Wireless communication system, wireless communication method, and program

Abstract

This wireless communication system comprises an interface for reporting, in an O-RAN specification wireless access network, the processing load of hardware elements constituting an O-Cloud from infrastructure management services (IMS) or deployment management services (DMS) to a service management and orchestration (SMO).

Description

Wireless communication system, wireless communication method, and program

[0001] The present invention relates to a wireless communication system, a wireless communication method, and a program. This application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2025-005811 filed in Japan on January 15, 2025, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] In recent years, the O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) Alliance has been considering specifications for opening up next-generation radio access networks (RANs) such as the fifth-generation (5G) mobile communication system. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for reducing the processing load of a CPU by outsourcing the processing load of the CPU to an accelerator (ACC) in order to cope with an increase in the processing load of the CPU in a virtualized base station.

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2024-108650

[0004] In recent years, it is considered that the all-photonics network (APN) will further increase the capacity and reduce the latency of the network. There is a need to outsource some of the O-RAN processing to a GPU board to suitably respond to fluctuations in demand.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide a wireless communication system, a wireless communication method, and a program capable of suitably outsourcing a part of the processing of a wireless communication network.

[0006] (A1) One aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication system comprising: a plurality of functional units distributed as part of a network function; a processing unit that executes a portion of the processing performed by the functional units; and a common control unit that acquires the processing load from the plurality of functional units and the processing unit, determines whether or not to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional units to the processing unit based on the acquired processing load, and instructs the processing unit to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional units to the processing unit based on the result of the determination. (A2) Another aspect of the present invention is the wireless communication system of (A1) described above, wherein the common control unit gives start and end instructions for outsourcing a portion of the processing of the functional units to the processing unit, and the processing unit executes a portion of the processing of the functional units from the time it receives the start instruction until it receives the end instruction. (A3) Another aspect of the present invention is the wireless communication system of (A1) or (A2) described above, wherein the processing load acquired by the common control unit from the plurality of functional units and the processing unit includes at least one of thread usage, memory usage, and storage usage. (A4) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in the wireless communication system described in (A3) above, the common control unit determines to outsource a part of the processing of the functional unit to the processing unit if at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate obtained from a plurality of functional units is above a threshold. (A5) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in the wireless communication system described in (A4) above, the common control unit determines to outsource a part of the processing of the functional unit to the processing unit if at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate obtained from the processing unit is below a threshold. (A6) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in any of the wireless communication systems described in (A1) to (A5) above, the common control unit determines to outsource a part of the processing of the functional unit based on the current communication speed or delay of the communication network between the functional unit and the processing unit, and the guaranteed bandwidth or delay.(A7) In another aspect of the present invention, in any of the wireless communication systems described in (A1) to (A6) above, the common control unit selects a process from among the processes executed by the functional unit that is computationally intensive and does not require real-time processing, and determines to outsource it to the processing unit. (A8) In another aspect of the present invention, in the wireless communication system described in (A7) above, the processes to be outsourced from among the processes executed by the functional unit have predetermined priorities, and the common control unit makes an outsourcing decision based on the predetermined priorities. (A9) In another aspect of the present invention, in the wireless communication system described in (A7) or (A8) above, the common control unit selects an intermittent process that is performed with a period of 10 milliseconds or more, and determines to outsource it to the processing unit. (A10) In addition, one aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication system according to any of (A1) to (A9) described above, wherein the common control unit selects a process to outsource based on the resources required for the process performed by the functional unit and the processing load obtained from the processing unit, and determines whether to outsource it to the processing unit. (A11) In addition, one aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication method using a plurality of functional units distributed as part of a network function, a processing unit that performs a part of the process performed by the functional unit, and a common control unit that commonly controls the plurality of functional units and the processing unit, the method comprising the steps of obtaining the processing load from the plurality of functional units and the processing unit, determining whether or not to outsource a part of the processing of the functional unit to the processing unit based on the obtained processing load, and instructing the processing unit to outsource a part of the processing of the functional unit to the processing unit based on the result of the determination.(A12) Another aspect of the present invention is a program to be executed by a computer that controls a plurality of functional units distributed as part of a network function, a processing unit that executes a part of the processing performed by the functional units, and the computer that controls the plurality of functional units and the processing unit in common, the program to execute the following steps: to obtain the processing load from the plurality of functional units and the processing unit, to determine whether or not to outsource a part of the processing of the functional units to the processing unit based on the obtained processing load, and to instruct the computer to outsource a part of the processing of the functional units to the processing unit based on the result of the determination. (B1) Another aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication system that includes an interface for notifying the processing load of hardware elements constituting O-Cloud from IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services) to SMO (Service Management and Orchestration). (B2) In addition, one aspect of the present invention is the wireless communication system of (B1) described above, wherein the SMO determines whether to outsource a portion of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to an accelerator based on the notified processing load, and provides an interface for notifying the IMS or DMS of information based on the determination result of whether to outsource to the accelerator. (B3) In addition, one aspect of the present invention is the wireless communication system of (B1) or (B2) described above, wherein the Orchestrator provides an interface for notifying the SMO of the processing load of the entire network. (B4) In addition, one aspect of the present invention is the wireless communication system of (B1) to (B3) described above, wherein the information notified from the Orchestrator to the SMO includes at least one of the current communication speed and delay, and the guaranteed bandwidth and delay of the communication network between the functional unit and the processing unit.(B5) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in any of the wireless communication systems described in (B1) to (B4) above, the interface notified from the IMS or DMS to the SMO includes at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud. (B6) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in the wireless communication system described in (B2) above, the interface notified from the SMO to the IMS or DMS includes either a start instruction or a stop instruction to outsource a part of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to an accelerator. (B7) In addition, in one aspect of the present invention, in any of the wireless communication systems described in (B1) to (B6) above, the SMO determines to outsource P-MMSE (Partial-MMSE) of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to an accelerator. (B8) Another aspect of the present invention is a wireless communication method having the step of notifying the SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) of the processing load of hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud from the IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services) in an O-RAN specification wireless access network. (B9) Another aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer used in an O-RAN specification wireless access network to execute the step of notifying the SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) of the processing load of hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud from the IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services).

