Information processing method and apparatus, operation support system, orchestrator and program product

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to an information processing method and apparatus, an operation support system, an orchestrator and a program product, and relates to the technical field of mobile communications. The new information processing method is executed by an operation support system (OSS), and comprises: receiving an application descriptor (AppD) sent by a service requester, wherein the application descriptor comprises a service name field (Service Name); on the basis of the application descriptor, uploading an application package and the service name field to an orchestrator, wherein the orchestrator instantiates a service corresponding to a service name carried in the service name field; and returning an instantiation success response to the service requester.

Description

Information processing methods, devices, operation support systems, programmable devices and program products

[0001] Cross-references to related applications

[0002] This application is based on and claims priority to Chinese application No. 202411010142.6, filed on July 26, 2024, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure relates to the field of mobile communication technology, and in particular to an information processing method, an information processing device, an operation support system, a programmable controller, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product. Background Technology

[0004] Currently, different users may have different needs when accessing the same application. For example, an application that provides artificial intelligence computing capabilities can be used for personal learning or entertainment, as well as in industrial scenarios to support large-scale computing tasks. An application that provides rendering servers can be used for simple image processing, as well as for large-scale 3D game scenarios that require dedicated GPUs (Graphics Processing Units). In other words, an application can increasingly provide multiple services as needed, which is completely different from the previous single-service demand model. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This disclosure proposes an information processing method that enables a single application to support multiple services.

[0006] According to some embodiments of the first aspect of this disclosure, an information processing method is provided, executed by an OSS (Operation Support Systems), comprising: receiving an AppD (Application Description) sent by a service requester, wherein the application description includes a service name field; uploading an application package and the service name field to an orchestrator based on the application description, wherein the orchestrator instantiates the service corresponding to the service name carried in the service name field; and returning an instantiation success response to the service requester.

[0007] In some embodiments, the number of business name fields in the application descriptor is greater than 1.

[0008] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0009] In some embodiments, the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names in parallel.

[0010] In some embodiments, the application descriptor further includes at least one of the following: application identifier, application name, application provider, application software version, application descriptor version, and orchestrator version.

[0011] According to some embodiments of the second aspect of this disclosure, an information processing method is provided, executed by an orchestrator, comprising: obtaining a service name field and an application package, wherein an operation support system uploads the service field name and the application package to the orchestrator; determining a service name based on the service name field; and instantiating the service name.

[0012] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0013] In some embodiments, instantiating a service name includes: instantiating the services corresponding to the service name one by one; or instantiating the services corresponding to the service name in parallel.

[0014] According to some embodiments of the third aspect of this disclosure, an operation support system is provided, comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive an application descriptor sent by a service requester, wherein the application descriptor includes a service name field; an uploading unit configured to upload an application package and the service name field to an orchestrator based on the application descriptor, wherein the orchestrator instantiates a service corresponding to the service name carried in the service name field; and a returning unit configured to return an instantiation success response to the service requester.

[0015] In some embodiments, the number of business name fields in the application descriptor is greater than 1.

[0016] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0017] In some embodiments, the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names in parallel.

[0018] In some embodiments, the application descriptor further includes at least one of the following: application identifier, application name, application provider, application software version, application descriptor version, and orchestrator version.

[0019] According to some embodiments of the fourth aspect of this disclosure, an orchestrator is provided, comprising: an acquisition unit configured to acquire a service name field and an application package, wherein an operation support system uploads the service field name and the application package to the orchestrator; a determination unit configured to determine a service name based on the service name field; and an instance unit configured to instantiate a service name.

[0020] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0021] In some embodiments, the second example unit is further configured to instantiate the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or to instantiate the services corresponding to the service names in parallel.

[0022] According to some embodiments of the fifth aspect of this disclosure, an information processing apparatus is provided, including: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor being configured to execute the information processing method of any of the above embodiments based on instructions stored in the memory.

[0023] According to some embodiments of the sixth aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having a computer program stored thereon that, when executed by a processor, implements the information processing method of any of the above embodiments.

