Method and apparatus for network slicing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018077024-A1
Application number	US-201715698078-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 7, 2017
Priority date	Sep 9, 2016
Publication date	Mar 15, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide architectures, methods and systems that will allow reconfigurability of the network to suit the needs of various parties. Accordingly, some embodiments provide a controllable open operation environment. In such an environment, there can be a decoupling of various network aspects which would be conventionally be under the span of control of a service provider, allowing for each aspect to be provided by a different entity. For example, infrastructure can be provided separately from the provider of network services to subscribers and/or from the provider of slices and/or from the provider of NOS services. For example an infrastructure provider can provide infrastructure used by a slice provider to provide network slices to virtual network providers which provide services to end customers. Generally speaking, SONAC-Com is responsible for the composition of slices and manages resources at the slice level. SONAC-Op is responsible for the operation of slices. For example, SONAC-Com develops slices using the general infrastructure resource pools, while SONAC-Op manages the delivery of slice traffic packets over deployed slices.

First claim

1 . A method of slice adaptation comprising:
receiving a message from a Network Operation Support (NOS) function; and transmitting a configuration message to a network controller comprising instructions to modify a user plane function of a slice.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the slice is an end-to-end slice which spans more than one domain, the method further comprising:
transmitting an adaptation message to a slice composition function in a second domain to modify the functions of the slice within the second domain.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the NOS function is a Customer Service Management (CSM) function.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the received message includes at least one of a request to modify a slice and statistics about the slice.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein the slice statistics are selected from the group comprising: slice resource utilization statistics, slice service performance statistics, slice traffic behavior statistics.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the received message compares quality of service (QoS) provided by the slice with the QoS requirements of the slice

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the configuration message transmitted to a network controller comprises at least one of an instruction to increase slice resources and an instruction to decrease slice resources.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein the configuration message comprises an instruction to modify the topology of the slice.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the NOS function is one of a Content & Forwarding Management (CFM) and an Infrastructure Management Function, and wherein the instructions to modify the topology of the slice includes at least one of an instruction to modify the location of caches and an instruction to change the infrastructure supporting the slice.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed by a slice composition function and the method further comprises:
transmitting a configuration message to a network controller to modify at least one operating function for managing the operation of the slice.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the method is performed by a slice operation function and wherein the NOS is a Connectivity Management (CM) function.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the slice operation function modifies logical paths and tunnels in the slice in response to the message from the CM function.

13 . A network controller comprising:
a network interface; a processor; and machine readable memory storing instructions which when executed by the processor configure the network controller to:
receive, over the network interface a message from a Network Operation Support (NOS) function; and
transmit a configuration message, over the network interface, to a network controller comprising instructions to modify a user plane function of a slice.

14 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the slice is an end-to-end slice which spans more than one domain, and the stored instructions, upon execution by the processor further configure the controller to transmit an adaptation message to a slice composition function in a second domain to modify the functions of the slice within the second domain.

15 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the NOS function is a Customer Service Management (CSM) function.

16 . The network controller of claim 15 wherein the received message includes at least one of a request to modify a slice and statistics about the slice.

17 . The network controller of claim 16 wherein the slice statistics are selected from the group comprising: slice resource utilization statistics, slice service performance statistics, slice traffic behavior statistics.

18 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the received message compares quality of service (QoS) provided by the slice with the QoS requirements of the slice.

19 . The network controller of claim 18 wherein the configuration message transmitted to a network controller comprises at least one of an instruction to increase slice resources and an instruction to decrease slice resources.

20 . The network controller of claim 13 the configuration message comprises an instruction to modify the topology of the slice.

21 . The network controller of claim 20 wherein the NOS function is one of a Content & Forwarding Management (CFM) and an Infrastructure Management Function, and wherein the instructions to modify the topology of the slice includes at least one of an instruction to modify the location of caches and an instruction to change the infrastructure supporting the slice.

22 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the controller is a slice composition function and when executed the instructions cause the slice composition function to be further configured to transmit, through the network interface, a configuration message to a network controller to modify at least one operating function for managing the operation of the slice.

23 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the controller is a slice operation function and wherein the NOS is a Connectivity Management (CM) function.

24 . The network controller of claim 13 wherein the slice operation function is further configured to modify logical paths and tunnels in the slice in response to the message from the CM function.

Assignees

• Zhang Hang
• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Zhang Hang

Classifications

• H04L41/5003

  Managing SLA; Interaction between SLA and QoS · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04L43/0876

  Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level · CPC title

• H04L41/044

  comprising hierarchical management structures · CPC title

• H04L41/22

  comprising specially adapted graphical user interfaces [GUI] · CPC title