[0007] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wireless communication system, a wireless communication method, and a program that can suitably outsource some of the processing of O-RAN.

[0008] This is a diagram illustrating the overview of a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. This is a flowchart showing a series of steps in the wireless communication method according to this embodiment. This is a diagram showing an example of processing outsourced by the wireless communication system according to this embodiment. This is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of the devices included in the wireless communication system according to this embodiment.

[0009] [Embodiments] Preferred embodiments of a wireless communication system, wireless communication method, and program according to aspects of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the attached drawings. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to these embodiments, and include various modifications or improvements. In other words, the components described below include those that are easily conceivable by those skilled in the art, and those that are substantially the same, and the components described below can be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, various omissions, substitutions, or modifications of components can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Also, in the following drawings, the scale and number of components in each structure may differ from the scale and number of components in the actual structure in order to make each structure easier to understand.

[0010] In the following explanation, for the sake of clarity, terms and names defined in standards such as O-RAN (Open Radio Access Network) and 3GPP® LTE (3rd Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution) may be used. However, this embodiment is not limited by such terms and names and is applicable to systems based on other standards.

[0011] [Overview of Wireless Communication System 1] Figure 1 is a diagram illustrating the overview of a wireless communication system according to one embodiment. The diagram shows an overview of the wireless communication system 1. The wireless communication system 1 includes a common control unit 10, a functional unit 20, a processing unit 30, an access point 40, a user terminal device 50, and an orchestrator 60.

[0012] The common control unit 10 comprehensively controls multiple functional units 20 and processing units 30. Specifically, the role of the common control unit 10 in the O-RAN architecture may be that of a RIC (RAN Intelligent Controller). This RIC includes a "Non-RT RIC (Non-Real Time RAN Intelligent Controller)" (not shown) and a "Near-RT RIC (Near-Real Time RAN Intelligent Controller)" (not shown). It can also be said that the functions of the RIC are realized by the "Non-RT RIC" and the "Near-RT RIC".

[0013] Multiple functional units 20 are provided in the wireless communication system 1. The multiple functional units 20 are physically distributed as part of the functions of the wireless communication system 1. In the illustrated example, functional unit 20-1 and functional unit 20-2 are shown as examples of functional units 20. The role of the functional unit 20 in the O-RAN architecture may specifically be a CU (Central Unit) or a DU (Distributed Unit). The CU performs processing such as controlling subordinate DUs and RUs (Radio Units), connecting to the core network, encrypting packets, and managing wireless resources of UEs (User Equipment). The DU performs signal modulation and demodulation, MAC layer communication control, etc.

