Neutral host edge services

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12126592-B2
Application number	US-202017134285-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 26, 2020
Priority date	Dec 26, 2020
Publication date	Oct 22, 2024
Grant date	Oct 22, 2024

Abstract

Systems and methods may be used to provide neutral host edge services in an edge network. An example method may include generating a virtual machine for a communication service provider at a compute device. The method may include receiving a user packet originated at a user device associated with the communication service provider and identifying dynamic route information related to the user packet using the virtual machine corresponding to the communication service provider. Data may be output corresponding to the user packet based on the dynamic route information.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A compute device operable in an edge network for providing neutral host edge services, the compute device comprising:
memory including instructions; and
processing circuitry to execute the instructions including operations to:
generate a plurality of virtual machines for a corresponding plurality of communication service providers at the compute device, including a virtual machine configured to host network functions for a communication service provider of the plurality of communication service providers;
receive a user packet originated at a user device associated with the communication service provider;
identify dynamic route information related to the user packet using the virtual machine corresponding to the communication service provider, the dynamic route information identified based on information corresponding to a selected service in the user packet;
query an edge domain name system (DNS) service on the compute device based on a request within the user packet and the dynamic route information; and
output data corresponding to a response to the request from the edge DNS service to the user device.

2. The compute device of claim 1 , wherein the request includes a uniform resource locator (URL) and the response includes an internet protocol (IP) address pointing to a location of the compute device.

3. The compute device of claim 2 , wherein the URL is registered with the edge DNS service via an Edge Application Agent (EAA) service discovery application programming interface (API).

4. The compute device of claim 3 , wherein the edge DNS service only accepts a DNS record from local trusted applications via the EAA.

5. The compute device of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic route information is based on a user selection of edge services.

6. The compute device of claim 1 , wherein the dynamic route information includes a differentiated quality of service (QOS) metric corresponding to the communication service provider and the user device.

7. The compute device of claim 1 , wherein the network functions are 5G network user plane functions (UPF).

8. The compute device of claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of communication service providers has a corresponding UPF hosted at the compute device with N6 and N9 interfaces, while connecting to a respective central control plane through a N4 interface.

9. The compute device of claim 8 , wherein a source Network Address Translation (NAT) for each N6 interface is used to differentiate the plurality of communication service providers including for at least one user equipment (UE) address that overlaps between at least two of the plurality of communication service providers.

10. The compute device of claim 1 , wherein, in response to receiving a second packet from the user device associated with the communication service provider, the instructions further include operations to identify that a request in the second packet does not resolve in the edge DNS service, and forward the request in the second packet to a central recursive DNS server of the communication service provider.

11. A method for providing neutral host edge services in an edge network, the method comprising:
generating, using processing circuitry of a compute device operable in the edge network, a plurality of virtual machines for a corresponding plurality of communication service providers at a compute device, including a virtual machine configured to host network functions for a communication service provider of the plurality of communication service providers;
receiving a user packet originated at a user device associated with the communication service provider;
identifying dynamic route information related to the user packet using the virtual machine corresponding to the communication service provider, the dynamic route information identified based on information corresponding to a selected service in the user packet;
querying an edge domain name system (DNS) service on the compute device based on a request within the user packet and the dynamic route information; and
outputting data corresponding to a response to the request from the edge DNS service to the user device.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, in response to receiving a second packet from the user device associated with the communication service provider, identifying that a request in the second packet does not resolve in the edge DNS service, and forwarding the request in the second packet to a central recursive DNS server of the communication service provider.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the request includes a uniform resource locator (URL) and the response includes an internet protocol (IP) address pointing to a location of the compute device.

14. An apparatus for providing neutral host edge services in an edge network, the apparatus comprising:
means for generating a plurality of virtual machines for a corresponding plurality of communication service providers at a compute device, including a virtual machine configured to host network functions for a communication service provider of the plurality of communication service providers;
means for receiving a user packet originated at a user device associated with the communication service provider;
means for identifying dynamic route information related to the user packet using the virtual machine corresponding to the communication service provider, the dynamic route information identified based on information corresponding to a selected service in the user packet;
means for querying an edge domain name system (DNS) service on the compute device based on a request within the user packet and the dynamic route information; and
means for outputting data corresponding to a response to the request from the edge DNS service to the user device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the dynamic route information is based on a user selection of edge services.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the dynamic route information includes a differentiated quality of service (QOS) metric corresponding to the communication service provider and the user device.

17. At least one non-transitory machine-readable medium including instructions for providing neutral host edge services in an edge network, the instructions, when executed, causing processing circuitry to:
generate a plurality of virtual machines for a corresponding plurality of communication service providers at a compute device, including a virtual machine configured to host network functions for a communication service provider of the plurality of communication service providers;
receive a user packet originated at a user device associated with the communication service provider;
identify dynamic route information related to the user packet using the virtual machine corresponding to the communication service provider, the dynamic route information identified based on information corresponding to a selected service in the user packet;
query an edge domain name system (DNS) service on the compute device based on a request within the user packet and the dynamic route information; and
output data corresponding to a response to the request from the edge DNS service to the user device.

18. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the request includes a uniform resource locator (URL) and the response includes an internet protocol (IP) address pointing to a location of the compute device.

19. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the URL

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Ramia Kannan Babu
• S Deepak
• Ramanathan Palaniappan
• Verrall Timothy
• Guim Bernat Francesc

Classifications

• H04L61/4511

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title

• H04L61/2567

  for reachability, e.g. inquiring the address of a correspondent behind a NAT server · CPC title

• G06F2009/45562

  Creating, deleting, cloning virtual machine instances · CPC title

• G06F9/45558

  Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title