Scalable and resilient management data streaming solution for network functions of a cellular communication network

Abstract

A cellular communication system includes a plurality of network functions (NF) executing on a plurality of components in the cellular communication system and configured to report collected data, such as RAN NTs and core network NTs. A management service (MnS) producer receives the collected data. An MnS consumer transmits a session establishment request including session information to the MnS producer, which sends a session establishment response. Data may then be transferred by the MnS producer to the MnS consumer labeled with the session information.

Description

Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO Title: SCALABLE AND RESILIENT MANAGEMENT DATA STREAMING SOLUTION FOR NETWORK FUNCTIONS OF A CELLULAR COMMUNICATION NETWORKCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims priority to U.S Provisional Application Serial No. 63 / 754,256, filed February 5, 2025; the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to a scalable and resilient management data streaming solution for network functions of a cellular communication network.BACKGROUND

[0003] The information disclosed in this background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the general background of the disclosure and should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestion that this information forms the prior art already known to a person skilled in the art.

[0004] The third-generation partnership project (3GPP) standard provides for a management system that implements back-end software for managing a cellular communication network. Managing the cellular communication network includes collecting a large amount of data that must be streamed with high-reliability to the management system.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO SUMMARY

[0005] In one aspect, an apparatus includes a management service (MnS) producer. The MnS producer is configured to receive a session establishment request from a MnS consumer, the session establishment request including session information. The MnS producer is configured to transmit, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request. The MnS producer transfers collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information, the collected data being collected from a plurality of network functions of a cellular communication system.

[0006] In another aspect, a method for transferring data in a cellular communication system includes receiving, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing in at least one of a core network or a radio access network of a cellular communication system. The method includes receiving, by the MnS producer, a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer. The method includes transmitting, by the MnS producer, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; and transferring, by the MnS producer, the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.

[0007] In another aspect a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable code that, when executed in a cellular communication system, causes the cellular communication system to receive, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data, the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing on a component of a plurality of components in the cellular communication system and configured to report the collected data for the plurality of components, the plurality of components including at least one of user equipmentAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO (UE), radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), or central units (CU). The MnS producer receives a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer. The MnS producer transmits, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request. The MnS producer transfers the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] Features, aspects, and advantages of embodiments of the disclosure will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals denote like elements, and wherein:

[0009] Fig. 1 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a cellular communication network in accordance with an embodiment;

[0010] Fig. 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating the flow of information between a network function and an operations and management application in accordance with an embodiment;

[0011] Fig. 3 is a process flow diagram of a method for transferring data between a management service (MnS) producer and consumer in accordance with an embodiment;

[0012] Fig. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a scalable WEBSOCKET-based solution for network function reporting in accordance with an embodiment;

[0013] Fig. 5 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a scalable HTTP -based solution for network function reporting in accordance with an embodiment;

[0014] Fig. 6 is a schematic block diagram illustrating scalable KAFKA-based network function reporting in accordance with an embodiment;Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0015] Fig. 7 is a schematic block diagram of an example computing device suitable for implementing methods in accordance with embodiments of the disclosureDETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The following detailed description of example embodiments refers to the accompanying drawings. The present disclosure provides illustrations and descriptions, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the present disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the implementations. Further, one or more features or components of one embodiment may be incorporated into or combined with another embodiment (or one or more features of another embodiment). Additionally, the flowchart and description of operations provided below relate to at least one of the embodiments in the present disclosure. It should be noted that it is possible to make other embodiments that do not exactly match the flowchart and its description. It is understood that in other embodiments one or more operations may be omitted, one or more operations may be added, one or more operations may be performed simultaneously (at least in part).

[0017] It will be apparent that systems and / or methods, described herein, may be implemented in different forms of hardware, software, or a combination of hardware and software. The actual specialized control hardware or software code used to implement these systems and / or methods should not limit their implementations. Thus, the operation and behavior of the systems and / or methods are described herein without reference to specific software code. It is understood that software and hardware may be designed to implement the systems and / or methods based on the description herein.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0018] Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and / or disclosed in the specification, the particular combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of implementations. In fact, many of these features may be combined in ways not specifically recited in the claims and / or disclosed in the specification. Even if a dependent claim directly depends on only one claim, the present disclosure may indicate that the dependent claim is dependent on other claims in the claim set.

