	Jun 25, 2024

Abstract

A method for optimizing network traffic distribution using timeslot-based tracked producer network function (NF) performance during producer NF selection is performed at a service communication proxy (SCP) including at least one processor. The method includes tracking a performance characteristic of producer NFs across different timeslots. The method further includes receiving, from a consumer NF, a service based interface (SBI) service request. The method further includes identifying eligible producer NFs capable of handling the SBI service request. The method further includes selecting, from the eligible producer NFs, in a manner that at least partially overrides priorities of the eligible producer NFs, and based on the tracked performance characteristic across the different timeslots, a producer NF to handle the SBI service request. The method further includes forwarding the SBI service request to the producer NF.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for optimizing network traffic distribution using timeslot-based tracked producer network function (NF) performance during producer NF selection, the method comprising:
at a service communication proxy (SCP) including at least one processor:
tracking a performance characteristic of producer NFs across different timeslots, wherein tracking the performance characteristic includes continually updating, by a tracking process, a value of the performance characteristic;
maintaining a database record for each of the timeslots, where each database record includes a value indicating the timeslot, a plurality of producer NF identifiers, and the value of the performance characteristic for each of the producer NF identifiers during the timeslot and database records for different timeslots include the same producer NF identifiers;
receiving, from a consumer NF, a service based interface (SBI) service request;
identifying eligible producer NFs capable of handling the SBI service request;
selecting, from the eligible producer NFs, in a manner that at least partially overrides priorities of the eligible producer NFs, and based on the tracked performance characteristic across the different timeslots, a producer NF to handle the SBI service request; and
forwarding the SBI service request to the producer NF.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein tracking the performance characteristic of the producer NFs includes tracking at least one of load, latency, and SBI request success rate of each of the producer NFs across the different timeslots.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the producer NF includes performing a lookup in the database for a record corresponding to a current timeslot, locating the record corresponding to the current timeslot, reading producer NF identities and corresponding tracked values of the performance characteristic from the record, and selecting the producer NF from the producer NF identities in the record based on the tracked values of the performance characteristic in the record.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein tracking the performance characteristic of the producer NFs includes learning values of the performance characteristic across the timeslots.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein learning values of the performance characteristic includes learning expected values of the performance characteristic for each timeslot.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein identifying eligible producer NFs to handle the SBI service request includes:
transmitting, by the SCP, an NF discovery request message to an NF repository function (NRF); and
receiving, from the NRF, an NF discovery response that includes NF profiles of the producer NFs eligible to handle the SBI service request.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein tracking the performance characteristic of the producer NFs includes reading, from the NF profiles, attribute values that indicate measurements of the performance characteristic.

8. The method of claim 6 wherein selecting a producer NF in a manner that at least partially overrides a priority of the producer NFs includes reading, from the NF profiles, priorities of the NF profiles and using the performance characteristic rather than the priorities from the NF profiles to select the producer NF to handle the SBI service request.

9. The method of claim 1 comprising:
receiving, at the SCP, initial SBI requests having a first priority attribute value that is below an operator-defined threshold and initial SBI service requests having a second priority attribute value that is above the operator-defined threshold;
selecting producer NFs to process the initial SBI service requests having the first priority attribute value based on priorities of producer NFs received in an NFDiscover response and forwarding the initial SBI service requests having the first priority attribute value to the selected producer NFs; and
selecting producer NFs to process the initial SBI requests having the second priority attribute value based on values of the performance characteristic for the producer NFs.

10. A system for optimizing network traffic distribution using timeslot-based tracked producer network function (NF) performance during producer NF selection, the system comprising:
a service communication proxy (SCP) including at least one processor;
a timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker implemented by the at least one processor for tracking a performance characteristic of producer NFs across different timeslots, wherein tracking the performance characteristic includes continually updating, by the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker, value of the performance characteristic, wherein the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker is configured for maintaining a database record for each of the timeslots, where each database record includes a value indicating the timeslot, a plurality of producer NF identifiers, and the value of the performance characteristic for each of the producer NF identifiers during the timeslot and database records for different timeslots include the same producer NF identifiers; and
a producer NF selector implemented by the at least one processor for receiving, from a consumer NF, a service based interface (SBI) service request, identifying eligible producer NFs capable of handling the SBI service request, selecting, from the eligible producer NFs, in a manner that at least partially overrides priorities of the eligible producer NFs, and based on the tracked performance characteristic across the different timeslots, a producer NF to handle the SBI service request, and forwarding the SBI service request to the producer NF.

11. The system of claim 10 wherein the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker is configured to track at least one of load, latency, and SBI request success rate of each of the producer NFs across the different timeslots.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein the producer NF selector, in selecting the producer NF, is configured to perform a lookup in the database for a record corresponding to a current timeslot, locate the record corresponding to the current timeslot, read producer NF identities and corresponding tracked values of the performance characteristic from the record, and select the producer NF from the producer NF identities in the record based on the tracked values of the performance characteristic in the record.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker is configured to learn expected values of the performance characteristic across the timeslots.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker is configured to identify eligible producer NFs to handle the SBI service request by:
transmitting an NF discovery request message to an NF repository function (NRF); and
receiving, from the NRF, an NF discovery response that includes NF profiles of the producer NFs eligible to handle the SBI service request.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the timeslot-based producer NF performance tracker is configured to read, from the NF profiles, attribute values that indicate measurements of the performance characteristic.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the producer NF selector is configured to select a producer NF in a manner that at least partially overrides the priorities of the eligible producer NFs by reading, from the NF profiles, priorities of the producer NFs and using the performance characteristic rather than the priorities from the NF profiles to select the producer NF to handle the SBI service request.

Assignees

• Oracle Int Corp

Inventors

• Srivastava Ankit
• Jha Avinash
• Shivarajapura Anup
• Aravamudhan Venkatesh

Classifications

• H04W28/08

  Load balancing or load distribution (transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title

• H04L47/826

  Involving periods of time · CPC title

• H04L47/10

  Flow control; Congestion control · CPC title

• H04W28/0231 Primary

  based on communication conditions (dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54) · CPC title