Apparatuses and methods for facilitating an adaptive central unit placement/deployment solution for radio access networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12563409-B2
Application number	US-202318170583-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 17, 2023
Priority date	Feb 17, 2023
Publication date	Feb 24, 2026
Grant date	Feb 24, 2026

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, allocating a first virtualized distributed unit (vDU) to a first virtualized central unit (vCU) and a second vDU to a second vCU as part of a first configuration of a virtualized radio access network (vRAN), detecting a change in a condition in the vRAN subsequent to the allocating, and based on the detecting, reallocating the second vDU to the first vCU as part of a second configuration of the vRAN. Other embodiments are disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A device, comprising:
a processing system including a processor; and a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising: obtaining a first configuration of a virtualized radio access network (vRAN), wherein the first configuration incudes an identification of a first location of a first virtualized central unit (vCU); obtaining an input that corresponds to a change in a condition or circumstance impacting the vRAN; analyzing the input to generate an output, the output including a recommendation that a change in a configuration of the vRAN from the first configuration is warranted, wherein the generating the output comprises generating, using artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models, the output including the recommendation that the change in a plurality of parameters for the first vCU is warranted, wherein the plurality of parameters for the first vCU comprises a number of sites that the first vCU is to manage, mixes of co-location and decoupled location of the first vCU and virtualized distributed units (vDUs) in the vRAN, a nature of services or applications supported by the first vCU, an amount of traffic managed by the first vCU, and identification of one or more events impacting a capacity of the first vCU; and causing, based on the output, a reconfiguration of the vRAN from the first configuration to a second configuration, the second configuration being different from the first configuration.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the second configuration includes an identification of a second location of the first vCU, the second location being different from the first location.

3 . The device of claim 1 , wherein in the first configuration the first vCU is communicatively coupled to a first virtualized distributed unit (vDU).

4 . The device of claim 3 , wherein in the second configuration the first vCU is communicatively coupled to a second vDU.

5 . The device of claim 4 , wherein in the second configuration the first vCU is communicatively coupled to the first vDU.

6 . The device of claim 4 , wherein in the second configuration the first vCU is communicatively decoupled from the first vDU.

7 . The device of claim 3 , wherein in the first configuration the first vCU is communicatively coupled to a first plurality of vDUs, the first plurality of vDUs including the first vDU.

8 . The device of claim 7 , wherein in the second configuration the first vCU is communicatively coupled to a second plurality of vDUs, the second plurality of vDUs being at least partially different from the first plurality of vDUs.

9 . The device of claim 8 , wherein a first count of the first plurality of vDUs is different from a second count of the second plurality of vDUs.

10 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the input identifies a change in a number of sites that the first vCU is to manage.

11 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the input identifies a change in a service requirement.

12 . The device of claim 11 , wherein the service requirement includes a latency requirement associated with an application or communication service supported by the vRAN.

13 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the input identifies a change in an amount of traffic supported by the vRAN.

14 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the input identifies an event that is expected in an area covered by the vRAN.

15 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the input identifies a first number of vCUs of the vRAN adhering to a centralized architecture and a second number of vCUs of the VRAN adhering to a distributed architecture.

16 . The device of claim 1 , wherein in the first configuration a communication device of the vRAN uses: a first transmission power level, a first receiver sensitivity level, a first modulation scheme, a first encryption scheme, and a first frequency band, and wherein in the second configuration the communication device uses: a second transmission power level, a second receiver sensitivity level, a second modulation scheme, a second encryption scheme, a second frequency band, or any combination thereof.

17 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
allocating a first virtualized distributed unit (vDU) to a first virtualized central unit (vCU) and a second vDU to a second vCU as part of a first configuration of a virtualized radio access network (vRAN); detecting a change in a condition in the vRAN subsequent to the allocating; and based on the detecting, analyzing the change in the condition to generate an output, the output including a recommendation that a change in the first configuration of the vRAN is warranted, wherein the generating the output comprises generating, using artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models, the output including the recommendation that the change in a plurality of parameters for the first vCU is warranted, wherein the plurality of parameters for the first vCU comprises a number of sites that the first vCU is to manage, mixes of co-location and decoupled location of the first vCU and virtualized distributed units (vDUs) in the vRAN, a nature of services or applications supported by the first vCU, an amount of traffic managed by the first vCU, and identification of one or more events impacting a capacity of the first vCU; and based on the generating the outputdetecting, reallocating the second vDU to the first vCU as part of a second configuration of the vRAN.

18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise:
based on the detecting and subsequent to the reallocating, releasing resources associated with the second vCU.

19 . A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a processing system including a processor, a first configuration of a virtualized radio access network (vRAN), wherein the first configuration incudes an identification of a first location of a first virtualized central unit (vCU); obtaining, by the processing system, an input that corresponds to a change in a condition or circumstance impacting the vRAN; analyzing, by the processing system, the input to generate an output, the output including a recommendation that a change in a configuration of the vRAN from the first configuration is warranted, wherein the generating the output comprises generating, using artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) models, the output including the recommendation that the change in a plurality of parameters for the first vCU is warranted, wherein the plurality of parameters for the first vCU comprises a number of sites that the first vCU is to manage, mixes of co-location and decoupled location of the first vCU and virtualized distributed units (vDUs) in the vRAN, a nature of services or applications supported by the first vCU, an amount of traffic managed by the first vCU, and identification of one or more events impacting a capacity of the first vCU; and causing, by the processing system, based on the output, a reconfiguration of the vRAN from the first configuration to a second configuration, the second configuration being different from the first configuration.

20 . The method of claim 19 , further comprising:
detecting, by the processing system, that an amount of load accommodated by the first vCU changes from a firs

Assignees

• At & T Ip I Lp

Inventors

• Chen Ye
• Lei Hongyan
• Cui Zhi

Classifications

• H04W16/18 Primary

  Network planning tools · CPC title