[0019] No element, act, or instruction used herein should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, as used herein, the articles “a” and “an” (in other words, nouns not mentioned in the plural) are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” “include,” “including,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on” unless explicitly stated otherwise. Furthermore, expressions such as “at least one of [A] and [B],” “[A] and / or [B],” or “at least one of [A] or [B]” are to be understood as including only A, only B, or both A and B.

[0020] Referring to Fig. 1, in a cellular communication system 100 user equipment (UE) 102 transmits wireless signals to one or more antennas 104 coupled to a radio unit (RU) 106 configured to manage generated signals to be transmitted over the antenna 104 and to detect signals received by the antenna 104. The RU 106 may be implemented as a gNodeB (gNB) in a fifth generation (5G) network, sixth generation network (6G) (e.g., a 6NB), or other type of network. The data transmitted to the UE 102 and received from the UE 102 as well as managing a logical connection with the UE 102 according to a cellular communication protocol may be managed by a distributed unit (DU) 108 coupled to the RU 106. Each DU 108 may be in data communication with a central unit (CU) 112. The CU 112 may perform functions that require coordination among DUs 108Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO such as performing handoffs of connections to UE 102 between RU 106.

[0021] Some or all of the RU 106, DU 108, and CU 112 may be connected to a management system 114 (e.g., a 3GPP management system). The management system 114 may gather data reported by network functions (NFs) in the cellular communication network, such as performance data. The network functions may include radio access networks (RAN) NFs executing on some or all of the RU 106, DU 108, or CU 112, such as a gNodeB central unit control plane (GNB-CU-CP), a gNodeB central unit user plane (GNB-CU-UP) and / or gNodeB distributed unit (GNB-DU). The cellular communication system 100 may include a core network 118 executing core network NFs, such as the access and mobility management function (AMF), user plane function (UPF), and session management function (SMF). The management system 114 may further control operation of one or more of the RU 106, DU 108, or CU 112. The management system 114 may gather data reported by the UE 102, such as by way of the RU 106, DU 108, and / or CU 112. In the subsequent description, reference is made to the management system 114 with the understanding that other management platforms may be used in a like manner, such as the operations support system (OSS) used in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) standard.

[0022] The management system 114 may manage one or more cloud computing platforms 116 (hereinafter “clouds 116”). There may be any number of clouds 116 in cellular communication system 100. The clouds 116 may be managed by the management system 114. A cloud 116 may itself be implemented on a general-purpose cloud computing platform, e.g., AMAZON Web Services (AWS), MICROSOFT AZURE, GOOGLE CLOUD, or the like.

[0023] Each cloud 116 and / or the general-purpose cloud computing platform may have different capacity, whether in terms of throughput of a network connection to the cloud computing platform,Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO services, data transport protocols, data serialization techniques, data compression algorithms, data transport techniques, and computing resources (e.g., processing, memory, storage, etc.).

[0024] Referring to Fig. 2, a cellular communication system 100 may require transfer of data from one or more NFs 202 (e.g., any of the RAN NFs or core network NFs 120 described above) and an operations, administration, and management (0AM) application 204. In some embodiments, the NF 202 reports data that is stored in the cloud 116 and subsequently transferred to the 0AM application 204 according to the approach described herein. Each NF 202 may include one or more micro-service workload instances. The 0AM application 204 may execute in the management system 114. However, other arrangements are also possible. The data reported by the NF 202 to the 0AM application 204 may include any management data reported according to the 3GPP TS 28.532 standard or other wireless standard.

[0025] The approach described herein for performing data transfer between the NF 202 and the 0AM application 204 enables:• Massive amount of data movement from the cloudified NF implementation to the management system 114.• High availability with strong resiliency and fault protection (one or more cloud failures can affect an entire city service).• Dynamic scaling and load balancing (cloud workload is dynamic).

