System and methods for virtual infrastructure management between operator networks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016359682-A1
Application number	US-201615168514-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 31, 2016
Priority date	Jun 2, 2015
Publication date	Dec 8, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

There is provided a system and method for virtual infrastructure management and in some embodiments for virtual infrastructure management between operator networks. According to embodiments, there is provided a system and a method for the requesting and provisioning of network resources including infrastructure resources, spectrum resources or both, between network operators.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method for managing network resources between a first communication network associated with a first network domain and a second communication network associated with a second network domain, the method comprising:
receiving, at a resource broker in the first network domain, a request for additional network resources; transmitting, to a resource broker in the second network domain, a request for additional network resources; and receiving, in response to the transmitted request, an offer for at least some of the requested additional network resources.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising receiving an approval of use of at least some of the requested network resources.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising allocating the at least some of the requested network resources.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising checking a resource request policy in light of the request for additional network resources.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the additional network resources include one or a combination of spectrum resources, data centre resources, core bandwidth resources, computing resources, storage resources and networking resources.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising negotiating, by the resource broker of the first domain, with the resource broker of the second domain for provision of at least some of the requested additional network resources.

7 . A method for managing network resources between a first communication network associated with a first network domain and a second communication network associated with a second network domain, the method comprising:
receiving, at a resource broker in the second domain, a request for additional network resources from the first communication network; transmitting an inquiry to determine availability of network resources; receiving an indication of the availability of network resources; and transmitting, in response to the received request, an offer for at least some of the requested additional network resources.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising transmitting an approval of use of at least some of the requested network resources.

9 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising checking a resource sharing policy in light of the request for additional network resources from the first communication network.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising negotiating, by the resource broker of the second domain, with the resource broker of the first domain for provision of at least some of the requested additional network resources.

11 . A system for managing network resources between a first communication network associated with a first network domain and a second communication network associated with a second network domain, the system comprising:
a first broker/negotiator configured to transmit a request for additional network resources, the first broker/negotiator operatively connected with the first communication network; and a second broker/negotiator configured to receive and act upon the request from the first broker/negotiator to provision at least some of the requested additional network resources, the second broker/negotiator operatively connected with the second communication network and the at least some network resources associated the second communication network.

12 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first broker/negotiator is instantiated within an Orchestrator associated with the first communication network.

13 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the second broker/negotiator is instantiated within an Orchestrator associated with the second communication network.

14 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first broker/negotiator is instantiated outside of an Orchestrator associated with the first communication network.

15 . The system according to claim 14 , further comprising a Virtual Network Function Manager (VNFM) instantiated outside of the Orchestrator and communicatively coupled with a VNFM of a Management and Orchestration (MANO) entity operative on the first communication network.

16 . The system according to claim 15 , the VNFM instantiated outside of the Orchestrator is configured to manage one or more Virtual Network Functions (VNF) instantiated using the at least some network resources associated with the second communication network.

17 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the additional network resources include one or a combination of spectrum resources, data centre resources, core bandwidth resources, computing resources, storage resources and networking resources.

18 . The system according to claim 11 , wherein the first broker/negotiator and the second broker/negotiator are configured to negotiate the provision of at least some of the requested additional network resources.

Assignees

• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Vrzic Sophie
• Rao Jaya
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Senarath Nimal Gamini
• Vrzic Sophie
• Rao Jaya

Classifications

• H04W16/14 Primary

  Spectrum sharing arrangements {between different networks} · CPC title

• H04L43/0882

  Utilisation of link capacity · CPC title

• H04L47/76

  using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions · CPC title

• H04L47/786

  Mapping reservation between domains · CPC title

• H04L41/145 Primary

  involving simulating, designing, planning or modelling of a network · CPC title