NETWORK MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AND AUTOMATIC ADJUSTMENT METHOD FOR VIRTUALIZED BASE STATIONS - Patent application

Abstract

To provide a network management system and a method of automatic adjustment for a virtualized base station that are capable of categorizing user equipment (UE) resource requirements, executing resource allocation according to a categorization result, and reducing network resource wastage.SOLUTION: A method includes a step S810 in which a UE information table is queried from a core network and a first reserved resource of a first virtualized base station is queried, where the UE information table includes first location information and a first resource requirement corresponding to a first UE set. The method also includes: a step S820 in which a second resource requirement corresponding to a second UE set is obtained from the UE information table based on the first location information and a default range and it is determined whether the first reserved resource matches the second resource requirement to generate a determination result; and a step S830 in which the first reserved resource of the first virtualized base station is expanded or reduced based on the determination result.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a network management system and an automatic adjustment method for a virtualized base station. [Background technology]

[0002] Currently, telecom operators utilize traditional techniques, namely, maximum network resource allocation, to meet end-service requirements. However, the resource demands associated with next-generation mobile network applications, such as extended reality (XR) services, are exploding, leading to increased energy consumption. In line with the global drive toward energy conservation and carbon reduction, the traditional approach of exhausting maximum network resources has become economically unrealistic. Therefore, telecom operators are being forced to adopt energy-efficient network resource allocation techniques.

[0003] The emergence of virtualized base station technology has introduced dynamic network resource allocation capabilities that have the potential to significantly mitigate network resource inefficiencies for telecom operators. Nevertheless, existing technologies require resource allocation periods for virtualized base stations, resulting in time gaps. This gap hinders the network management system's ability to allocate resources in real time within dynamically evolving networks, thereby impairing the network management system's ability to quickly meet user service requirements. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] One or more embodiments provide a network management system and automatic adjustment method for a virtualized base station that can be applied to avoid situations where resource requirements of user equipment (UE) cannot be met during gap periods due to resource allocation of the virtualized base station. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] One embodiment provides an automatically adjusting network management system for virtualized base stations, the network management system including a processor, a storage medium, and a transceiver. The storage medium stores a plurality of modules. The processor is coupled to the storage medium and the transceiver and accesses and executes the modules. The modules include a monitoring entity, a user equipment (UE) information handler, a scaling configuration entity, and a virtualized radio access network (vRAN) management entity. The monitoring entity communicates with a core network via the transceiver. The UE information handler queries a UE information table from the core network via the monitoring entity and queries first reserved resources of a first virtualized base station via the monitoring entity. Here, the UE information table includes first location information and first resource requirements corresponding to a first set of UEs. The scaling configuration entity obtains second resource requirements corresponding to a second set of UEs from the UE information table based on the first location information and a default range, determines whether the first reserved resources match the second resource requirements, and generates a determination result. The vRAN management entity expands or contracts the first reserved resource of the first virtualized base station based on the judgment result.

[0006] One embodiment provides a method for automatic adjustment of a virtualized base station, including the following steps: query a UE information table from a core network to query first reserved resources of a first virtualized base station, where the UE information table includes first location information and first resource requirements corresponding to a first UE set; obtain second resource requirements corresponding to a second UE set from the UE information table based on the first location information and a default range, determine whether the first reserved resources match the second resource requirements, and generate a determination result; and expand or reduce the first reserved resources of the first virtualized base station based on the determination result. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] As described above, according to one or more embodiments of the present invention, the resource requirements of a user equipment (UE) can be classified, and resource allocation can be performed based on the classification result. The present invention can avoid a situation where the resource requirements of a UE cannot be met during a gap period due to resource allocation gaps in a virtualized base station, thereby reducing waste of network resources. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the principles of the invention, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario of a virtualized base station configured with a single radio unit (RU) according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a scenario of a virtualized base station configured with multiple cooperative RUs according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3A] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network management system for automatic adjustment of virtualized base stations according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3B]FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network management system for automatic adjustment of virtualized base stations according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a user equipment (UE) information table according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing automatic expansion according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6A] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the service range and default range of a base station according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6B] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the service range and default range of a base station according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the expansion or contraction of reserved resources of a virtualized base station according to one embodiment of the present invention; [Figure 8] 1 is a flowchart illustrating an automatic adjustment method for a virtualized base station according to an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] In one or more embodiments of the present invention, one or more default ranges can be determined based on the coverage area of ​​a virtualized base station configured with a single radio unit (RU) (e.g., the virtualized base station 10 shown in FIG. 1 ) or based on the coverage area of ​​a virtualized base station configured with multiple RUs (e.g., the virtualized base station 10 shown in FIG. 2 ), and user equipment (UE) can be classified. Based on the classification results, the amount of resources required for future consumption by the virtualized base station can be estimated.