[0026] The approach described herein adopts different industry available data transport mechanisms into a 5G and 6G cloud-native network environment with a scalable and resilient architecture design. In particular, the approach described herein includes architectural solutions that are configured to handle the data volume, scalability and resiliency challenges in 5G and 6G cloud-native deployment(s) based on data transport options including WebSocket, HTTP, KAFKA,Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO or other message bus technologies that are widely used in industry. Other message bus technologies may include file transfer protocol (FTP), PROMETHEUS, or the like. The approach described herein enables an efficient and scalable streaming framework for performance management (PM), tracing, functional management (FM) and transmitting analytic data from NFs 202 to one or more management systems 114, and to one or more 0AM applications 204, which may execute in a cloud 116.

[0027] The approach described herein includes some or all of the following features:• Supports a wide range of existing industry data transport technologies (WEBSOCKET, HTTP 1.0 / 2.0 / 3.0, KAFKA and other message bus technologies).• Reduced impact to current specifications.• Enhanced scalability to support dynamic cloud service demand in 5G and 6G cloudnative network.• Enhanced resiliency and fault tolerance to avoid critical cloud service downtime.• Enhanced data integrity in a cloud-native environment.• Improved efficiency to enable large volume(s) of data to be transferred between NFs and 3 GPP management systems, and within the 3 GPP management system in a cloud native environment, for performance monitoring, service assurance, fault management and big data analytic.

[0028] Please note that the approach described below is exemplary only. The diagrams shown in the figures show architectural solutions for the scenarios for a 3 GPP network function (NF) that implements a MnS producer 206. The same solution may be applied to any function within a 3 GPP management system implementing a MnS Producer for PM, fault management (FM), tracing, and analytic data reporting. The approach described herein may be used in accordance withAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO various O-RAN standards, such as WG6, WG10, WG1, WG2 and 3GPP standards, and / or European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) standards.

[0029] Data transfer between the NF 202 and the 0AM application 204 may be facilitated by a MnS producer 206 implemented within or outside the NF 202 transferring data to an MnS consumer 208. Data transfer from the MnS consumer 208 to the 0AM application 204 may be facilitated by a front-end data framework 210 and a data sharing layer 212.

[0030] Fig. 3 illustrates a method 300 that may be used to transfer data between the MnS producer 206 and the MnS consumer 208. The method 300 may be implemented using a streaming data reporting service application programming interface (API). For example, the MnS consumer 208 may make calls to the API that are executed by the MnS producer 206.

[0031] At step 302, the MnS consumer 208 may transmit a request to establish a streaming session, the request being transmitted to the MnS producer 206. The request may include session information sufficient to establish a session, such as streaming endpoint information, streaming information, and possibly other information. The streaming information may include the type of data (e.g., PM data, FM data, etc.) to be streamed. The other information may be included to define data to be transferred in a session. The information included in the request of step 302 may depend on the technology used to implement the transfer of data between the MnS producer 206 and the MnS consumer 208.

[0032] Where the technology used to implement the session is KAFKA, the streaming session may be equivalent to a KAFKA topic and the streaming session establishment request may contain a topic identifier, the MnS consumer’s 208 broker endpoint information, and optionally partition information. The KAFKA topic may serve as a session identifier for the session created and used according to the method 300.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0033] Where the technology used to implement the session is hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), the logical streaming session may identify a series of HTTP requests and corresponding responses for data delivery that belong to a single MnS consumer 208 subscription. The streaming session establishment request may include a session identifier and / or subscription identifier and HTTP endpoint information of the MnS consumer 208.

[0034] At step 304, the MnS producer 206 sends a response to the request to establish a streaming session. The response may acknowledge the request of step 302. The response may include an acknowledgment according to the technology used to implement the session, such as according to HTTP or a KAFKA protocol.

