Centralized NSACF for Multi-Service Area PLMN
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies do not provide a standardized solution for network slice admission control across multiple service areas in a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), leading to challenges in ensuring service continuity during UE mobility between service areas.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a single central Network Slice Admission Control Function (NSACF) that performs PLMN global counting, ensuring consistent counting across all service areas, thereby eliminating the need for additional admission procedures during UE mobility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If local NSACF is used in each service area, then admission control can be performed independently in each service area, but service continuity cannot be ensured when UEs move between service areas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple local NSACF instances into a single centralized NSACF that serves the entire PLMN. This consolidation ensures that UE admission status is globally recognized across all service areas, eliminating the service continuity problem that occurs when UEs move between service areas with separate local NSACFs.
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized NSACF performs multiple functions: it acts as the admission control authority for all service areas within the PLMN, maintains global UE admission status, and provides consistent admission decisions regardless of which service area the UE is currently in. This universal approach ensures service continuity across the entire network.
2Reliability
If centralized NSACF is implemented, then service continuity is ensured across all service areas, but counting consistency and admission control reliability may be compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized NSACF pre-establishes global counting mechanisms and admission criteria before UEs move between service areas. By maintaining pre-configured admission thresholds and global UE status records, the system ensures that admission decisions remain consistent and reliable regardless of UE mobility or changes in service area configuration.
3Ease of operation
If additional admission procedures are required during UE mobility between service areas, then admission control can be performed locally, but service continuity is disrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized NSACF performs admission control evaluations in advance and maintains global UE admission status before mobility events occur. When UEs move between service areas, the pre-established global status allows immediate continuation of service without requiring additional admission procedures, thus eliminating time loss and ensuring seamless mobility.
4Adaptability or versatility
If interworking between EPS and 5GS is supported, then network compatibility is improved, but admission control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized NSACF is designed to handle multiple network types (both EPS and 5GS) through a unified admission control mechanism. By implementing universal admission control policies that work across different network systems, the patent enables seamless interworking between EPS and 5GS without requiring separate admission control systems for each network type, thus managing complexity while maintaining versatility.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, system and apparatus are provided to perform network slice admission control within a service area of an operator network and across service areas of the operator network. A central Network Slice Admission Control Function (NSACF) supporting multiple service areas of at least one operator network receives an admission request from a network function (e.g., AMF, SMF or SMF+PGW-C) belonging to a service area of an operator network. The admission request includes information identifying the service area and may include an identifier of the network operator. The central NSACF performs network slice admission control based on whether the UE is newly admitted to the network slice in the service area or whether the UE has already been admitted in a different service area.