[0024] According to some embodiments of the seventh aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product is provided, including a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the information processing method of any of the above embodiments. Attached Figure Description

[0025] The accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of this disclosure and, together with the specification, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure.

[0026] This disclosure can be more clearly understood with reference to the accompanying drawings and the following detailed description.

[0027] Figure 1 shows a flowchart of some embodiments of the information processing method of this disclosure.

[0028] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the present disclosure of a single application supporting multiple services.

[0029] Figure 3 shows flowcharts of some other embodiments of the information processing method of this disclosure.

[0030] Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the operation support system of this disclosure.

[0031] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the arranger of this disclosure.

[0032] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the information processing apparatus of this disclosure.

[0033] Figure 7 shows schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the instantiation methods of this disclosure.

[0034] Figure 8 shows schematic diagrams of some other embodiments of the instantiation methods of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0035] The technical solutions of the embodiments of this disclosure will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of this disclosure, and not all embodiments. The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative and is in no way intended to limit this disclosure or its application or use. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of this disclosure without creative effort are within the scope of protection of this disclosure.

[0036] The inventors of this disclosure have discovered that there is an increasing trend of single applications providing multiple services, and how to enable a single application to support multiple services is a problem that needs to be solved. Currently, service instantiation is based on application descriptors provided by the application provider, and the application descriptor is a key part of the application package. However, current application descriptors can only describe a single service, either a lightweight service or a heavyweight service. Because one application descriptor corresponds to only one service, this model is unsuitable if an application itself can perform multiple services.

[0037] To address the above problems, this disclosure provides an information processing method, as follows.

[0038] Figure 1 shows a flowchart of some embodiments of the information processing method of this disclosure.

[0039] As shown in Figure 1, the information processing method includes steps 110 to 130, which are executed by the operation support system.

[0040] In step 110, an application descriptor AppD sent by a business requester is received, wherein the application descriptor includes a service name field.

[0041] By adding a business name field to the application descriptor, business stakeholders can provide only unified information to fulfill their needs for multiple businesses in one go.

[0042] In some embodiments, the business requester is the third party that interfaces with OSS and inputs information into OSS.

[0043] Application descriptors are used to define information related to the application, such as its identifier, name, version, application provider, and other necessary resource information.

[0044] In some embodiments, the number of business name fields in the application descriptor is greater than 1.

[0045] By selecting the desired business name field from multiple business name fields, the simultaneous selection of multiple desired business name fields can be achieved.

[0046] In some embodiments, the application descriptor may further include at least one of the following: application identifier, application name, application provider, application software version, application descriptor version, and orchestrator version, as shown in Table 1.

[0047] Table 1: Composition of Application Descriptors

[0048] In some embodiments, multiple service name fields can be selected, and multiple fields can be selected, so a single application can correspond to multiple services.

[0049] In step 120, the application package and the service name field are uploaded to the orchestrator according to the application descriptor, wherein the orchestrator instantiates the service corresponding to the service name carried in the service name field.

[0050] By instantiating the business corresponding to the business name carried in the business name field, the application can provide multiple required businesses to the business demanders.

[0051] In some embodiments, the application package includes an application descriptor, which includes a service name field. By uploading the application package to the orchestrator, the application service requester is notified what service is required.

[0052] Furthermore, because the application descriptor includes multiple service name fields, the application package only needs to be uploaded once, reducing the number of uploads and unnecessary signaling processes and network resources. Simultaneously, parallel instantiation can also reduce the number of instantiations, minimizing unnecessary processes.

[0053] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0054] For example, the orchestrator can instantiate the business corresponding to the business name carried in the business name field either by instantiating the business one by one or by instantiating the business corresponding to the business name in parallel. Parallel instantiation refers to instantiating multiple businesses of a single application at once.

[0055] For services instantiated in parallel, service requesters can call the instantiated services sequentially according to their own needs, or they can call multiple instantiated services simultaneously according to their own needs.

[0056] By enabling a single application to support multiple services, the application can expose unified interface addresses and other information to the outside world, thus improving the user experience for business users.

