Migrating wireless coverage among access points

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12549321-B2
Application number	US-202318487731-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 16, 2023
Priority date	Oct 16, 2023
Publication date	Feb 10, 2026
Grant date	Feb 10, 2026

Abstract

The technologies described herein are generally directed toward migrating wireless coverage among access points. In an embodiment, a method can include identifying a first network function of a network provided by first network equipment, with the first network function serving a resource grid of a geographic area, and with the resource grid being designated to serve a selected user equipment in the geographic area. The method can further include instantiating a second network function of the network at second network equipment, with the second network function serving a first subset of the resource grid. Further, the method can include designating the first network function to serve a second subset of the resource grid, different from the first subset of the resource grid. The method can further include designating the second network function to serve, after connection of the selected user equipment, the second subset of the resource grid.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
identifying, by controller equipment comprising a processor, a first network function of a network provided by first network equipment, wherein the first network function serves a resource grid of a geographic area, and wherein the resource grid is designated to serve a selected user equipment in the geographic area; facilitating, by the controller equipment, instantiating a second network function of the network at second network equipment, wherein the second network function serves a first subset of the resource grid; designating, by the controller equipment, the first network function to serve a second subset of the resource grid, different from the first subset of the resource grid; and designating, by the controller equipment, the second network function to serve, after connection of the selected user equipment, the selected user equipment using the second subset of the resource grid.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
designating, by the controller equipment, the second network function to serve new active connections by other user equipment within the geographic area other than the selected user equipment, using the second subset of the resource grid; and based on a determination that the first network function has ceased to be designated to serve any user equipment, deactivating, by the controller equipment, the first network function.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising, after deactivating the first network function, designating, by the controller equipment, the second network function to serve a larger portion of the resource grid, up to and including all of the resource grid.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein instantiating the second network function was initiated based on a request to change an operating state of the first network equipment.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network function comprises a virtualized function comprising an open distributed unit function.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the resource grid comprises a set of common resource blocks comprising the first subset of the resource grid and the second subset of the resource grid.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the first subset of the set of common resource blocks and the second subset of the set of common resource blocks comprise non-overlapping bandwidth parts.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network equipment comprises access point equipment.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected user equipment was selected based on being a user equipment in idle mode, and wherein designating the second network function to serve the idle user equipment comprises using a reselecting process to switch the user equipment in idle mode from the first network equipment to the second network equipment.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected user equipment was selected based on being an inactive user equipment, and wherein designating the second network function to serve the inactive user equipment comprises redirecting the inactive user equipment from the first network equipment to the second network equipment.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected user equipment was selected based on being determined to have a level of activity of communications at equal to or above a threshold of activity, and wherein designating the second network function to serve the selected user equipment comprises performing a handover of the selected user equipment between the first network equipment and the second network equipment.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the selected user equipment was selected based on being determined to have connected to the network with a level of activity of communications at equal to or below a threshold of activity, and wherein designating the second network function to serve the selected user equipment comprises redirecting the selected user equipment from the first network equipment to the second network equipment.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the second network equipment was selected for instantiation of the second network function based on cell planning data representative of neighbor cell planning guidelines for the geographic area.

14 . First network equipment, comprising
a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
instantiating a first distributed unit function of a network, wherein the first distributed unit function serves a first subset of a grid of resource blocks,
allocating the first distributed unit function to a selected user equipment, wherein the selected user equipment was previously served by a second distributed unit function provided by second network equipment using a second subset of the grid of resource blocks, and wherein, responsive to allocating the first distributed unit function to serve the selected user equipment, the second distributed unit function was deactivated, and
responsive to deactivation of the first distributed unit function, expanding utilization of the grid of resource blocks by the first distributed unit function to include the second subset of the grid of resource blocks.

15 . The first network equipment of claim 14 , wherein the first subset of the grid of resource blocks and the second subset of the grid of resource blocks comprise non-overlapping bandwidth parts.

16 . The first network equipment of claim 14 , wherein the selected user equipment was selected based on being an inactive user equipment, and wherein allocating the first distributed unit function to the inactive user equipment comprises redirecting the inactive user equipment from the second network equipment to the first network equipment.

17 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a controller device, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
identifying a first virtual function of a network enabled by a first network device, wherein the first virtual function serves a resource grid of a geographic area, and wherein the resource grid is designated to enable connectivity for a selected user device in the geographic area; instantiating a second virtual function of the network at second network device, wherein the second virtual function serves a first subset of the resource grid; designating the first virtual function to serve a second subset of the resource grid, different from the first subset of the resource grid; and designating the second virtual function to serve, responsive to connection by the selected user device, the selected user device using the second subset of the resource grid.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the selected user device was selected based on the selected user device being in an idle state, and wherein designating the second virtual function to serve the selected user device comprises using a reselecting process to switch the selected user device from the first network device to the second network device.

19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the selected user device was selected based on the selected user device being in an inactive state, and wherein designating the second virtual function to serve the selected user device comprises redirecting the selected user device from the first network device to the second network device.

20 . The non-transitory machi

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Murthy Prashanth
• Venkob Satish
• Jain Hemant Kumar Bhawarlal

Classifications

• H04W36/22

  for handling the traffic · CPC title

• H04W88/085

  Access point devices with remote components · CPC title

• H04L5/0096 Primary

  Indication of changes in allocation · CPC title