Network Slice Selector State Retrieval for Mobile Handover
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication networks face challenges in efficiently differentiating and managing various types of traffic from diverse devices, such as mobile phones and IoT devices, due to limitations in traffic differentiation and latency requirements across different network standards like 4G and 5G, necessitating more adaptable network slicing solutions.
Innovation Solution
The establishment of a virtual service network across datacenters, utilizing network slice selectors to assign data messages to appropriate network slices, ensuring correct service chaining and quality of service, implemented through virtual machines, containers, or hardware forwarding elements, with configuration and control managed by a hierarchical controller system.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If network slice selectors are configured at each cellular tower and edge cloud to perform local slice selection, then network service differentiation and quality of service are improved, but device complexity and network configuration complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the network into multiple edge clouds, each with its own network slice selector. This segmentation allows local slice selection at each edge cloud while distributing the complexity across multiple manageable units rather than requiring centralized control of the entire network.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a centralized controller that acts as an intermediary to manage and coordinate the distributed network slice selectors. This controller stores slice selection state information and provides it to edge clouds, reducing the configuration complexity at each individual edge cloud while maintaining service differentiation.
2Reliability
If network slice selection state is maintained at the initial edge cloud, then service chaining continuity is improved, but latency increases when mobile devices move to different geographic regions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent pre-establishes slice selection state information at the centralized controller before mobile devices move between edge clouds. When a device moves to a new edge cloud, the controller already has the necessary state information ready to provide immediately, eliminating the need for time-consuming state retrieval or re-selection processes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates copies of slice selection state information and distributes them to multiple edge clouds through the centralized controller. This allows any edge cloud in the device's current geographic region to immediately access the correct slice selection state without contacting the original edge cloud, maintaining service chaining continuity while reducing latency.
3Measurement precision
If deep packet inspection is performed for every data message to determine network slice assignment, then traffic differentiation precision is improved, but processing speed and productivity decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs deep packet inspection and slice selection only for the first data message of each data stream, then stores the resulting slice selection state. Subsequent data messages in the same stream are assigned to slices using this pre-determined state information, eliminating the need for repeated deep packet inspection and significantly improving processing speed while maintaining accurate traffic differentiation.
Data Source
AI summary
Some embodiments provide a method for a first network slice selector that assigns data messages received from endpoint devices located within a first geographic range to multiple network slices. The method receives a data message from a mobile endpoint device located within the first geographic range. The data message belongs to a connection between the mobile endpoint device and a network domain that began when the mobile device was located in a second geographic range. The method retrieves state that maps the connection to a particular network slice of the network slices from a second network slice selector that assigns data messages received from endpoint devices within the second geographic range to the network slices. The method assigns the data message to the particular network slice.