[0011] 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams illustrating a network management system 100 for automatic adjustment of a virtualized base station or virtualized radio access network (vRAN) according to one embodiment of the present invention. The network management system 100 may include a processor 110, a storage medium 120, and a transceiver 130.

[0012] The processor 110 may include, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) or other programmable general-purpose or special-purpose microcontrol unit (MCU), microprocessor, digital signal processor (DSP), programmable controller, application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), graphics processing unit (GPU), image signal processor (ISP), image processing unit (IPU), arithmetic logic unit (ALU), complex programmable logic device (CPLD), field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other similar component, or a combination of these components. The processor 110 is coupled to the storage medium 120 and the transceiver 130 and can access and execute multiple modules and various applications stored on the storage medium 120.

[0013] The storage medium 120 may be, for example, any type of fixed or removable random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, hard disk drive (HDD), solid state drive (SSD), or similar component, or a combination of these components, and is configured to store multiple modules or various applications that can be executed by the processor 110. In this embodiment, the storage medium 120 may store multiple modules, including a monitoring entity 101, a UE information handler 102, a UE resource controller 103, a scaling configuration entity 104, and a vRAN management entity 105, the functions of which will be described later.

[0014] The transceiver 130 transmits and receives signals over the air or via a cable. The transceiver 130 may further perform low-noise amplification, impedance matching, frequency mixing, up or down frequency translation, filtering, amplification, and other similar operations. The monitoring entity 101 of the network management system 100 may communicate with the core network via the transceiver 130 and obtain information related to the virtualized base station or UE from the core network. In one embodiment, the monitoring entity 101 may communicate with a unified data management (UDM) function, a policy control function (PCF), a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) function, or a location retrieval function (LRF) in the core network via the transceiver 130. In one embodiment, the vRAN management entity 105 of the network management system 100 may communicate with a cloud platform service for managing the virtualized base station via the transceiver 130. Here, a cloud platform service can be provided to manage one or more virtualized base stations, which may include a central unit (CU) or distributed units (DUs) belonging to the same CU. The network management system 100 can instruct the cloud platform service to expand or contract reserved resources for the virtualized base stations via the transceiver 130.

[0015] 4 is a flowchart illustrating a method for generating a UE information table according to one embodiment of the present invention. The network management system 100 may periodically perform the process illustrated in FIG. 4 to generate or update the UE information table.

[0016] Specifically, in step S410, the UE information handler 102 can query a list of UE sets through the UDM function of the core network via the monitoring entity 101. For example, referring to Figure 6A, the UE information handler 102 can query all UEs in a specific area through the UDM function to obtain a list of UE sets, where the UEs in the list include, for example, UEs 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, and 77.

[0017] 4, in step S420, the UE information handler 102 can query the location information of each UE in the list of UE sets through the GMLC function or LRF of the core network via the monitoring entity 101. The location information includes, for example, the distance between the UE and the virtualized base station serving the UE.

[0018] In step S430, the UE information handler 102, via the monitoring entity 101, can query the resource requirements of each UE in the list of UE sets through the PCF of the core network. The resource requirements can be expressed by resource values, where the resource values ​​include, for example, service-level agreement (SLA) values, and the SLA values ​​can include bandwidth information, latency information, etc. It should be noted that the order of steps S420 and S430 can be interchanged.

