Radio Base Station Caching for ICN-eMBMS Integration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current Information Centric Networking (ICN) technologies face challenges in combining with Enhanced Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Service (eMBMS) due to differences in communication structures, with ICN assuming unidirectional links and eMBMS requiring bi-directional IP-based multicasting, leading to inefficiencies in content delivery.
Innovation Solution
A method where User Equipment (UE) requests content from a Radio Base Station (RBS), which then acquires and caches ICN content from ICN nodes, allowing for local storage and efficient rendering without additional air interface requests, and the RBS continuously submits requests to ICN nodes for multicasting popular content to multiple UEs, reducing bandwidth usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If ICN content is delivered via unidirectional links from RBS to UE, then content delivery efficiency is improved, but the system cannot support bi-directional communication requirements of eMBMS multicast
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where the UE's local storage acts as a buffer between the unidirectional ICN content delivery and the bi-directional eMBMS multicast requirements. The RBS delivers ICN content unidirectionally to UE, which stores it locally, enabling efficient content access without requiring bi-directional communication for each access operation.
2Loss of time
If content is cached locally at UE devices, then repeated air interface requests are reduced, but initial content acquisition requires additional network bandwidth
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the RBS proactively deliver and cache ICN content at the UE device before it is actually needed for playback. This advance content delivery allows the UE to have content ready in its local storage, eliminating the need for repeated air interface requests during content consumption, though it does consume network bandwidth during the initial delivery phase.
3Loss of energy
If eMBMS multicast is used for popular content delivery, then bandwidth usage is optimized, but it requires termination in the core network which conflicts with ICN-in-RAN architecture
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the content caching and delivery function from the core network termination point and places it at the RBS level in the radio access network. This extraction allows ICN content to be delivered directly to UE devices without requiring eMBMS multicast termination in the core network, thereby simplifying the network architecture while still optimizing bandwidth usage through efficient content delivery mechanisms.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a User Equipment (UE) and a method performed at the UE of acquiring content, a Radio Base Station (RBS), and a method performed at the RBS of supplying Information Centric Networking (ICN) content to at least one UE. In a first aspect of the invention a method performed at a UE (103) of acquiring content is provided. The method comprises submitting a request for content to an RBS (102), receiving, in reply to the request, the requested content from the RBS, the content being acquired by the RBS from an ICN node (109) and provided to the UE (103) from the RBS (102) upon the RBS receiving the ICN content, storing the received ICN content in a local storage (123) at the UE (103), and acquiring, when a piece of content is to be rendered at the UE (103), the piece of content from the received ICN content in the local storage (123).