Control device, control method, and program for controlling network function based on disaster information

Abstract

To allow resource allocation required for processing communication traffic according to communication demand in a mobile communication system.SOLUTION: A control device that controls resources of a processing device in which a user plane function (UPF) in the cellular communication standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is implemented acquires disaster information that identifies the occurrence of a disaster, identifies an area affected by the disaster on the basis of the disaster information, and configures the resources of the processing device so as to increase resources allocated to a UPF associated with the identified area or associated with a terminal located in the area.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for controlling resources of a network function. [Background technology]

[0002] Mobile communication systems have evolved from communication infrastructure to life infrastructure, and there is a demand to ensure the reliability of mobile communication systems. In particular, large-scale disasters such as earthquakes occur once every few years in Japan, and various systems have been developed to reduce the impact of damage caused by earthquakes on mobile communication systems or services. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology that switches communication paths based on a predicted value of seismic intensity in earthquake information. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2013-135295 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] On the other hand, when a disaster actually occurs, there is a possibility that a large amount of communication traffic will occur temporarily in the area affected by the disaster. The technology of Patent Document 1 cannot deal with such a situation. The present invention provides a technology for allocating resources required for processing communication traffic in a mobile communication system according to communication demand. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] A control device according to one embodiment of the present invention is a control device that controls resources of a processing device in which a User Plane Function (UPF) in the cellular communication standard of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is implemented, and has an acquisition means for acquiring disaster information that identifies the occurrence of a disaster, an identification means for identifying an area affected by the disaster based on the disaster information, and a setting means for setting resources of the processing device to be allocated for the UPF, the setting means performing the setting so as to increase the resources allocated to the UPF associated with the area identified by the identification means or associated with a terminal located in the area when the occurrence of a disaster is detected by the disaster information. Effect of the Invention

[0006] According to the present invention, in a mobile communication system, resources required for processing communication traffic can be allocated in accordance with communication demand. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a mobile communication system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of a management server. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a functional configuration of a management server. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an operation flow of the management server. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Note that the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential to the invention. Two or more features among the multiple features described in the embodiments may be arbitrarily combined. Also, the same reference numbers are used for the same or similar configurations, and duplicated descriptions are omitted.

[0009] (System Configuration) FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a mobile communication system according to this embodiment. The mobile communication system is, for example, a cellular communication system conforming to the cellular communication standard of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the following discussion can be applied to a mobile communication system conforming to any wireless communication standard. The mobile communication system includes, for example, terminals 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, and 107, base stations 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, and 116, UPFs 121, 122, and 123, a data network 130, TAs 141, 142, and 143, AMF 150, SMF 160, a management server 170, and a disaster information server 180. UPF, TA, AMF, and SMF are abbreviations for User Plane Function, Tracking Area, Access and Mobility Management Function, and Session Management Function, respectively. The terminals 101 to 107 may be collectively referred to as terminals 100. The base stations 111 to 116 may be collectively referred to as base stations 110. The UPFs 121 to 123 may be collectively referred to as UPFs 120. The TAs 141 to 143 may be collectively referred to as TAs 140. Although an example in which the three UPFs 121 to 123 are connected to one data network 130 by a wired network is shown in FIG. 1, the number of UPFs 120 may be one or two, or may be four or more. Furthermore, there may be two or more data networks 130 to which the UPFs 120 are connected, and each of the UPFs 120 may be connected to a different data network 130. Similarly, the base stations 110 connected to the UPFs 120 are illustrated as two representatives, but there may be one, or three or more. Although two base stations 110 constituting each TA 140 are shown as representative examples, the number may be one, or three or more. Furthermore, although one UPF 120 is shown as an example corresponding to each TA 140, the number may be two or more.The number of terminals 100 connected to each base station 110 may be zero or more, and one terminal 100 may be connected to multiple base stations 110 at the same time. Although one each of the AMF 150, SMF 160, management server 170, and disaster information server 180 is illustrated as a representative example, there may be two or more of each. The devices may be connected to each other via a wired network or a wireless network. In a mobile communication system, each of the functions that perform processing for communication may be called a network function. In this embodiment, the base station 110, UPF 120, AMF 150, SMF 160, etc. are examples of network functions.