[0057] In step 130, an instantiation success response is returned to the business requester.

[0058] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by adding a service name field, enabling it to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, allowing a single application to provide multiple services. Because a single application can provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0059] Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the present disclosure of a single application supporting multiple services.

[0060] As shown in Figure 2, instantiation is performed for several different services, including lightweight and heavyweight services. Specifically, instantiation of a lightweight service results in application instance 1 (application slice instance 1), and instantiation of a heavyweight service results in application instance 2 (application slice instance 2). Ultimately, the application provider can offer both lightweight and heavyweight services.

[0061] In some embodiments, in addition to differentiated resource requirements, business users seeking high security also require dedicated application instances. As shown in Figure 2, data access isolation can avoid the potential impact of interruptions to other application instances. Business users may even need to instantiate on different infrastructures (e.g., dedicated servers) to isolate physical resources from other services.

[0062] Figure 3 shows flowcharts of some other embodiments of the information processing method of this disclosure.

[0063] As shown in Figure 3, the information processing method includes steps 310 to 330, which are executed by the orchestrator.

[0064] In step 310, the business name field and application package are obtained, wherein the operation support system uploads the business field name and application package to the orchestrator.

[0065] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0066] In step 320, the business name is determined based on the business name field.

[0067] In step 330, the business name is instantiated.

[0068] In some embodiments, instantiation of a business name can be performed by instantiating the business corresponding to the business name one by one, or by instantiating the business corresponding to the business name in parallel.

[0069] For services instantiated in parallel, service requesters can call the instantiated services sequentially according to their own needs, or they can call multiple instantiated services simultaneously according to their own needs.

[0070] By enabling a single application to support multiple services, the application can expose unified interface addresses and other information to the outside world, thus improving the user experience for business users.

[0071] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by obtaining the service name field and the application package, i.e., by adding a service name field to the application descriptor. This enhances the application descriptor to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, enabling the provision of multiple services through a single application. Because a single application has the ability to provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0072] Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the operation support system of this disclosure.

[0073] As shown in Figure 4, the operation support system 40 includes a receiving unit 41, an uploading unit 42, and a return unit 43.

[0074] The receiving unit 41 is configured to receive an application descriptor sent by a service requester, wherein the application descriptor includes a service name field.

[0075] In some embodiments, the number of business name fields in the application descriptor is greater than 1.

[0076] In some embodiments, the application descriptor further includes at least one of the following: application identifier, application name, application provider, application software version, application descriptor version, and orchestrator version.

[0077] Upload unit 42 is configured to upload application packages and service name fields to the orchestrator based on the application descriptor, wherein the orchestrator instantiates the service corresponding to the service name carried in the service name field.

[0078] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0079] In some embodiments, the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names in parallel.

[0080] Return unit 43 is configured to return an instantiation success response to the business requester.

[0081] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by adding a service name field, enabling it to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, allowing a single application to provide multiple services. Because a single application can provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0082] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the arranger of this disclosure.

[0083] As shown in Figure 5, the arranger 50 includes an acquisition unit 51, a determination unit 52, and an instance unit 53.

[0084] The acquisition unit 51 is configured to acquire the business name field and the application package, wherein the operation support system uploads the business field name and the application package to the orchestrator.

[0085] In some embodiments, the application package includes the application corresponding to the business name carried in each business name field.

[0086] Unit 52 is configured to determine the business name based on the business name field.

[0087] Instance unit 53 is configured to be instantiated for a business name.

[0088] In some embodiments, instance unit 53 is further configured to instantiate the services corresponding to the service names one by one.

[0089] In some embodiments, instance unit 53 is further configured to instantiate services corresponding to service names in parallel.

[0090] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by obtaining the service name field and the application package, i.e., by adding a service name field to the application descriptor. This enhances the application descriptor to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, enabling the provision of multiple services through a single application. Because a single application has the ability to provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0091] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of some embodiments of the information processing apparatus of this disclosure.

