System and method for deployment of 5G and next-generation core with IMS core for real-time applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12317181-B2
Application number	US-202217851122-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 28, 2022
Priority date	Jun 28, 2022
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a processing system creates a network element by consolidating a control plane including a combination of a plurality of 5G control plane functions and a plurality of IMS control plane functions with an associated user plane including a combination of a 5G user plane function (UPF) and one or more IMS user plane functions. The method also includes deploying the network element at a network edge of the service provider network, receiving a request from a user endpoint (UE) device for a network service, and attaching the UE to the network element. The network element is configured to facilitate providing the requested network service. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device comprising:
a processing system including a processor in a service provider network; and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
creating a network element by consolidating a control plane including a combination of a plurality of fifth-generation (5G) control plane functions and a plurality of internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) control plane functions with an associated user plane including a combination of a 5G user plane function (UPF) and one or more IMS user plane functions;
deploying the network element on the service provider network, wherein a deployment topology of the network element is based on a capacity requirement associated with a network service;
receiving a request from a user endpoint (UE) device for the network service; and
attaching the UE device to the network element, wherein the network element is configured to facilitate providing the requested network service, and wherein the attaching comprises a procedure to initiate an IMS communication session.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network element comprises a combination of a 5G core slice and an IMS resource profile group.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the 5G core slice and the IMS resource profile group are matched with respect to a quality of service (QOS) policy, a class of service (CoS), a service level agreement (SLA), or any combination thereof.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network element is specialized to the network service.

5. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network element is deployed in a deployment at a network edge of the service provider network.

6. The device of claim 5 , wherein the network element is one of a plurality of network elements each specialized to a different one of a plurality of network services, and wherein the deployment comprises a datacenter at the network edge of the service provider network, the datacenter including the plurality of network elements.

7. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network element has a location and a capacity based on traffic characteristics for the service provider network, and wherein the operations further comprise dynamically scaling the capacity in accordance with a number of service customers within a predetermined distance from the location.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the initiation of the IMS communication session comprises a data network name (DNN) protocol data unit (PDU) session creation procedure.

9. The device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of 5G control plane functions include a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), and a charging function (CHF), and wherein in the initiation of the IMS communication session, the SMF does not need to discover one or more of the PCF and the CHF.

10. The device of claim 9 , wherein in the initiation of the IMS communication session, the SMF does not need to discover the UPF.

11. The device of claim 1 , wherein the network element does not include a binding support function (BSF).

12. A method, comprising:
creating, by a processing system including a processor of a service provider network, a network element by consolidating a control plane including a combination of a plurality of fifth-generation (5G) control plane functions and a plurality of internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) control plane functions with an associated user plane including a combination of a 5G user plane function (UPF) and one or more IMS user plane functions;
deploying, by the processing system, the network element at a network edge of the service provider network, wherein the network element has a location and a capacity based on traffic characteristics for the service provider network;
dynamically scaling, by the processing system, the capacity in accordance with a number of service customers within a predetermined distance from the location;
receiving, by the processing system, a request from a user endpoint (UE) device for a network service; and
attaching, by the processing system, the UE device to the network element, wherein the network element is configured to facilitate providing the requested network service, and wherein the attaching comprises a procedure to initiate an IMS communication session.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network element comprises a combination of a 5G core slice and an IMS resource profile group.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the network element is specialized to the network service.

15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of 5G control plane functions include a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), and a charging function (CHF), wherein in the initiation of the IMS communication session, the SMF does not need to discover one or more of the PCF and the CHF, and does not need to discover the UPF.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor of a service provider network, facilitate performance of operations comprising:
creating a network element by consolidating a control plane including a combination of a plurality of fifth-generation (5G) control plane functions and a plurality of internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) control plane functions with an associated user plane including a combination of a 5G user plane function (UPF) and one or more IMS user plane functions, wherein the network element is one of a plurality of network elements each specialized to a different one of a plurality of network services;
deploying the network element on the service provider network in a deployment at a network edge of the service provider network, wherein the deployment comprises a datacenter at the network edge of the service provider network, the datacenter including the plurality of network elements;
receiving a request from a user endpoint (UE) device for a network service; and
attaching the UE device to the network element, wherein the network element is configured to facilitate providing the requested network service, and wherein the attaching comprises a procedure to initiate an IMS communication session.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the network element comprises a combination of a 5G core slice and an IMS resource profile group, and wherein the network element is specialized to the network service.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the plurality of 5G control plane functions include a session management function (SMF), a policy control function (PCF), and a charging function (CHF), wherein in the initiation of the IMS communication session, the SMF does not need to discover one or more of the PCF and the CHF, and does not need to discover the UPF.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the network element comprises a combination of a 5G core slice and an IMS resource profile group that are matched with respect to a quality of service (QOS) policy, a class of service (CoS), a service level agreement (SLA), or any combination thereof.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the initiation of the IMS communication session comprises a data network name (DNN) protocol data unit (PDU) session creation procedure.

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Qiu Chaoxin
• Lu Min
• Ashby Eric

Classifications

• H04L65/1016

  IP multimedia subsystem [IMS] · CPC title

• H04W28/0268

  using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] (negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24) · CPC title

• H04W48/18 Primary

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title