[0010] The terminal 100 is a terminal used by a user, and exchanges radio signals with the base station 110 via a wireless medium. The terminal 100 may be called User Equipment (UE). The terminal 100 includes, for example, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a personal computer, a tablet terminal, a wearable terminal, an IoT (Internet of Things) terminal, and the like. The base station 110 exchanges radio signals with the terminal 100 via a wireless medium. The base station 110 includes, for example, a gNB (next generation Node B), an eNB (evolved Node B), and the like. The UPF 120 provides a connection point function such as routing for transferring user plane data transmitted from the terminal 100 to the data network 130 and transferring user plane data received from the data network 130 to the destination terminal 100. The user plane data is information exchanged between the terminal 110 and the data network 130, and may be called data in this embodiment. A plurality of UPFs 120 may be interposed between the base station 110 and the data network 130 when transferring data. The data network 130 is a network that provides data services to the terminal 100, and includes, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) service network of a public land mobile network (PLMN), the Internet, a corporate network, and the like. The TA 140 is an area unit used for location registration of the terminal 100. The TA 140 may be configured with one or more cells. A cell is a communicable range covered by each base station 110. The terminal 100 may be managed in association with the location of the TA 140 as existing in any of the TAs 140. In this embodiment, the presence of the terminal 100 in the TA 140 is also expressed as the terminal 100 being present in the TA 140. As an example, when communication traffic destined for a certain terminal 100 occurs, all the base stations 110 that constitute the TA 140 and are registered in association with the terminal 100 call the terminal 100. The AMF 150 performs procedures and management of the registration, connection, movement, and the like of the terminal 100 to the network.The SMF 160 provides a session management function when the terminal 100 transmits data to a data network. For example, the SMF 160 performs tasks such as allocating an IP address to the terminal 100, selecting the UPF 120 to which the terminal 100 is to be connected, and managing the session of PDU (Packet Data Unit). The management server 170 performs tasks such as managing resources in the mobile communication system. The disaster information server 180 provides disaster information to each device constituting the mobile communication system. The disaster information server 180 is, for example, a server that provides emergency earthquake alerts provided by the Japan Meteorological Agency. The disaster information server 180 may also be a server that provides alerts such as tsunami alerts, fire alerts, and nationwide instantaneous alerts.

[0011] An overview of a procedure in which the terminal 100 accesses a mobile communication system and receives a service will be described. When the terminal 100 is powered on, the terminal 100 executes an initial registration procedure. For example, the terminal 100 transmits a registration request message to the base station 110. When transmitting the registration request message, the terminal 100 may use a Subscription Concealed Identifier (SUCI) or a 5G Globally Unique Temporary Identifier (5G-GUTI) as information for identifying the terminal 100. When the base station 110 receives the registration request message from the terminal 100, the base station 110 selects an AMF 150 to be connected based on an identifier of the terminal 100 or the like. The base station 110 may select, for example, an AMF 150 that is geographically closest to the terminal 100 and transmit a registration request message to the AMF 150. Each base station 110 may determine one AMF 150 that the terminal 100 selects by default. When the AMF 150 receives the registration request message, it authenticates the terminal 100, which is the sender, and performs a registration process. The AMF 150 can execute authentication of the terminal 100, for example, by inquiring of an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) not shown. Furthermore, in the registration process, the AMF 150 can register in Unified Data Management (UDM) not shown that the AMF itself is the serving AMF for the terminal 100. The UDM is a database function of a mobile communication system that stores subscriber contract information and the like. Furthermore, the AMF 150 can notify the terminal 100 of a registration acceptance message including 5G-GUTI, a registration area, a periodic registration update timer, and the like. The registration area included in the registration acceptance message may be, for example, the TA 140 in which the terminal 100 is located, or may include multiple TAs 140 in the vicinity. A Tracking Area Identifier (TAI), which is an identifier that uniquely identifies each of the TAs 140, can be assigned to the TA 140. Furthermore, the location of the terminal 100 may be managed by a Registration Area consisting of multiple TAs 140.In this embodiment, the location of the terminal 100 is managed by association with the TA 140, and each TA 140 is identified by a TAI. The terminal 100 notifies the AMF 150 of its own location based on a periodic registration update timer. As an example, the terminal 100 periodically notifies the AMF 150 of a Cell Global Identifier (CGI) and a TAI based on a periodic registration update timer. The CGI is an identifier that uniquely identifies a cell, and may be composed of a PLMN identifier and a cell identifier. In this way, the terminal 100 performs periodic location registration or location update, and the AMF 150 can manage the location of the terminal 100 by linking each terminal 100 with a TA 140 in which the terminal 100 is located.