[0092] As shown in FIG6, the information processing device 60 of this embodiment includes: a memory 61 and a processor 62 coupled to the memory 61. The processor 62 is configured to execute the information processing method of any of the foregoing embodiments based on instructions stored in the memory 61.

[0093] The memory 61 may include, for example, system memory, fixed non-volatile storage media, etc. The system memory stores, for example, the operating system, application programs, the boot loader, and other programs.

[0094] The information processing device 60 may also include an input / output interface 63, a network interface 64, and a storage interface 65. These interfaces 63, 64, and 65, as well as the memory 61 and processor 62, can be connected, for example, via a bus 66. The input / output interface 63 provides a connection interface for input / output devices such as a monitor, mouse, keyboard, touchscreen, microphone, and speakers. The network interface 64 provides a connection interface for various networked devices. The storage interface 65 provides a connection interface for external storage devices such as SD cards and USB flash drives.

[0095] Figure 7 shows schematic diagrams of some embodiments of the instantiation methods of this disclosure.

[0096] As shown in Figure 7, the instantiation method includes steps S711 to S713.

[0097] In step S711, OSS sends an application instantiation request to MEAO (Multi-access Edge Computing application orchestrator).

[0098] In step S712, MEAO checks whether there are multiple business name fields in the application descriptor. If so, it instantiates the application.

[0099] In step S713, MEAO, MEPM-V (Multi-Access Edge Platform Manager Virtualized), MEP (Multi-Access Edge Platform), or VNF (Virtual Network Function), NFVO (Network Functions Virtualization Orchestrator), and VNFM (Virtualized Network Function Manager) instantiate the services corresponding to the service names carried in the multiple service name fields.

[0100] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by adding a service name field, enabling it to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, allowing a single application to provide multiple services. Because a single application can provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0101] Figure 8 shows schematic diagrams of some other embodiments of the instantiation methods of this disclosure.

[0102] As shown in Figure 8, the instantiation method includes steps S811 to S821.

[0103] In step S811, OSS sends an application instantiation request to MEAO.

[0104] In step S812, MEAO processes the instantiation application request, where MEAO can also be MEO (Multi-access Edge Computing Orchestration).

[0105] In step S813, the OSS and MEAO coordinate the operation of the LCM (Lightweight Communications and Marshalling) tool. This step is optional, and MEAO can also be MEO.

[0106] In step S814, MEAO sends the application instantiation request to MEPM-V, where MEPM-V can also be MEPM (Multi-Access Edge Platform Manager), and MEAO can also be MEO.

[0107] In step S815, MEPM-V sends a resource allocation request to VNFM, where VNFM can also be VIM (Virtualized Infrastructure Management).

[0108] In step S816, the VNFM sends a resource allocation response to the MEPM-V, where the VNFM can also be a VIM.

[0109] In step S817, MEPM-V sends a configuration request to the MEP (or VNF).

[0110] In step S818, the MEP (or VNF) sends a configuration request to the NFVO.

[0111] In step S819, the MEP (or VNF) sends a configuration response to the MEPM-V.

[0112] In step S820, MEPM-V sends an instantiation application response to MEAO.

[0113] In step S821, MEAO sends an instantiation application response to OSS.

[0114] In the above embodiments, the application descriptor is enhanced by adding a service name field, enabling it to support multiple services. The orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names carried in the service name field, allowing a single application to provide multiple services. Because a single application can provide multiple services, the workload for service requesters is reduced, the likelihood of service providers needing additional technical expertise is lowered, and a better experience is provided for both service requesters and application providers.

[0115] In some embodiments, a computer program product is protected, comprising a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, perform the aforementioned fire extinguishing function. The computer program product includes a computer program carried on a computer-readable medium, the computer program containing program code for performing the methods shown in the flowchart. In such embodiments, the computer program can be downloaded and installed from a network via a communication device, or installed from a storage device, or installed from a ROM. When the computer program is executed by a CPU, it performs the functions defined in the methods of embodiments of this disclosure.