[0019] In step S440, the UE information handler 102 can generate a UE information table based on the list of UE sets, the location information, and the resource requirements. The UE information table can include a list of UEs, the location information of each UE, and the resource requirements of each UE.

[0020] 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method for performing automatic expansion according to one embodiment of the present invention. The network management system 100 can periodically execute the process shown in FIG. 5 to automatically expand or contract the reserved resources of the virtualized base station.

[0021] In step S510, the scaling configuration entity 104 may obtain a UE information table from the UE information handler 102. The scaling configuration entity 104 may obtain a list of UEs, location information, and resource requirements from the UE information table.

[0022] In step S520, the scaling configuration entity 104 may select a UE set including one or more UEs from the list of UEs based on the location information and the default range, and the scaling configuration entity 104 may obtain resource requirements (e.g., SLA values ​​and other resource values) of the selected UEs from the UE information table. Here, the service range of the virtualized base station is included in the default range. That is, the default range may be greater than or equal to the service range of the virtualized base station.

[0023] Specifically, the scaling configuration entity 104 may obtain one or more default ranges pre-stored in the UE resource controller 103 from the UE resource controller 103. The scaling configuration entity 104 may classify the UE by determining whether the UE is located within the default range based on the location information of the UE.

[0024] 6A, for example, virtualized base station 50 has service range 51. Scaling configuration entity 104 can classify UEs located within service range 51 (i.e., UEs 71, 72, and 73) into level L1, UEs located outside service range 51 and within default range 52 (i.e., UEs 74 and 75) into level LX1, and UEs located outside default range 52 and within default range 53 (i.e., UEs 76 and 77) into level LX2. After completing steps S510 and S520, scaling configuration entity 104 can generate an information table for virtualized base station 50 shown in Table 1.

[0025] [Table 1]

[0026] 6B , virtualized base station 60 has service range 61. Scaling configuration entity 104 can classify UEs located within service range 61 (i.e., UEs 74, 75, and 76) into level L1, UEs located outside service range 61 and within default range 62 (i.e., UEs 72, 73, and 77) into level LX1, and UEs located outside default range 62 and within default range 63 (i.e., UE 71) into level LX2. After completing steps S510 and S520, scaling configuration entity 104 can generate an information table for virtualized base station 60 shown in Table 2.

[0027] [Table 2]

[0028] As shown in FIG. 5, in step S530, the scaling configuration entity 104 can determine whether the reserved resources of the virtualized base station match the resource requirements corresponding to the UE set. Specifically, the UE information handler 102 can query the reserved resources of the virtualized base station from the core network or the virtualized base station via the monitoring entity 101. The UE resource controller 103 can pre-store a mapping table, which can include a mapping relationship between reserved resources and resource values ​​(e.g., SLA values). The scaling configuration entity 104 can convert the reserved resources of the virtualized base station queried by the UE information handler 102 into resource values ​​based on the mapping table. Thereafter, the scaling configuration entity 104 can determine whether the reserved resources (i.e., resource values) of the virtualized base station match the resource requirements of the UE set and generate a determination result. If the determination result indicates that the reserved resources of the virtualized base station match the resource requirements, the process of FIG. 5 ends. If the determination result indicates that the reserved resources of the virtualized base station do not match the resource requirements, the process proceeds to step S540.

[0029] In one embodiment, the scaling configuration entity 104 can determine whether a difference between the reserved resources of the virtualized base station and the resource requirements of the UE set is greater than a threshold. If the difference is greater than the threshold, the scaling configuration entity 104 can determine that the reserved resources do not meet the resource requirements. If the difference is less than or equal to the threshold, the scaling configuration entity 104 can determine that the reserved resources meet the resource requirements.