[0014] In the illustrated example, the functional unit 20 has the functions of an RLC (Radio Link Control) layer, a MAC (Media Access Control) layer, and a Hi-PHY (physical layer). The Hi-PHY performs P-MMSE (Partial-MMSE) in the O-RAN architecture. P-MMSE is an intermittent process performed in units of 10 msec, which is computationally intensive and does not require real-time processing.

[0015] The processing unit 30 executes a portion of the processing performed by the functional unit 20 based on instructions from the common control unit 10. In the following description, having the processing unit 30 execute at least a portion of the processing performed by the functional unit 20 may be referred to as outsourcing. The processing unit 30 is generally called an accelerator or Acc. The processing unit 30 can also be called a shared computing platform. The processing unit 30 may be a hardware element or a software element. The processing unit 30 may be a distributed GPU. A distributed GPU can also be called a GPU platform.

[0016] In the illustrated example, the processing unit 30 executes P-MMSE, which is one of the processes performed by the functional unit 20. Specifically, the processing unit 30 executes P-MMSE performed by functional unit 20-1 and functional unit 20-2, respectively.

[0017] The access point 40 serves as a relay point for communication in the wireless communication system 1. The access points 40 are distributed and provide a wireless communication network over a wide area. The access point 40 is a relay point for user terminal devices 50 to connect to the wireless communication network. The access point 40 may be abbreviated as AP (Access Point).

[0018] In the illustrated example, access points 40-1 to 40-9 are shown as an example of access point 40. Access points 40-1 to 40-6 are connected to functional unit 20-1, and access points 40-6 to 40-9 are connected to functional unit 20-2.

[0019] The user terminal device 50 broadly includes IoT (Internet of Things) devices such as smartphones, laptop computers, and other wearable devices. The user terminal device 50 is operated by the user and connected to the wireless communication network provided by the wireless communication system 1. Specifically, the figure shows user terminal devices 50-1 to 50-3 as examples of user terminal devices 50. User terminal device 50-1 is connected to access points 40-1 and 40-2, user terminal device 50-2 is connected to access points 40-3 to 40-5, and user terminal device 50-3 is connected to access points 40-6 to 40-8. Access point 40-9 is not connected to any of the user terminal devices 50 shown in the figure.

[0020] The orchestrator 60 manages the bandwidth and latency of the entire wireless communication network provided by the wireless communication system 1. The orchestrator 60 may sometimes be referred to as "Orchestrator". The orchestrator 60 acquires the network status shown in the figure. The acquired information is transmitted to the RIC included in the network (not shown). The orchestrator 60 also aggregates the network status of the entire wireless communication network, including configurations not shown, and provides the aggregated status to the common control unit 10.

[0021] [Processing related to outsourcing] The following describes the process for outsourcing at least a part of the processing of the functional unit 20 to the processing unit 30 using the configuration described above.

[0022] First, the common control unit 10 acquires the processing load for each of the multiple functional units 20. This processing load includes at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate. The common control unit 10 also acquires the processing load for the processing unit 30. Although the figure shows one processing unit 30, if the wireless communication system 1 includes multiple processing units 30, the common control unit 10 may acquire the processing load for each of the multiple processing units 30. Similarly, this processing load includes at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate.

[0023] The common control unit 10 determines whether to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 to the processing unit 30 based on the acquired processing load. This determination is made based on whether the processing unit 30 has available resources. Specifically, the common control unit 10 may determine to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 to the processing unit 30 if at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate acquired from the processing unit 30 is smaller than a threshold. Here, the multiple processing units 30 according to this embodiment may be distributed accelerators (distributed acceleration). In this case, it is preferable for the common control unit 10 to determine whether to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 based on the status of the communication network between the functional unit 20 and the processing unit 30. More specifically, it is preferable for the common control unit 10 to make a determination based on the current communication speed or delay between the functional unit 20 and the processing unit 30 and the guaranteed bandwidth or delay. The guaranteed bandwidth and delay may be predetermined.

[0024] The common control unit 10 may select which of the multiple processes performed by the functional unit 20 to perform and outsource the selected process. Specifically, it is preferable for the common control unit 10 to outsource high-load processes. High-load processes may be processes performed by the functional unit 20 that require a large amount of computation and do not require real-time processing. In other words, the common control unit 10 may decide to outsource a part of the functional unit 20's processing if at least one of the thread usage rate, memory usage rate, and storage usage rate obtained from each of the multiple functional units 20 is above a threshold (i.e., if it is high-load).