[0012] When data destined for the data network 130 occurs, the terminal 100 transmits a PDU session request message to the AMF 150 via the base station 110. For example, the PDU session request message may include information such as a PDU session identifier generated by the terminal 100 and a specified data network 150. The AMF 150 selects an appropriate SMF 160 based on the information included in the PDU session request message and transfers a PDU session establishment request message. The AMF 150 may select the SMF 160 based on, for example, subscriber contract information of the terminal 100. The SMF 160 selects a UPF 120 required to establish the requested PDU session and assigns the PDU session. In some cases, multiple UPFs 120 are passed through to transfer data between the terminal 100 and the data network 130. In this case, tunneling is performed on a transfer route formed by the multiple UPFs 120, and user plane data can be transferred using the tunnel. The SMF 160 transmits information including address information of the UPF 120 that is the end point of the tunnel and an accept message of the PDU session setup to the AMF 150. The AMF 150 notifies the base station 110 of the address information of the UPF 120 that is the end point of the tunnel, and notifies the terminal 100 of the accept message. When the AMF 150 is notified by the base station 110 that the tunnel preparation is completed, the AMF 150 notifies the SMF 160 of the address of the base station 110 as the other end point of the tunnel. This opens a PDU session from the terminal 100 to the data network 130 via the base station 110. Note that different PDU sessions may be established between one terminal 100 and multiple UPFs 120. For example, when the data networks 130 to which the applications used by the terminal 100 are connected are different from each other, PDU sessions may be established individually between one terminal 100 and multiple different UPFs 120 corresponding to each data network 130. That is, the UPF 120 can be selected depending on its physical location and the data network 130 to which it is connected.In addition, the AMF 150 or the SMF 160 can individually manage the UPF 120 to which each terminal 100 is connected for each PDU session.

[0013] In the present embodiment, an example has been shown in which the AMF 150 manages the location of the terminal 100 and establishes a PDU session in cooperation with the SMF 160, but the procedures for managing the location of the terminal 100 and establishing a PDU session and the device that executes the procedures are not limited to these. For example, the AMF 150 and the SMF 160 may execute the procedures as one device, or another device may execute the procedures. For example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) of Long Term Evolution (LTE) may execute the location management and session management of the terminal 100.

[0014] As described above, when data to the data network 130 is generated in the terminal 100, the terminal 100 requests a PDU session for connecting to the data network 130 and starts exchanging data with the data network 130 through the established PDU session. If there is no data exchange for a certain period of time thereafter, the terminal 100 transitions to an inactive state. Therefore, in designing a mobile communication system, it is not assumed that all of the terminals 100 connected to the mobile communication system are always in an active state, but rather that some of them are active. In this case, for example, when a disaster such as an earthquake occurs in a certain area, the demand for communication to obtain information about the disaster and to confirm safety may temporarily increase sharply. When a load that exceeds the processing capacity occurs in a specific network function, there is a possibility that communication traffic may be delayed or discarded. For example, when a large number of users start to collect information using the terminals 100, a large number of PDU sessions are required, and the load may be concentrated on the UPF 120 installed in that area. In particular, immediately after the occurrence of a disaster, the demand for urgent and continuous information collection increases, making it difficult to resolve the congestion of communication traffic. In addition, as a result of the congestion, the amount of communication traffic may increase further due to repeated retransmission of information requests by users due to delays or discards of communication traffic, and the load on network functions may increase. Therefore, it is necessary for the mobile communication system to quickly resolve the temporarily increased urgent load. In this embodiment, a virtualization technology is applied to the network functions constituting the mobile communication system, and resources allocated to the network functions are controlled based on disaster information, thereby providing network functions having processing capabilities according to demand. The resource control of the network functions in this embodiment is described below.

[0015] (Network function virtualization and resource control by management server) In this embodiment, the UPF 120 is used as an example of a network function to which the present technology is applied. The network function to which the present technology is applied is not limited to the UPF 120, and the following discussion can be applied to any network function constituting a mobile communication system. The UPF 120 in this embodiment is implemented as software that executes a network function on a virtualization layer installed in a general-purpose server. The network function virtualized in this manner may also be called a Virtualized Network Function (VNF). That is, the network function realized by virtualization is a processing device implemented as software. The general-purpose server may be configured, for example, by a processing device such as an accelerator including a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a storage medium such as a memory or a hard disk, and a communication device such as a Network Interface Card. The virtualization layer is also called a hypervisor, and is a control program for the VNF to operate on the general-purpose server. That is, the UPF 120 is implemented as a VNF that operates on the general-purpose server, and may execute processing of communication traffic such as data transfer through the hypervisor using each resource of the general-purpose server. Therefore, the processing capacity of the UPF 120 may depend on the resources allocated to the UPF 120. In general, a VNF may operate on one general-purpose server or across multiple general-purpose servers. Also, each network function may be executed by one VNF, or may be executed by multiple VNFs working together. Therefore, in order to increase the processing capacity of a network function (e.g., the UPF 120), a general-purpose server (or a part of the hardware constituting the general-purpose server) or a VNF may be additionally allocated. Also, the resources of the UPF 120 may be reduced by releasing the general-purpose server (or a part of the hardware constituting the general-purpose server) or a VNF allocated to the UPF 120. In this embodiment, regardless of the specific method of increasing or reducing the processing capacity of the UPF 120, increasing or reducing the processing capacity of the UPF 120 may be expressed as controlling resources.Adding resources of a network function may be called scale-out. Releasing resources of a network function may be called scale-in. In this embodiment, for example, the management server 170 controls resources to be allocated to the UPF 120. The management server 170 may perform, for example, management of hardware resources constituting a general-purpose server, management of each VNF, orchestration of the entire virtualized network function, and the like. The management server 170 may be implemented by individual servers that perform each function operating in cooperation with each other. For example, a function that manages hardware resources constituting a general-purpose server may be called a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM). Also, a function that manages each VNF may be called a VNF Manager (VNFM). A function that orchestrates the entire virtualized network function may be called an NFV Orchestrator (NFVO). As an example, when scaling out the UPF 120, in the management server 170, the NFVO first checks the availability of resources with the VIM and reserves the resources. The NFVO instructs the VNFM to perform scale-out for the UPF 120. The NFVO may notify the VNFM of the identifier of the reserved resource. The VNFM requests the resource from the VIM. The VIM allocates resources such as a general-purpose server or a VNF. The VNFM uses the allocated resources to perform settings for the operation of the UPF 120. This completes the scale-out of the UPF 120. The method in which the management server 170 controls the resources of the UPF 120 is not limited to this, and may include other functions, or some functions may be deleted.