[0035] At step 306, the MnS producer 206 transfers data to the endpoint identified by the MnS consumer 208 in the request of step 302. The transfer of data may be performed according to the technology indicated above with respect to steps 302 and 304, e.g., HTTP, KAFKA, or other message bus technology. The data transferred may be encapsulated according to another protocol, such as transmission control protocol (TCP). Managing a streaming session between the MnS producer 206 and the MnS consumer 208 may be performed according to TCP, e.g., verifying receipt of transferred data. Managing a streaming session associated with a session identifier may be independent of the technology used to transfer data and may persist across multiple transitory connections according to HTTP, KAFKA, TCP, or any other message bus technology.

[0036] Step 306 may be performed repeatedly to provide data from the MnS producer 206 relating to the subscription of the MnS consumer 208 indicated in the request from step 302. Data transferred by the MnS producer 206 at step 306 may include a session identifier and, according to the technology used, a KAFKA topic identifier, an identifier of a logical streaming session, orAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO identifier according to some other message bus technology transmitted at step 302. Step 306 may be looped repeatedly as data (e.g., PM, FM, or other data) becomes available to be reported to the MnS consumer, the data relating to the subscription of the MnS consumer 208 indicated in the request from step 302.

[0037] Data for a session may be labeled by the MnS producer 206 according to the session identifier with which the data was labeled. For example, any of the information included in the request from step 302 may be used to label data before sending the data by the MnS producer 206. As noted above, the information included in the request may include the endpoint information, the streaming information, and possibly other information. The labeled data may then be transferred to the MnS consumer 208 by any particular front-end data framework 210 implementation behind the MnS consumer 208. After the front-end data framework 210 receive the data, the previous label maybe removed, and a new label may be added, before forwarding the data to a back-end data sharing layer 212 and ultimately to the 0AM application 204. Example approaches for implementing the front-end data framework 210 and back-end data sharing layer 212 are described below with respect to Figs. 4, 5, and 6.

[0038] Referring to Fig. 4, the MnS producer 206 may establish WEBSOCKET connections to a front-end data framework 210 implemented as server nodes, e.g., WEBSOCKET server nodes 404 that are persistent and dedicated to receive data from the MnS producer 206. The MnS producer 206 may optionally connect to high-availability WEBSOCKET server nodes 406. The high-availability WEB SOCKET server nodes 406 may be instantiated or de-instantiated on demand according to the amount of traffic generated by the MnS producer 206. The amount of labeled data can easily exceed the capacity of a single WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406. Likewise, new NFs 202 may be added dynamically.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0039] Scaling the number of WEBSOCKET server nodes 406 enables the combined capacity of the WEB SOCKET server nodes 404, 406 to match increases and decreases in demand from the NFs 202 and corresponding increases in the number of WEB SOCKET connections to the WEBSOCKET server nodes 404, 406. In some embodiments the high-availability server nodes 406 implement backup connections that reduce downtime. The multiple WEBSOCKET server nodes 404, 406 are more resilient to failure of a single WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406. Eliminating a single point of failure is helpful inasmuch as failure could impact service significantly, such as for an entire city.

[0040] There may be a WEB SOCKET load balancer 402 that routes connection requests from the MnS producer 206 to the WEBSOCKET server nodes 404, 406 according to a load balancing algorithm. The load balancer 402 distributes connections to balance loading on each WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406. Once a connection is established with a particular WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406, the connection remains persistent with that WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406.

[0041] The MnS producer 206 may setup one or more persistent WEBSOCKET connections to the WEB SOCKET server nodes 404, 406 and stream labeled data to the 0AM application 204 via the persistent WEB SOCKET connections.

[0042] Labeled data received by a WEBSOCKET server node 404, 406 may be transmitted to a message broker 408 implementing the data sharing layer 212. The message broker 408 may act as a middleware layer that decouples the front-end WEB SOCKET server nodes 404, 406 from backend services (e.g., the 0AM applications 204) so that each backend service can see data from all independent WEBSOCKET server nodes 404, 406. The message broker 408 further facilitates routing of data to backend services independent of data routing among the front-endAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO WEB SOCKET server nodes 404, 406. The message broker 408 may operate independent of the protocol used to transfer data between the MnS producer 206 and the MnS consumer 208. Likewise, scaling of the message broker 408 may be performed independently of scaling of the WEBSOCKET server nodes 406.