[0030] In step S540, the vRAN management entity 105 may expand or contract the reserved resources of the virtualized base station based on the determination result. The vRAN management entity 105 may send an instruction to the cloud platform service via the transceiver 130 to instruct the cloud platform service to expand or contract the reserved resources of one or more virtualized base stations. Here, the one or more virtualized base stations may include multiple DUs belonging to the same CU.

[0031] In one embodiment, if the reserved resources of the virtualized base station are greater than the resource requirements of the set of UEs, the vRAN management entity 105 can instruct the cloud platform service to reduce the reserved resources of the virtualized base station to save network resource costs. If the reserved resources of the virtualized base station are less than the resource requirements of the set of UEs, the vRAN management entity 105 can instruct the cloud platform service to expand the reserved resources of the virtualized base station to prepare to serve UEs that may come within the service range of the virtualized base station in the future.

[0032] The scaling configuration entity 104 and the vRAN management entity 105 of the network management system 100 can periodically execute the process shown in FIG. 5 to update the determination result and automatically expand or contract the reserved resources of the virtualized base station based on the updated determination result.

[0033] For example, as shown in FIG. 6A , the scaling configuration entity 104 may select level L1 UEs 71, 72, and 73 and level LX1 UEs 74 and 75 as a selected UE set based on the location information of each UE and the default range 52. The scaling configuration entity 104 may then determine whether the reserved resources of the virtualized base station 50 match the resource requirements of the selected UE set. Referring to Table 1, the resource requirements of the UEs 71, 72, 73, 74, and 75 may include 510 Mbps. If the reserved resources of the virtualized base station 50 significantly exceed 510 Mbps, the scaling configuration entity 104 may determine that the reserved resources of the virtualized base station 50 need to be reduced. Accordingly, the vRAN management entity 105 may instruct the cloud platform service to reduce the bandwidth allocated to the virtualized base station 50. If the reserved resources of the virtualized base station 50 are significantly less than 510 Mbps, the scaling configuration entity 104 may determine that the reserved resources of the virtualized base station 50 need to be extended. In response, the vRAN management entity 105 may instruct the cloud platform service to extend the bandwidth allocated to the virtualized base station 50.

[0034] 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating the expansion or contraction of reserved resources of a virtualized base station according to one embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIGS. 6A and 7, assume that the reserved resources of a virtualized base station 50 at an initial time point T1 are 15 gigabits per second (Gbps), and that the virtualized base station 50 is configured to serve a specific UE set (including one or more UEs at level L1, one or more UEs at level LX1, and one or more UEs at level LX2). If the network management system 100 predicts that the total resource requirement of the UE set is 8 Gbps after a period T (i.e., time point T1+T), the network management system 100 can control the virtualized base station 50 to contract the reserved resources from 15 Gbps to 8 Gbps. If the network management system 100 predicts that the total resource requirement of the UE set is 12 Gbps after yet another period T (i.e., time point T1+2T), the network management system 100 can control the virtualized base station 50 to expand the reserved resources from 8 Gbps to 12 Gbps. If the network management system 100 predicts that the total resource requirement of the UE set will be 13 Gbps after another period T (i.e., time point T1+3T), the network management system 100 can control the virtualization base station 50 to expand the reserved resources from 12 Gbps to 13 Gbps. If the network management system 100 predicts that the total resource requirement of the UE set will be 7.5 Gbps after another period T (i.e., time point T1+4T), the network management system 100 can control the virtualization base station 50 to reduce the reserved resources from 13 Gbps to 7.5 Gbps.

[0035] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating a method for automatically adjusting a virtualized base station according to an embodiment of the present invention, which can be implemented by the network management system 100 shown in FIG. 1. In step S810, a UE information table is queried from a core network to query first reserved resources of a first virtualized base station. Here, the UE information table includes first location information and first resource requirements corresponding to a first UE set. In step S820, second resource requirements corresponding to a second UE set are obtained from the UE information table based on the first location information and a default range, and a determination result is generated to determine whether the first reserved resources match the second resource requirements. In step S830, the first reserved resources of the first virtualized base station are expanded or contracted based on the determination result.