[0016] (Resource control based on disaster information) In this embodiment, the management server 170 performs resource control of the network function based on the disaster information. First, the management server 170 identifies the area affected by the occurrence of a disaster. As an example, the management server 170 acquires disaster information from the disaster information server 180. For example, if the disaster information is an emergency earthquake alert, the disaster information may include the time of occurrence of the earthquake, the location (epicenter) where the earthquake is estimated to have occurred, the estimated value of the scale of the earthquake (magnitude), the name of the affected area, the predicted value of the seismic intensity, and the predicted time of arrival of the main tremor in the area. In addition, after the occurrence of an earthquake, earthquake information may be provided multiple times. The affected area and seismic intensity may differ in each earthquake information. The management server 170 may select which information to use from among multiple disaster information. For example, when the disaster information is used for a process that requires quick response, the management server 170 uses the disaster information provided earlier. In addition, when the disaster information is used for a process that requires certainty, the management server 170 may use the disaster information provided later. For example, the management server 170 may request that the device itself be registered in an information distribution service provided by the disaster information server 180 in order to receive disaster information from the disaster information server 180. The management server 170 identifies an area that is heavily affected by a disaster based on the acquired disaster information. For example, if the disaster information is an earthquake alert, a heavily affected area may mean that the predicted or observed seismic intensity is large. For example, if the disaster information is a weather warning, a heavily affected area may mean that the alert level is high. Also, if the disaster information is a large tsunami warning, a heavily affected area may mean that the height of the tsunami is high. For example, the management server 170 may identify an area where the magnitude of the impact of the disaster exceeds a predetermined threshold as an area affected by the disaster. It should be noted that an affected area may be identified based on the occurrence of the disaster itself, regardless of the magnitude of the impact of the disaster.

[0017] Then, the management server 170 identifies the UPF 120 that handles communication traffic occurring in the area affected by the disaster. As an example, the management server 170 first identifies the TA 140 that corresponds to the area (specific area) identified as the area affected by the disaster. For example, the management server 170 may have a list of areas covered by each of the TAs 140 that configure the mobile communication system. In this case, the management server 170 may use the list to identify the TA 140 that corresponds to the specific area. Also, if the AMF 150 has a similar list, the management server 170 may request information on the TA 140 from the AMF 150. For example, the management server 170 notifies the AMF 150 of an inquiry including information on the specific area, and the AMF 150 provides a list of the TAs 140 that cover the specific area. The list of TAs 140 may include the TAI of each TA 140. If a device other than the AMF 150 has such a list, the management server 170 may make an inquiry to that device.

[0018] Then, the management server 170 identifies a network function capable of handling communication traffic occurring in the identified TA 140. For example, if each UPF 120 is directly associated with the TA 140, the management server 170 may have a list of UPFs 120 associated with each TA 140. In this case, the management server 170 may identify the associated UPF 120 based on the identified TA 140. In addition, the management server 170 may inquire of a network function such as the AMF 150 or the SMF 160 to acquire information on the UPF 120. By inquiring of the location information of each terminal 100 and the network function that manages the PDU session between each terminal 100 and the UPF 120, the management server 170 may acquire information on the UPF 120 corresponding to the identified TA 140. On the other hand, when each UPF 120 is associated with each terminal 100, the management server 170 may, for example, identify the terminal 100 present in each TA 140 and identify the UPF 120 associated with this terminal 100. In this case, the management server 170 may inquire of the AMF 150 about information (such as an identifier) ​​of the terminal 100 present in the identified TA 140. In addition, when the AMF 150 or the SMF 160 knows the UPF 120 associated with each terminal 100, the management server 170 may acquire information of the UPF 120 associated with each terminal 100 from the AMF 150 or the SMF 160. Note that, for example, when different UPFs 120 are associated with each type of data, such as a slice, a QoS, an application, and a network that provides the data, the management server 170 may identify the associated UPF 120 based on the type of data. In this case, the management server 170 may identify applications that users are expected to use depending on the occurrence status of the disaster, and may make inquiries to the AMF 150, the SMF 160, etc. based on the identified applications. For example, when it is expected that the use of the safety confirmation service will increase, the management server 170 may inquire the SMF 160, etc. about the UPF 120 corresponding to the data network 130 that provides the safety confirmation service.In this embodiment, as an example, a description will be given assuming that the UPF 120 is directly associated with each TA 140, but the method in which the management server 170 identifies the UPF 120 associated with the identified TA 140 is not limited to this.