[0043] The message broker 408 may route the labeled data according to the labels of the labeled data. For example, the message broker 408 may route the labeled data according to subscriptions received from the 0AM applications 204: data with labels corresponding to a subscription received by the message broker 408 from an 0AM application 204 will be sent to that 0AM application 204. Multiple 0AM applications 204 may be subscribed to the same data.

[0044] Fig. 5 illustrates an example configuration in which the front-end data framework 210 is implemented using HTTP, such as HTTP polling according to HTTP 1.0, HTTP 2.0, or other version. The MnS producer 206 may establish connections to a front-end data framework 210 implemented as HTTP server nodes 504. The MnS producer 206may optionally connect to high-availability HTTP server nodes 506 of the front-end data framework 210. The high-availability HTTP server nodes 506 may be instantiated or de-instantiated on demand according to the amount of traffic generated by the MnS producer 206producers. The labeled data from an NF 202 can easily exceed the capacity of a single HTTP server node 504. Likewise, new NFs 202 may be added, which likewise increases loading.

[0045] Scaling the number of HTTP server nodes 506 enables the combined capacity of the HTTP server nodes 504, 506 to match increases and decreases in demand from NFs 202 and corresponding increases in the amount of HTTP traffic to the HTTP server nodes 504, 506. The multiple HTTP server nodes 504, 506 are more resilient to failure of a single HTTP server node 504, 506. Eliminating a single point of failure is helpful inasmuch as failure could impact serviceAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO significantly, such as for an entire city.

[0046] The front-end data framework 210 may include a HTTP load balancer 502 that routes HTTP traffic to the HTTP server nodes 504, 506 and response traffic from the HTTP server nodes 504, 506 according to a load balancing algorithm. The load balancer 502 distributes traffic to balance loading on each HTTP server node 504, 506. Since HTTP is a connectionless protocol, no persistent connections between MnS producer 206 and HTTP server nodes 504, 506 are created in some embodiments. The HTTP load balancer 502 may be a high-availability load balancer, e.g., with one or more redundant instances to reduce outages due to server crashes, network issues, data center outages, or other issues. Multiple HTTP load balancers 502 (e.g., 4 to 7) may be active simultaneously with traffic being balanced between them.

[0047] The MnS producer 206 may transmit labeled data to the MnS consumer 208 in the form of HTTP POST requests (push delivery) or HTTP GET responses (polling), in either case without maintaining a persistent connection.

[0048] The labeled data received by an HTTP server node 504, 506 may be transmitted to the message broker 408 implementing the data sharing layer 212. The message broker 408 may act as a middleware layer that decouples the front-end HTTP server nodes 504, 506 from backend services (e.g., one or more 0AM applications 204) so that each backend service can see data from all independent HTTP server nodes 504, 506. The message broker 408 further facilitates routing of data to backend services independent of data routing among the front-end HTTP server nodes 504, 506. The message broker 408 may operate independent of the protocol used to transfer data between the MnS producer 206 and the HTTP server nodes 504, 506. Likewise, scaling of the message broker 408 may be performed independently of scaling of the HTTP server nodes 506.

[0049] In some embodiments, a domain name service (DNS) failover and load balancing moduleAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO 508 may be included in the front-end data framework 210. The DNS failover and load balancing module 508 may manage load balancing between the HTTP server nodes 504, 506. The DNS failover and load balancing module 508 may manage the failover of traffic from a failed HTTP server node 504, 506 to another HTTP server node 504, 506, which may include bringing up another HTTP server node 506.

[0050] Fig. 6 illustrates a combined front-end data framework 210 and back-end data sharing layer 212 implementation using KAFKA, e.g., a distributed streaming platform for implementing real-time data feeds and high-performance data pipelines. In the approach of Fig. 6, the frontend data framework 210 and back-end data sharing layer 212 are combined and may be implemented as a cluster 600 of message broker server nodes 602, such as a KAFKA cluster of KAFKA message broker server nodes.