[0116] Those skilled in the art will understand that embodiments of this disclosure can be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, this disclosure can take the form of a completely hardware embodiment, a completely software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, this disclosure can take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable non-transitory storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) containing computer-usable program code.

[0117] The information processing method, information processing apparatus, operation support system, arranger, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product of this disclosure have been described in detail above. To avoid obscuring the concept of this disclosure, some details known in the art have not been described. Those skilled in the art can fully understand how to implement the technical solutions disclosed herein based on the above description.

[0118] The methods and systems of this disclosure may be implemented in many ways. For example, they may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination of software, hardware, and firmware. The above-described order of steps for the methods is for illustrative purposes only, and the steps of the methods of this disclosure are not limited to the order specifically described above unless otherwise specifically stated. Furthermore, in some embodiments, this disclosure may also be implemented as a program recorded on a recording medium, the program including machine-readable instructions for implementing the methods according to this disclosure. Thus, this disclosure also covers recording media storing programs for performing the methods according to this disclosure.

[0119] While specific embodiments of this disclosure have been described in detail by way of example, those skilled in the art should understand that the examples are for illustrative purposes only and not intended to limit the scope of this disclosure. Those skilled in the art should understand that modifications can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the scope and spirit of this disclosure. The scope of this disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An information processing method, executed by an operation support system (OSS), comprising: receiving an application descriptor (AppD) sent by a service requester, wherein the AppD comprises a service name field (Service Name) ; uploading, to an orchestrator, an application package and the service name field according to the AppD, wherein the orchestrator instantiates a service corresponding to the service name carried by the service name field; and returning an instantiation success response to the service requester. 2.The information processing method of claim 1, wherein: a number of the service name fields in the AppD is greater than 1.

3. The information processing method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the application package comprises an application corresponding to a service name carried by each of the service name fields. 4.The information processing method of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names in parallel.

5. The information processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein The AppD further comprises at least one of an application identifier, an application name, an application provider, an application software version, an AppD version, and an orchestrator version. 6.An information processing method, executed by an orchestrator, comprising: obtaining a service name field and an application package, wherein the OSS uploads the service field name and the application package to the orchestrator; determining a service name according to the service name field; instantiating for the service name.

7. The information processing method according to claim 6, wherein The application package comprises an application corresponding to a service name carried by each of the service name fields.

8. The information processing method according to claim 6 or 7, wherein The instantiating for the service name comprises: instantiating the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or instantiating the services corresponding to the service names in parallel. 9.An operation support system (OSS), comprising: a receiving unit configured to receive an application descriptor (AppD) sent by a service requester, wherein the AppD comprises a service name field (Service Name) ; an uploading unit configured to upload, to an orchestrator, an application package and the service name field according to the AppD, wherein the orchestrator instantiates a service corresponding to the service name carried by the service name field; and a returning unit configured to return an instantiation success response to the service requester. 10.The OSS of claim 9, wherein: a number of the service name fields in the AppD is greater than 1.

11. Operating support system according to claim 9 or 10, wherein, the application package comprises an application corresponding to a service name carried by each of the service name fields. 12.The OSS of any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein: the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names one by one; or the orchestrator instantiates the services corresponding to the service names in parallel. 13.The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 9 to 12, wherein The AppD further comprises at least one of an application identifier, an application name, an application provider, an application software version, an AppD version, and an orchestrator version. 14.An orchestrator, comprising: An obtaining unit configured to obtain a service name field and an application package, wherein the operation support system uploads the service name field and the application package to the orchestrator; A determining unit configured to determine a service name according to the service name field; An instantiating unit configured to instantiate the service name.

15. An information processing apparatus, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to the memory, the processor configured to perform the information processing method of any one of claims 1 to 8 based on instructions stored in the memory.

16. A computer readable storage medium having stored thereon a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the information processing method of any one of claims 1 to 8.

17. A computer program product comprising a computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the information processing method of any one of claims 1 to 8.

18. A computer program which, when executed by a processor, implements the information processing method of any one of claims 1 to 8.

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