[0019] The management server 170 predicts the communication traffic volume (potential traffic volume) that may occur in the identified network function. As an example, the management server 170 predicts the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 based on the number of terminals 100 present in each TA 140. The management server 170 may, for example, specify the identified TA 140 and inquire of the AMF 150 about the number of terminals 100 present in the TA 140. The AMF 150 extracts the terminals 100 present in the TA 140 inquired by the management server 170. For example, each terminal 100 notifies the AMF 150 in order to periodically update the location registration information of the own device. Therefore, the AMF 150 may identify each terminal 100 present in each TA 140 using the location registration information of each terminal 100 registered by the own device as a serving AMF. Then, the AMF 150 may report, for example, the number of terminals 100 counted for each TA 140 to the management server 170. For example, the management server predicts the communication traffic volume by multiplying the number of terminals 100 by a predetermined communication traffic volume and a weighting factor based on the magnitude of the impact of the disaster. The predetermined communication traffic volume may be, for example, the maximum communication traffic volume per terminal or a communication traffic volume that ensures a minimum communication. The predetermined communication traffic volume may be determined based on the past record of similar disasters, or may be determined based on the average communication traffic volume when a specific application is used. It may be determined based on other methods. The weighting factor may be determined based on the magnitude of the impact of the disaster. For example, when an earthquake occurs, a different weighting factor may be used for each seismic intensity. For example, when the seismic intensity is 7, 6+, 6-weak, 5+, and 5-weak or less from high to low, the weighting factor may be set to decrease stepwise from high to low, such as 1.2, 0.8, 0.5, 0.1, and 0. For example, as one example (example 1), when an earthquake occurs, seismic intensities of 7, 6-weak, and 5+ are observed at TA141 to 143 in FIG. 1, respectively. Also, it is assumed that terminals 100 Nu1, Nu2, and Nu3 are present in TAs 141 to 143, respectively.In this case, if the communication traffic volume per terminal is defined as Tru, the potential traffic volumes Tr1 to Tr3 in the UPFs 121 to 123 are Tr1=1.2×Nu1×Tru, Tr2=0.5×Nu2×Tru, and Tr3=0.1×Nu3×Tru, respectively. In this manner, the management server 170 can predict the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 based on the number of terminals 100 present in each TA 140. In addition, when the UPF 120 handles communication traffic of a plurality of TAs 140, the potential traffic volume of each UPF 120 can be expressed as the sum of the potential traffic volumes of the plurality of TAs 140.

[0020] The management server 170 determines whether to add resources to a network function based on the resources allocated to the network function and the potential traffic volume. For example, the management server 170 calculates the processing capacity of the UPF 120 based on the resources currently allocated to the UPF 120 to be determined, and determines whether the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 exceeds the processing capacity. The processing capacity of the UPF 120 may be expressed as, for example, the amount of communication traffic that can be processed within a unit time. For example, the processing capacity of the UPF 120 depends on the performance of resources such as general-purpose hardware and VNFs allocated to the UPF 120. Therefore, the management server 170 may specify the amount of communication traffic that the UPF 120 can process per unit time based on the performance of the resources allocated to the UPF 120. If the potential traffic volume exceeds the processing capacity of the UPF 120, the management server 170 may determine to additionally allocate resources. Also, if the potential traffic volume is lower than the processing capacity of the UPF 120, the management server 170 may determine not to additionally allocate resources. The ratio of the processing capacity of a UPF 120 to the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 may be referred to as a congestion risk level. If the congestion risk level exceeds a predetermined threshold, the management server 170 may determine to allocate additional resources. For example, if the congestion risk level exceeds 1, the management server 170 may determine to allocate additional resources. Also, if the congestion risk level does not exceed 1, the management server 170 may determine not to allocate additional resources.