[0051] In the approach of Fig. 6, the MnS producer 206 sends labeled data to the KAFKA cluster 600 according to a streaming protocol implemented by the cluster 600, such as a KAFKA protocol. The cluster 600 and message broker server nodes 602 implement a framework for routing labeled data to 0AM applications 204 subscribed to receive the labeled data. The cluster 600 and message broker server nodes 602 may perform tasks such as some or all of ensuring successful delivery of messages, load balancing among the message broker server nodes 602, data replication for fault tolerance, and autoscaling of the number of message broker server nodes. The cluster 600 may further manage scaling the number of message broker server nodes 602 according to loading.

[0052] In some embodiments, there may be multiple KAFKA cluster 600 each handling labeled data from a different set of NFs 202, e.g., a different set of cells in the cellular communication system 100. This approach provides resource isolation along with scalability as cells are addedAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO to the cellular communication system 100.

[0053] KAFKA natively provides data integrity protection and enhancement. Using KAFKA native features enables automatic handling of resiliency, and data loss and duplication protection for the cloud operators to tackle the most challenging large-scale distributed cloud environment is at the heart of KAFKA design. KAFKA is already widely used in the cloud industry and is already able to handle much higher data volume than the telecom industry today, including in the most challenging cloud environments. KAFKA maintains a list of in-sync replicas of the data processed by multiple high-availability message broker sever nodes. Even if a message broker server node fails, the replicated data ensures no data loss and uninterrupted service. KAFKA allows consumer offsets to be stored in a special internal topic which is also replicated. This mechanism ensures fault tolerance for consumers and prevents data duplication or loss.

[0054] KAFKA implements other mechanisms to protect against failures, such as an acknowledgment mechanism, leader election, durable writes, failure node detect, ZOOKEEPER high availability, monitoring and alerts, rebalancing and partition reassignment, etc.

[0055] All of the above are handled automatically by KAFKA as the combined front-end data framework 210 and back-end data sharing layer 212 while reducing development complexities and cost, increasing reliability and, more importantly, decoupling the producer and consumer implementations for a better interoperable system in the cloud at scale.

[0056] Fig. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a computing device 700 that may be used to implement any of the components described above. As shown in Fig. 7, the device 700 includes processor 710, a memory 720, a storage component 730, an input component 740, an output component 750, a communication interface 760, and a bus 770.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0057] The processor 710, as used herein, means any type of computational circuit that may comprise hardware elements and software elements. The processor 710 may be embodied as a multi-core processor, a single core processor, or a combination of one or more multi-core processors and / or one or more single core processors, a distributed processing system, or the like. The processor 710 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), an accelerated processing unit (APU), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or another type of processing component.

[0058] Memory 720 includes a non-transitory computer readable medium. Memory 720 includes a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), and / or another type of dynamic or static storage device (e.g., a flash memory, a magnetic memory, and / or an optical memory) that stores information and / or instructions for use by processor 710. The memory 720 comprises machine-readable instructions which are executable by the processor 710. These machine-readable instructions when executed by the processor 710 cause the processor 710 to perform one or more method steps of an embodiment described above.

[0059] Storage component 730 stores information and / or software related to the operation and use of the device 700. For example, storage component 730 may include a hard disk (e.g., a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optic disk, and / or a solid-state disk), a compact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, a cartridge, a magnetic tape, and / or another type of non-transitory computer-readable medium, along with a corresponding drive.

[0060] Input component 740 is configured to receive information, such as user input. For example, the input component 740 may include, but not be limited to, a touch screen display, a keyboard, a keypad, a mouse, a button, a switch, and / or a microphone. Additionally, or alternatively, the input component 740 may include a sensor for sensing information (e.g., a globalAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO positioning system (GPS), an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and / or an actuator).

