Negotiable Route Selection Policy for Network Slice Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
User devices often route traffic from new applications or services through default network slices that may not be suitable, leading to suboptimal user experience due to unsatisfactory performance parameters such as quality of service, bandwidth, and latency.
Innovation Solution
A Negotiable User Equipment Route Selection Management Function (NUMF) is introduced to generate and manage User Equipment Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules, determining appropriate network slices based on application or service-specific requirements, ensuring traffic is routed through optimal network slices that meet performance thresholds.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If user devices route traffic through default network slices, then routing is simple and fast, but performance parameters such as quality of service, bandwidth, and latency are suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) as an intermediary component that mediates between user devices and network slices. The NSSF receives routing requests, determines appropriate network slices based on application requirements and network conditions, and returns routing decisions to user devices. This intermediary handles the complexity of slice selection, allowing user devices to maintain simple routing operations while achieving optimal quality of service through intelligent slice selection.
2Reliability
If network slices are configured with specific parameters for different applications, then performance is optimized, but configuration complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary configuration of network slice parameters and characteristics in the network infrastructure before runtime. Network slices are pre-configured with specific bandwidth allocations, latency requirements, and quality of service parameters based on application types. When user devices need to route traffic, they query the NSSF which has already prepared slice information, eliminating the need for complex real-time configuration decisions at the user device level.
Solution Approach 2:
The NSSF acts as an intermediary that manages the complexity of network slice configuration. It maintains a database of network slice characteristics and automatically matches applications to appropriate slices based on pre-configured parameters. This centralizes configuration management in the network infrastructure rather than requiring complex configuration capabilities at user devices, thereby optimizing performance while controlling configuration complexity.
3Reliability
If user devices select network slices dynamically, then user experience is improved, but processing overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The NSSF serves as an intermediary that performs the computationally intensive work of dynamic slice selection. User devices send simple routing requests to the NSSF, which queries current network conditions, application requirements, and slice availability to make intelligent routing decisions. This approach allows user devices to benefit from dynamic, experience-optimized routing while minimizing their own processing overhead and energy consumption by offloading the decision-making to the network infrastructure.
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems, apparatuses, and methods are described for configuring route selection policies. A user device may send, to a computing device, a route selection policy request to update route selection policy rules for applications and/or services of the user device. The computing device may determine the route selection policy rules for the applications and/or services based on various criteria. The computing device may send the determined route selection policy rules to the user device. If the user device does not accept the determined route selection policy rules, the user device may send, to the computing device, a negotiation request to obtain other route selection policy rules for the applications and/or services.