[0021] The management server 170 may control resources based on the number of terminals present in an area affected by a disaster. For example, the management server 170 identifies an area affected by the disaster based on disaster information. When the identified area is directly associated with a network function (such as the UPF 120), the management server 170 may add resources to the network function based on the number of terminals present in the area. As an example, the management server 170 may associate the amount of resources to be added based on the number of terminals 100 associated with the UPF 120. For example, when the amounts of resources to be added R1, R2, . . . , Rn are associated with the numbers of terminals 100 T1, T2, . . . , Tn, respectively, if the number of terminals present in the area associated with the target network function is less than T1, the resources R1 are allocated. Similarly, if the number of terminals present is equal to or greater than T1 and less than T2, the resources R2 are allocated, and if the number is equal to or greater than Tn-1 and less than Tn, the resources Rn-1 are allocated. In this way, the management server 170 determines the resources to add to the network functions based on the number of terminals 100, regardless of the extent of the impact of the disaster or the amount of communication traffic generated by the terminals 100, thereby reducing the amount of calculation required to allocate resources and allocating resources to the processing performed by the network functions.

[0022] When a disaster occurs, there may be physical damage to equipment installed in the affected area, or a failure such as a power outage in the building where the equipment is installed. In this case, there is a possibility that equipment such as a general-purpose server on which a network function is operating may not function. At this time, the network function installed in a general-purpose server in another area may be controlled to process the process that should be executed by the network function on the failed general-purpose server. In this embodiment, traffic flowing into a certain network function from another network function may be called inflow traffic. In this embodiment, the management server 170 may calculate the congestion risk taking into account the possibility that inflow traffic will occur due to the failure of the surrounding UPF 120 caused by the disaster. For example, the management server 170 specifies the possibility that each UPF 120 will not function based on the magnitude of the impact of the disaster in the area where the general-purpose server on which the UPF 120 is operating is installed. As an example, when the disaster is an earthquake, the management server 170 may determine a different failure risk for each seismic intensity. The failure risk is the probability that a facility or device will not operate normally due to a disaster. For example, when the seismic intensity is 7, 6, and 5 or less, the failure risk may be determined to be 0.1, 0.05, and 0 in a stepwise manner from a high value to a low value. As an example, when the failure risk is included, the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 may be expressed as the sum of the potential traffic volume of the UPF 120 and the product of the potential traffic volume of the surrounding UPFs 120 and the failure risk of each UPF 120. For example, when the failure risks of the UPFs 121 and 122 are included in the above case 1, the potential traffic volume Tr3' of the UPF 123 may be calculated as Tr3'=0.1×Tr1+0.05×Tr2+Tr3. The congestion risk of the UPF 123 at this time is Tr3' / the processing capacity of the UPF 123.

[0023] When the management server 170 determines to add resources to a given network function, it executes a procedure for allocating additional resources to the network function. For example, the management server 170 executes the addition of resources by performing resource control of the network function as described above. The additional resources may be determined so that the processing capacity of the network function after the resources are added exceeds the potential traffic volume. As an example, the management server 170 may allocate resources equivalent to the difference between the potential traffic volume and the processing capacity of the UPF 120. If the processing capacities of the UPFs 121 and 123 in the above case 1 are P1 and P3, respectively, the resources additionally allocated to the UPF 121 may be resources necessary to process the communication traffic volume of Tr1-P1. Furthermore, the resources additionally allocated to the UPF 123 in consideration of the failure risk may be resources necessary to process the communication traffic volume of Tr3'-P3.

[0024] When the management server 170 allocates additional resources to a specific network function, the management server 170 may release the allocated resources based on the satisfaction of a specific condition. When the demand for communication that temporarily increased due to the occurrence of a disaster is resolved or alleviated, the utilization rate of the general-purpose server on which the network function operates may decrease by continuing to allocate resources to the network function thereafter. For example, the management server 170 may monitor a parameter indicating the resource usage status of the network function to which the additional resources are allocated, and when the measured value of the parameter falls below a specific threshold value for a specific period of time, the management server 170 may release the allocated resource. The measured value indicating the resource usage status may be, for example, the processing volume or operation rate of the VNF. In addition, the measured value indicating the resource usage status may be other measured values, for example, the operation rate of the CPU of the general-purpose server on which the network function operates, or the amount of communication traffic processed by the network function within a unit time. The specific threshold may be a threshold determined in advance, for example, a threshold based on the processing capacity of the network function before the additional resources are allocated. For example, when N times the resources before the additional resource allocation are allocated, 1 / N may be set as the resource usage rate threshold for releasing the additional resources.