[0061] Output component 750 is configured to provide output information from the device 700. For example, the output component 750 may be, but not limited to, a display, a speaker, instructions to an external device, and / or one or more light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

[0062] Communication interface 760 is an interface that provides a communication connection to other devices, such as external devices and internal devices. The connection by the communication interface 760 can be a wired connection, a wireless connection, or a combination of wired and wireless connections, and can be a direct connection or an indirect connection via a communication network that exists between the device 700 and other devices. In other words, the standard of the communication interface 760 is not limited.

[0063] The bus 770 acts as an interconnect between the processor 710, the memory 720, the storage component 730, the input component 740, the output component 750, and the communication interface 760 of the device 700. The bus 770 may include a wired interconnection or a wireless interconnection.

[0064] The number and arrangement of components shown in Fig. 7 are provided as an example. In practice, device 700 may include additional components, fewer components, different components, or differently arranged components than those shown in Fig. 7. Additionally, or alternatively, a set of components (e.g., one or more components) of device 700 may perform one or more functions described as being performed by another set of components of device 700. Further, one or more method steps described in any of the embodiments may be performed utilizing a plurality of devices 700 in communication with one another.

[0065] In a first example embodiment, an apparatus includes: a management service (MnS) producer configured to: receive a session establishment request from a MnS consumer, the sessionAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO establishment request including session information; transmit, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; and transfer collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information, the collected data being collected from a plurality of network functions of a cellular communication system.

[0066] In a second example embodiment according to the first example embodiment, the MnS producer executes within a cloud.

[0067] In a third example embodiment according to the first example embodiment, the MnS producer is part of a third-generation partnership project (3GPP) management system.

[0068] In a fourth example embodiment according to the first example embodiment, the apparatus further includes the MnS consumer and a data sharing layer, the data sharing layer configured to transfer the collected data from the MnS consumer to a plurality of back-end services.

[0069] In a fifth example embodiment according to the fourth example embodiment, the plurality of back-end services include operations, administration, and management (0AM) applications.

[0070] In a sixth example embodiment according to the fourth example embodiment, the apparatus further includes a front-end data framework including a plurality of servers configured to receive the collected data from the MnS producer; wherein the data sharing layer includes a message broker configured to transfer the collected data between the plurality of servers and the plurality of back-end services.

[0071] In a seventh example embodiment according to the sixth example embodiment, the frontend data framework further comprises a load balancer interposed between the plurality of servers and the MnS producer.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO

[0072] In an eighth example embodiment according to the sixth example embodiment, the plurality of servers are hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) servers.

[0073] In a ninth example embodiment according to the sixth example embodiment, the plurality of servers are WEB SOCKET servers.

[0074] In a tenth example embodiment according to the sixth example embodiment, the MnS producer is configured to label the collected data with at least a portion of the session information and the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to the at least the portion of the session information.

[0075] In an eleventh example embodiment according to the tenth example embodiment, the at least the portion of the session information includes a session identifier.

[0076] In a twelfth example embodiment according to the tenth example embodiment, wherein the front-end data framework and the data sharing layer includes a KAFKA cluster and the at least the portion of the session information includes a KAFKA topic.

[0077] In a thirteenth example embodiment according to the sixth example embodiment, the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to subscriptions received from the plurality of back-end services.

[0078] In a fourteenth example embodiment, a method for transferring data in a cellular communication system includes: receiving, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing in at least one of a core network or a radio access network of a cellular communication system; receiving, by the MnS producer, a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer; transmitting, by the MnS producer, to the MnS consumer, a session establishmentAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO response in response to the session establishment request; and transferring, by the MnS producer, the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.

[0079] In a fifteenth example embodiment according to the fourteenth example embodiment, the MnS producer executes within a cloud and the MnS consumer executes in at least one of a service management and orchestration (3GPP Management System) platform and an operations support system (OSS).

[0080] In a sixteenth example embodiment according to the fourteenth example embodiment, the method further includes: transferring, by a data sharing layer, the collected data from the MnS consumer to a plurality of back-end services.