[0025] Here, since delay requirements, bandwidth requirements, etc., differ depending on the function performed by the functional unit 20, it is preferable for the common control unit 10 to determine whether or not to outsource each process. Furthermore, depending on the processing status of the processing unit 30, it may not be possible to outsource high-load processing. In such cases, it is preferable to select and outsource processes that can be outsourced according to the processing status of the processing unit 30. The common control unit 10 may, for example, determine whether or not to outsource in order to maximize utilization efficiency, or in order to maximize power efficiency. The common control unit 10 may also determine whether or not to outsource based on other criteria.

[0026] Based on the result of determining whether or not to outsource (which may specify the functional unit 20, the processing unit 30, and the process to be outsourced), the common control unit 10 instructs the processing unit 30 to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20. This instruction includes an instruction to start the outsourcing and an instruction to end the outsourcing. The common control unit 10 can also issue start and end instructions for outsourcing a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 to the processing unit 30.

[0027] Furthermore, after the common control unit 10 issues an instruction to start outsourcing, it is preferable that information communication takes place directly between the functional unit 20 and the processing unit 30, that is, without going through the common control unit 10. Direct information communication between the functional unit 20 and the processing unit 30 allows for more efficient information communication. After the common control unit 10 issues an instruction to end outsourcing, the direct information communication between the functional unit 20 and the processing unit 30 ends. The processing unit 30 may also execute a portion of the processing of the functional unit between the time it receives the start instruction and the time it receives the end instruction.

[0028] The common control unit 10 may also determine whether or not to outsource based on the status of the entire wireless communication network obtained from the orchestrator 60.

[0029] Figure 2 is a flowchart showing a series of steps in the wireless communication method according to this embodiment. Hereinafter, an example of processing when this embodiment is applied to an O-RAN specification wireless access network will be described with reference to the same figure. The figure shows IMS (Infrastructure Management Services), DMS (Deployment Management Services), CPU / Memory, and HW-Acc as components included in O-Cloud in the O-RAN architecture. CPU / Memory is an example of the functional unit 20 described above, and HW-Acc is an example of the processing unit 30 described above. Furthermore, SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) is a Non-RT RIC and is part of the functions included in the common control unit 10 described above. Orchestrator is an example of the orchestrator 60 described above.

[0030] (Step S1) The CPU / Memory processing load is notified to IMS.

[0031] (Step S2) The processing load of HW-Acc is notified to IMS.

[0032] (Step S3) The processing load of the HW-Acc is notified to the DMS.

[0033] (Step S4) The CPU / Memory processing load is notified to the DMS.

[0034] In this embodiment, the timing of steps S1 to S4 is not limited to the timing shown in the figure. Steps S1 to S4 may occur independently of each other. They may also occur periodically or in response to a predetermined trigger (for example, an inquiry from IMS or DMS).

[0035] Furthermore, the notifications in steps S1 to S4 may include a management ID or a site ID to identify the hardware element that is the source of the notification. In addition, other geographical information may be used to identify the hardware element.

[0036] (Step S5) The IMS and DMS notify the SMO of the processing load of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud (in the illustrated example, CPU / Memory and HW-Account). Preferably, this processing load includes at least one of the thread usage, memory usage, and storage usage of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud. Preferably, the processing load included in this notification is information for each hardware element, and may include a management ID or site ID to identify the hardware element. In addition, other geographical information may be used to identify the hardware element.

[0037] Furthermore, the O2 interface specified in the O-RAN specification may be used as the specific interface for realizing step S5.

[0038] (Step S6) The Orchestrator notifies the SMO of the overall network processing load. This notification may specifically include bandwidth utilization rates, packet loss rates, delays, guaranteed delays, and bandwidth between distributed sites. The information obtained by the SMO from the Orchestrator will be information between management IDs of the computer resource hardware, or IDs of the DU / CU. For example, delay information between computing infrastructure hardware ID#1 and ID#2, and delay information between computing infrastructure hardware ID#1 and DU#1 can be cited.

[0039] Furthermore, as a specific interface to realize step S6, an interface defined in the O-RAN specification may be used, such as the NB int (North bound interface) interface which is the interface between the SMO and the higher-level Orchestrator, or the Y1 interface which is the interface with an external consumer.

[0040] Step S6 is optional, and information from the higher-level Orchestrator does not necessarily have to be considered.

[0041] (Step S7) Based on the processing load notified by at least one of IMS and DMS, SMO determines whether to outsource a portion of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to HW-Acc (accelerator). The processing to be outsourced is preferably computationally intensive and does not require real-time processing, and specifically, it may be P-MMSE, etc.

