Replication Control Module for Edge Cloud Handover Latency
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current service migration and orchestration mechanisms in edge cloud environments are inadequate for truly latency-sensitive scenarios, as they often result in multi-second downtimes during handovers, which are unacceptable for applications requiring tight feedback loops and reliability, especially in 5G networks.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising a replication control module and a data handling module that proactively replicates session state data in a location-aware manner, ensuring that replicas are always kept geographically near the user equipment, thereby eliminating downtime during handovers by having essential application states already present at the target edge compute site.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If traditional service migration mechanisms are used in edge cloud environments, then service relocation is possible, but service disruption time increases to multi-seconds during handovers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by proactively replicating session state data to potential target edge nodes before handover occurs. The replication control module predicts user mobility and pre-positions data replicas at edge nodes along the predicted trajectory, so that when handover is needed, the target node already has the required data and can immediately take over service without multi-second disruptions.
2Reliability
If service data is replicated to multiple edge nodes, then service reliability during handover improves, but network bandwidth consumption increases due to data transfer
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by selectively replicating only the specific session state data relevant to each user's predicted trajectory to specific edge nodes along that trajectory, rather than uniformly replicating all service data to all edge nodes. This localized, targeted replication minimizes unnecessary bandwidth consumption while ensuring reliability at the right locations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by replicating only the necessary portion of session state data (user-specific session state) to edge nodes, rather than replicating complete service images or all data. This selective partial replication reduces bandwidth overhead while maintaining sufficient reliability for handover continuity.
3Loss of time
If session state data is replicated proactively to predicted target locations, then handover latency is reduced, but system complexity increases due to trajectory prediction and location management
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a replication control module as an intermediary between the service system and edge nodes. This intermediary handles the complexity of trajectory prediction, replica location determination, and replication coordination, shielding the rest of the system from these complexities while enabling low-latency handover through proactive data positioning.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a method for operating a replication control module (100), wherein the method comprises the steps of determining that a handover takes place by which a data session exchanged via a cellular network between a serving application instance and a user equipment is transferred from the serving application instance to a target application instance selected from a plurality of application instances located in a cloud environment, wherein session state data comprise a session state of the data session, determining a location of the target application instance in the cloud environment, determining target replica locations of replica of the session state data individually on a per session basis for said data session taking into account the location of the target application instance, wherein the replica comprises a master replica and at least one slave replica and the target replica location is determined for the master replica and the at least one slave replica, and transmitting location information to a data handling module allowing the data handling module to distribute the replica to the determined locations of the target replica locations.