[0081] In a seventeenth example embodiment according to the sixteenth example embodiment, the plurality of back-end services include operations, administration, and management (0AM) applications.

[0082] In an eighteenth example embodiment according to the sixteenth example embodiment, the method further includes: transferring, by a front-end data framework comprising a plurality of servers, the collected data from the MnS producer to the data sharing layer; wherein the data sharing layer comprises a message broker configured to transfer the collected data between the plurality of servers and the plurality of back-end services.

[0083] In a nineteenth example embodiment according to the eighteenth example embodiment, the MnS consumer is configured to label the collected data with at least a portion of the session information and the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to the at least the portion of the session information.

[0084] In a twentieth example embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable code that, when executed in a cellular communication system, causes the cellularAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO communication system to: receive, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data, the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing on a component of a plurality of components in the cellular communication system and configured to report the collected data for the plurality of components, the plurality of components including at least one of user equipment (UE), radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), or central units (CU); receive, by the MnS producer, a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer; transmit, by the MnS producer, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; and transfer, by the MnS producer, the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.

Claims

Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO Claims:

1. An apparatus comprising:a management service (MnS) producer configured to:receive a session establishment request from a MnS consumer, the session establishment request including session information;transmit, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; andtransfer collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information, the collected data being collected from a plurality of network functions of a cellular communication system.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MnS producer executes within a cloud.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the MnS producer is part of a third-generation partnership project (3GPP) management system.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising the MnS consumer and a data sharing layer, the data sharing layer configured to transfer the collected data from the MnS consumer to a plurality of back-end services.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the plurality of back-end services include operations, administration, and management (OAM) applications.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO 6. The apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a front-end data framework including a plurality of servers configured to receive the collected data from the MnS producer;wherein the data sharing layer includes a message broker configured to transfer the collected data between the plurality of servers and the plurality of back-end services.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the front-end data framework further comprises a load balancer interposed between the plurality of servers and the MnS producer.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plurality of servers are hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) servers.

9. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the plurality of servers are WEB SOCKET servers.

10. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the MnS producer is configured to label the collected data with at least a portion of the session information and the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to the at least the portion of the session information.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the at least the portion of the session information includes a session identifier.Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO 12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the front-end data framework and the data sharing layer includes a KAFKA cluster and the at least the portion of the session information includes a KAFKA topic.

13. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to subscriptions received from the plurality of back-end services.

14. A method for transferring data in a cellular communication system, the method comprising:receiving, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing in at least one of a core network or a radio access network of a cellular communication system;receiving, by the MnS producer, a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer;transmitting, by the MnS producer, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; andtransferring, by the MnS producer, the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the MnS producer executes within a cloud and the MnS consumer executes in at least one of a service management and orchestration (3 GPP Management System) platform and an operations support system (OSS).Attorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO 16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:transferring, by a data sharing layer, the collected data from the MnS consumer to a plurality of back-end services.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of back-end services include operations, administration, and management (OAM) applications.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising:transferring, by a front-end data framework comprising a plurality of servers, the collected data from the MnS producer to the data sharing layer;wherein the data sharing layer comprises a message broker configured to transfer the collected data between the plurality of servers and the plurality of back-end services.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the MnS consumer is configured to label the collected data with at least a portion of the session information and the message broker is configured to route the collected data to the plurality of back-end services according to the at least the portion of the session information.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable code that, when executed in a cellular communication system, causes the cellular communication system to: receive, by a management service (MnS) producer, collected data, the collected data being received from a plurality of network functions executing on a component of a plurality of components in the cellular communication system and configured to report the collected data forAttorney Docket No. RAKU-12400WO the plurality of components, the plurality of components including at least one of user equipment (UE), radio units (RU), distributed units (DU), or central units (CU);receive, by the MnS producer, a session establishment request including session information from a MnS consumer;transmit, by the MnS producer, to the MnS consumer, a session establishment response in response to the session establishment request; andtransfer, by the MnS producer, the collected data to the MnS consumer labeled according to the session information.

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