[0042] In the determination process in step S7, for example, each function such as DU may have network delay and bandwidth requirements, and the determination may be made based on whether or not the network can be secured. Specific thresholds can be 100 μsec or less, 1 Gbps, etc. In addition, other factors such as the processing load of HW-Acc may be considered in the determination process in step S7.

[0043] (Step S8) The SMO notifies at least one of the IMS or DMS to the HW-Acc of the information based on the determination result of whether to outsource determined in Step S7.

[0044] In addition, it is preferable that the interface for notification from the SMO to the IMS or DMS includes either a start instruction or an end instruction to outsource a part of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to the HW-Acc. Although not shown, the processing of the target hardware element is outsourced to the HW-Acc.

[0045] In addition, as a specific interface for realizing Step S8, the O2 interface defined in the O-RAN specification may be used.

[0046] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the processing outsourced by the wireless communication system according to the present embodiment. An example of the determination of which processing is outsourced among the processing performed by the functional unit 20 will be described while referring to this figure.

[0047] In addition, in the example shown in this figure, it is assumed that the priority order of the processing to be outsourced is determined in advance. In this case, it is preferable that the common control unit 10 makes an outsourcing determination based on the preset priority order. However, the present embodiment is not limited to this example, and other methods for determining the processing to be outsourced may be used.

[0048] In this figure, the processing performed by the functional unit 20 is described as processing 1, processing 2, and processing 3. The amount of calculation for processing 1 is large, the amount of calculation for processing 2 is medium, and the amount of calculation for processing 3 is small. Also, the real-time performance of processing 1 is low, the real-time performance of processing 2 is medium, and the real-time performance of processing 3 is high. In the case of such processing, the common control unit 10 sets a high priority for the processing with a large amount of calculation and no requirement for real-time performance. Therefore, the priority order of processing 1 is the first, the priority order of processing 2 is the second, and the priority order of processing 3 is the third.

[0049] Furthermore, the outsourcing determination performed by the common control unit 10 is preferably for intermittent processing rather than continuous processing. It is also preferable that the intermittent processing has a long period (for example, a period of 10 milliseconds or more) so that real-time performance is not required. In other words, the common control unit 10 may select intermittent processing performed with a period of 10 milliseconds or more as the processing to be outsourced.

[0050] Furthermore, the outsourcing decision made by the common control unit 10 may be determined based on the processing load of both the outsourcing source (i.e., the functional unit 20) and the outsourcing destination (i.e., the processing unit 30). In this case, the common control unit 10 selects the processing to be outsourced based on the resources required for the processing executed by the functional unit 20 and the processing load obtained from the processing unit 30, and determines whether to outsource it to the processing unit 30.

[0051] Furthermore, depending on the processing load of the outsourcing destination (i.e., processing unit 30), simple processes with low computational complexity may be outsourced, but processes with high computational complexity may not be. In such cases, the predetermined priority order shown in Figure 3 may be changed according to the processing load. For example, if process 1, which has priority 1, cannot be outsourced, but process 2, which has priority 2, can be outsourced, then outsourcing of process 2 may be prioritized.

[0052] [Internal Configuration] Figure 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the internal configuration of a device included in the wireless communication system according to this embodiment. The common control unit 10, functional unit 20, processing unit 30, access point 40, user terminal device 50, or orchestrator 60 described above can be realized using a computer as shown in the figure. This computer is composed of a central processing unit (processor) 901, RAM 902, input / output ports 903, input / output devices 904 and 905, etc., and a bus 906. The computer itself can be realized using existing technology. The central processing unit 901 executes instructions contained in a program read from the RAM 902, etc. The central processing unit 901 writes data to the RAM 902, reads data from the RAM 902, and performs arithmetic and logical operations according to each instruction. The RAM 902 stores data and programs. Each element included in the RAM 902 has an address and can be accessed using that address. RAM is an abbreviation for "Random Access Memory". The input / output port 903 is a port for the central processing unit 901 to exchange data with external input / output devices. Input / output devices 904 and 905 are input / output devices. Input / output devices 904 and 905 exchange data with the central processing unit 901 via the input / output port 903. The bus 906 is a common communication path used within the computer. For example, the central processing unit 901 reads and writes data to the RAM 902 via the bus 906. Also, for example, the central processing unit 901 accesses the input / output ports via the bus 906. Furthermore, all or part of the functional units of the computer shown in the figure may be implemented using hardware such as ASICs, PLDs, or FPGAs. Furthermore, all or part of the functional units may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware.