[0025] When the management server 170 performs resource control for surrounding network functions using a congestion risk including a failure risk, taking into consideration the possibility that a network function in an area that is heavily affected by a disaster will fail, the management server 170 may release resources allocated to the surrounding network functions based on the detection that a network function that may fail is operating normally. For example, the management server 170 calculates the failure risk of each network function based on disaster information. When there is a network function with a non-zero failure risk, the management server 170 may allocate additional resources for processing incoming traffic to the surrounding network functions, taking into consideration the possibility that the network function will fail. Then, the management server 170 monitors the operation of the network function that may fail (has a non-zero failure risk). Based on the result of monitoring over a predetermined period of time, the management server 170 determines whether the network function is operating normally. When it is determined that the network function is operating normally, the management server 170 may release resources allocated to the surrounding network functions for processing incoming traffic. By releasing resources that have been redundantly allocated based on the failure risk, it becomes possible to effectively utilize resources.

[0026] In this way, the management server 170 can use disaster information to identify areas that are severely affected by a disaster and add resources to the network functions associated with those areas, thereby making it possible to handle the temporarily increased communication traffic.

[0027] (Circuit configuration) Next, a configuration example of the management server 170 as described above will be described. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the management server. In one example, the management server 170 is configured to include a processor 201, a ROM 202, a RAM 203, a storage device 204, and a communication circuit 205. The processor 201 is a computer configured to include one or more processing circuits such as a general-purpose CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit). The processor 201 executes the overall processing of the device and each of the above-mentioned processes by reading and executing a program stored in the ROM 202 or the storage device 204. The ROM 202 is a read-only memory in which information such as a program related to the processing executed by the management server 170 and various parameters is recorded. The RAM 203 functions as a workspace when the processor 201 executes a program, and is a random access memory in which temporary information is recorded. The storage device 204 is configured, for example, by a removable external storage device. The communication circuit 205 is configured, for example, by including a circuit for communicating with other devices.

[0028] (Functional configuration) 3 is a diagram showing an example of the functional configuration of the management server 170. The management server 170 is configured to include, as its functions, a disaster information acquisition unit 301, a disaster area identification unit 302, and a resource setting unit 303. FIG. 3 shows the functional configuration of the management server 170 of this embodiment, and, for example, a general configuration of the management server is omitted. Note that these functional units can be realized, for example, by the processor 301 executing a program stored in the ROM 302 or the storage device 304 and controlling the communication circuit 305 as necessary. However, this is not limited to this, and for example, dedicated hardware for realizing each function may be prepared.

[0029] The disaster information acquisition unit 301 acquires disaster information from the disaster information server 180. The disaster area identification unit 302 identifies an area that is heavily affected by the disaster based on the acquired disaster information. The resource setting unit 303 executes resource allocation for the network functions. The resource setting unit 303 identifies a network function associated with the area identified by the disaster area identification unit 302 in order to identify a network function (such as the UPF 120) to which resources are to be allocated. For example, when the UPF 120 is directly associated with an area such as the TA 140, the resource setting unit 303 may identify the TA 140 that covers the area identified by the disaster area identification unit 302, thereby identifying the UPF 120 associated with the TA 140. The resource setting unit 303 may determine whether or not a resource needs to be added to the UPF 120, using the number of terminals 100 present in the identified TA 140 and the amount of communication traffic that may occur in the terminal 100. For example, when the number of terminals 100 present in the TA 140 associated with the UPF 120 exceeds a predetermined threshold, the resource setting unit 303 allocates additional resources to the UPF 120. On the other hand, when the number of terminals 100 present is less than a predetermined threshold, the resource setting unit 303 does not allocate additional resources. Note that, when a plurality of thresholds associated with the number of terminals 100 are set, the resource setting unit 303 may allocate resources according to the number of terminals 100 present. Furthermore, the resource setting unit 303 may predict a potential traffic volume based on the terminals 100 and the scale of the disaster. Furthermore, the resource setting unit 303 may allocate resources including the amount of communication traffic that may flow into other network functions due to the failure, assuming that a failure will occur in a specific network function due to the disaster. The resource setting unit 303 may determine whether or not to add resources by comparing the potential traffic volume and the amount of inflow traffic in the UPF 120 with the processing capacity of the UPF 120. Furthermore, after adding resources, the resource setting unit 303 can release the additionally allocated resources based on the fact that the resource utilization rate of the network function falls below a predetermined threshold.In addition, the resource setting unit 303 may take into consideration the possibility of failure in surrounding network functions and release the resources allocated for processing incoming traffic based on detection that the surrounding network functions are operating normally.

[0030] (Processing flow) FIG. 4 shows an example of a processing flow when the management server 170 in this embodiment allocates resources to the UPF 120 based on disaster information.