[0036] As described above, the network management system provided by one or more embodiments of the present invention can predict the number of resources to be consumed by the virtualized base station in the future based on the location information and resource requirements of the UE, and can dynamically adjust the reserved resources of the virtualized base station based on the prediction result, thereby meeting the resource requirements of the UE without wasting network resources.

[0037] Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiments without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. In view of this, it is intended that the present invention cover modifications and variations that come within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. [Industrial Applicability]

[0038] The network management system and automatic adjustment method of the present invention are designed for use with a virtualized base station. The network management system reserves appropriate virtualized base station resources by classifying user requests and virtualized base station resources at each level of the base station, thereby preventing idle periods and resource waste. [Explanation of symbols]

[0039] 10 Virtualized Base Station 100 Network Management Systems 101 Monitoring Entities 102 UE Information Handler 103 UE Resource Controller 104 Scaling Configuration Entity 105 vRAN Management Entities 110 processors 120 Storage medium 130 Transceiver 50, 60 Virtualized base stations 51, 61 Service range 52, 53, 62, 63 Default range 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77 UE S410, S420, S430, S440, S510, S520, S530, S540, S810, S820, S830 Step T1 time point T period

Claims

1. A transceiver; a storage medium for storing a plurality of modules; a processor coupled to the storage medium and the transceiver for accessing and executing the modules; and the module comprises: a monitoring entity communicating with a core network via said transceiver; a user equipment information handler that queries a user equipment information table from the core network via the monitoring entity and queries a first reserved resource of a first virtualized base station via the monitoring entity, wherein the user equipment information table includes first location information and first resource requirements corresponding to a first set of user equipment; a scaling configuration entity that obtains second resource requirements corresponding to a second set of user equipment from the user equipment information table according to the first location information and a first range, and determines whether the first reserved resources meet the second resource requirements to generate a determination result, wherein the service range of the first virtualized base station is included in the first range, which is larger than the service range of the first virtualized base station; a virtualized radio access network management entity that expands or contracts the first reserved resource of the first virtualized base station based on the determination result; A network management system for automatic coordination of virtualized base stations, including:

2. The module further comprises: a user equipment resource controller that stores the first range and the mapping table; 2. The network management system according to claim 1, wherein the scaling configuration entity converts the first reserved resource into a resource value based on the mapping table, and determines whether the resource value matches the second resource requirement to generate the determination result.

3. 3. The network management system of claim 2, wherein the resource value comprises a first service level agreement value and the second resource requirement comprises a second service level agreement value.

4. The network management system of claim 1 , wherein the user equipment information handler queries the list of the first set of user equipment via a unified data management function of the core network to obtain the user equipment information table.

5. The network management system of claim 1 , wherein the user equipment information handler queries the first resource requirement via a policy control function of the core network.

6. The network management system of claim 1 , wherein the user equipment information handler queries the first location information via a gateway mobile location center function or a location acquisition function of the core network.

7. 2. The network management system according to claim 1, wherein the virtualized radio access network management entity expands or reduces the first reserved resource of the first virtualized base station and the second reserved resource of the second virtualized base station based on the judgment result, and the first virtualized base station and the second virtualized base station belong to the same central unit.

8. The network management system of claim 7 , wherein the first virtualized base station includes a distribution unit.

9. The network management system of claim 1 , wherein the scaling configuration entity periodically updates the determination.

10. Querying a user equipment information table from a core network and querying a first reserved resource of a first virtualized base station, wherein the user equipment information table includes first location information and first resource requirements corresponding to a first set of user equipment; Obtain second resource requirements corresponding to a second set of user equipment from the user equipment information table according to the first location information and the first range, and determine whether the first reserved resources meet the second resource requirements to generate a determination result, wherein the service range of the first virtualized base station is included in the first range, which is larger than the service range; Expanding or reducing the first reserved resource of the first virtualized base station based on the determination result; A method for automatically adjusting a virtualized base station, including:

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