Network Slice Overload Handling via Core-to-RAN Assistance Data
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current cellular network technologies lack an effective solution to handle network slice overload during idle mode mobility, particularly when a user equipment (UE) moves to a cell within a service area of a network slice experiencing overload, leading to inefficient signaling and potential service disruptions.
Innovation Solution
The core network provides assistance data to the radio access network (RAN) about overloaded network slices, allowing RAN nodes to restrict paging and manage overload by transmitting overload messages and paging requests with specific network slice assistance information, enabling proactive handling of overload situations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the AMF pages the UE in the entire registered area when the UE does not respond to the initial page, then the UE can be reached, but unnecessary signaling is generated and network resources are wasted in overload situations
Solution Approach 1:
The network performs preliminary actions by providing slice-related barring information in system information before the paging escalation occurs. This allows the UE to proactively determine whether to respond to paging messages based on the overload status of its network slice, preventing unnecessary paging signaling from being generated in the first place
Solution Approach 2:
Slice-related barring information acts as an intermediary mechanism between the network overload status and the UE paging behavior. The UE uses this intermediate information to make informed decisions about responding to pages, avoiding direct unnecessary signaling exchanges between the AMF and UE during overload conditions
2Reliability
If the network blocks traffic for an overloaded network slice in a local service area, then the overloaded slice can recover, but the AMF cannot identify which specific service areas are affected and continue paging UEs unnecessarily
Solution Approach 1:
The network provides slice-related barring information with local granularity, allowing different service areas to have different barring configurations based on their specific overload status. This enables the AMF to target paging efforts to specific geographic areas where the slice is not overloaded, rather than blocking entire registered areas
3Ease of operation
If the UE performs a service request when the network slice is overloaded, then the service request can be processed, but the core network must reject the request requiring unnecessary RRC connection setup
Solution Approach 1:
The UE performs preliminary actions by checking slice-related barring information in system information before initiating service requests. This preliminary check prevents the UE from attempting service requests during overload conditions, avoiding the complexity of initiating RRC connection setup procedures that would ultimately be rejected by the core network
Data Source
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AI summary
A wireless communication network (102) includes a core network (104) and an access network (106), the core network including a first management function (112) associated to a network slice instance (132) of the wireless communication network, and the access network including a plurality of access network nodes (130). The first management function of the core network detects that the network slice instance is overloaded. The core network transmits, to at least one of the access network nodes that is in a service area associated to the network slice instance, a message indicating overload of the network slice instance in the service area.