[0031] First, when a disaster occurs, the management server 170 acquires disaster information from the disaster information server 180 (S401). The management server 170 identifies an area that is greatly affected by the disaster based on the acquired disaster information (S402). For example, when the disaster information is an earthquake early warning, an area with a large seismic intensity may be identified as an area that is greatly affected by the disaster. The management server 170 identifies the UPF 120 associated with the identified area (S403). For example, when the UPF 120 is directly associated with the TA 140, the TA 140 that covers the identified area may be identified, thereby identifying the UPF 120 associated with the TA 140. The method of identifying the UPF 120 is not limited to this method. For example, the associated UPF 120 may be identified by inquiring the AMF 150 or the SMF 160 that manages the location information of the terminal 100 and the PDU session information between the UPF 120 and the terminal 100. The management server 170 predicts the potential traffic volume of the identified UPF 120 (S404). For example, the number of terminals 100 present in an area identified as an area greatly affected by a disaster is tallied for each UPF 120, and the potential traffic volume of each UPF 120 can be predicted. Instead of predicting the communication traffic volume, the management server 170 may determine resources to be added to each UPF 120 based on the number of terminals 100 that can be associated with each UPF 120. The management server 170 compares the potential traffic volume with the processing capacity of the UPF 120, and if the predicted communication traffic volume exceeds the processing capacity of the UPF 120 (YES in S405), the management server 170 executes resource allocation to the UPF 120 and ends the process (S406). If the predicted communication traffic volume is lower than the processing capacity of the UPF 120 (NO in S405), the management server 170 does not allocate resources to the UPF 120 and ends the process.

[0032] As described above, according to this embodiment, the management server 170 allocates additional resources to expand the processing capacity of network functions associated with areas where communication traffic may temporarily increase, based on disaster information acquired from the disaster information server 180. This makes it possible to proactively increase resources in response to the concentration of load on a specific network function and congestion of communication traffic that may occur when a disaster occurs, and to avoid interruptions or stoppages of communication services. This makes it possible to contribute to Goal 9 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) led by the United Nations, which is to "build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation."

[0033] The invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0034] 101: terminal, 111: base station, 121: UPF, 130: data network, 140: TA, 150: AMF, 160: SMF, 170: management server, 180: disaster information server

Claims

1. A control device for controlling resources of a processing device in which a user plane function (UPF) in a cellular communication standard of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is implemented, An acquisition means for acquiring disaster information for identifying the occurrence of a disaster; A means for identifying an area affected by the disaster based on the disaster information; A setting means for setting resources of the processing device to be allocated for the UPF, the setting means performing the setting so as to increase the resources to be allocated to the UPF associated with the area specified by the specifying means or associated with a terminal located in the area when the occurrence of a disaster is detected by the disaster information. A control device comprising:

2. The setting means increases resources allocated to the UPF when a predetermined condition related to the area identified by the identifying means is satisfied. The control device according to claim 1 .

3. The predetermined condition includes that the number of the terminals located in the area specified by the specifying means exceeds a predetermined number.

3. The control device according to claim 2.

4. The predetermined condition includes that a potential traffic volume, which is a communication traffic volume predicted to be transmitted by the terminal located in the area identified by the identification means, exceeds a first threshold based on a processing capacity of the UPF.

3. The control device according to claim 2.

5. The predetermined condition includes that a sum of a potential traffic volume, which is a communication traffic volume predicted to be transmitted by the terminal located in the area specified by the specifying means, and an inflow traffic volume predicted to flow into the UPF from another UPF, exceeds a first threshold value based on a processing capacity of the UPF.

3. The control device according to claim 2.

6. The setting means estimates the potential traffic volume using the number of the terminals located in the area identified by the identifying means and a coefficient associated with the magnitude of the disaster.

5. The control device according to claim 4.

7. The setting means releases the resource allocated for processing the inflow traffic amount from the resource of the UPF when it is detected that the other UPF is operating normally.

6. The control device according to claim 5.

8. The setting means increases the resources allocated to the UPF based on the occurrence of a disaster being detected by the disaster information, and then releases the increased amount of the resources of the UPF when a utilization rate of the resources allocated to the UPF becomes equal to or less than a second threshold. The control device according to claim 1 .

9. A control method executed by a control device for controlling resources of a processing device that executes a User Plane Function (UPF) in a cellular communication standard of a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), comprising: An acquisition step of acquiring disaster information that identifies the occurrence of a disaster; a step of identifying an area affected by the disaster based on the disaster information; A setting step of setting resources of the processing device to be allocated for the UPF, the setting step being performed so as to increase the resources to be allocated to the UPF associated with the area identified by the identification step or associated with a terminal located in the area when the occurrence of a disaster is detected by the disaster information. A control method comprising:

10. A computer provided in a control device that controls resources of a processing device that executes a user plane function (UPF) in a cellular communication standard of the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Acquire disaster information to identify the occurrence of a disaster; Identifying an area affected by the disaster based on the disaster information; Setting resources of the processing device to be allocated for the UPF, the resources being increased when the occurrence of a disaster is detected by the disaster information. Program for.

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