[0053] [Summary of Embodiments] According to the embodiments described above, the wireless communication system 1 comprises a common control unit 10, a functional unit 20, and a processing unit 30. The functional unit 20 is distributed as part of the network function. The processing unit 30 executes a portion of the processing performed by the functional unit 20. The common control unit 10 acquires the processing load from the multiple functional units 20 and processing unit 30, determines whether or not to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 to the processing unit 30 based on the acquired processing load, and instructs the processing unit 30 to outsource a portion of the processing of the functional unit 20 based on the result of the determination. In other words, according to this embodiment, the processing load of the functional unit 20 is reduced by performing processing using the resources of the processing unit 30.

[0054] Conventionally, the range of AP clusters that the user terminal device 50 could form, and the wireless quality, would change depending on the load on the functional unit 20. Specifically, under overload conditions, the range of AP clusters that the user terminal device 50 could form would narrow, and the wireless quality would deteriorate. By adopting the configuration described above, according to this embodiment, the processing load of the functional unit 20 can be distributed to the processing unit 30. Therefore, according to this embodiment, a portion of the processing of the wireless communication network can be suitably outsourced.

[0055] In this embodiment, the common control unit 10 aggregates the processing load and determines the outsourcing source and destination. By adopting this configuration, even if there are resources such as accelerators (i.e., processing units 30) in other enclosures or other locations, a portion of the wireless communication network processing can be suitably outsourced.

[0056] Furthermore, the above-described embodiment makes it possible to "provide a wireless communication system, wireless communication method, and program that can suitably outsource a portion of the processing of O-RAN," thereby contributing to Goal 9 of the United Nations-led Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), "Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and expand innovation."

[0057] Although embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to these embodiments, and design modifications and the like are also included within the scope of the gist of the present invention.

[0058] Alternatively, computer programs for realizing the functions of each of the above-mentioned devices may be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the programs recorded on this recording medium may be loaded into a computer system and executed. The term "computer system" here may include hardware such as an operating system and peripheral devices. Furthermore, "computer-readable recording medium" refers to writable non-volatile memory such as flexible disks, magneto-optical disks, ROMs, and flash memory, portable media such as DVDs (Digital Versatile Discs), and storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system.

[0059] Furthermore, "computer-readable recording media" includes volatile memory (e.g., DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory)) within a computer system that acts as a server or client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, which retains the program for a certain period of time. In addition, the above program may be transmitted from the computer system that stores the program in a storage device, etc., to another computer system via a transmission medium or by transmission waves within the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium that has the function of transmitting information, such as a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. Furthermore, the above program may be for the purpose of realizing a part of the above-mentioned functions. Moreover, it may be a so-called differential file (differential program) that can realize the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

[0060] According to the present invention, a portion of the processing of a wireless communication network can be suitably outsourced.

[0061] 1... Wireless communication system, 10... Common control unit, 20... Functional unit, 30... Processing unit, 40... Access point, 50... User terminal device, 60... Orchestrator

Claims

1. A wireless communication system in an O-RAN-compliant wireless access network that includes an interface for notifying the SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) of the processing load of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud from the IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services).

2. The wireless communication system according to claim 1, wherein the SMO determines, based on the notified processing load, whether to outsource a portion of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to an accelerator, and provides an interface for notifying the IMS or DMS of information based on the determination result of whether to outsource to the accelerator.

3. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising an interface for notifying the SMO of the processing load of the entire network from the Orchestrator.

4. The wireless communication system according to claim 3, wherein the information notified from the Orchestrator to the SMO includes at least one of the current communication speed and latency, and the guaranteed bandwidth and latency of the communication network between the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud and the accelerator.

5. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the interface for notification from the IMS or DMS to the SMO includes at least one of the thread utilization, memory utilization, and storage utilization of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud.

6. The wireless communication system according to claim 2, wherein the interface for notification from the SMO to the IMS or DMS includes either a start instruction or a stop instruction for outsourcing a portion of the processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud to an accelerator.

7. The wireless communication system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the SMO determines that P-MMSE (Partial-MMSE) processing of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud should be outsourced to an accelerator.

8. A wireless communication method having a step of notifying the SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) of the processing load of hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud from the IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services) in a wireless access network conforming to the O-RAN specifications.

9. A program that causes a computer used in an O-RAN-compliant wireless access network to execute the step of notifying the SMO (Service Management and Orchestration) of the processing load of the hardware elements constituting the O-Cloud from the IMS (Infrastructure Management Services) or DMS (Deployment Management Services).

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