Roaming Network Function Discovery With Inferred Locality
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Solution Overview
Problem
In roaming scenarios between mobile network operators, one network may prevent the other from receiving locality information, leading to obstacles in matching network functions based on locality, which hinders efficient communication.
Innovation Solution
A home security edge protection proxy infers the sending region of a discovery request from a visited network by analyzing Internet Protocol addresses or inserting region identifiers, enabling the transmission of discovery responses that prioritize matching network functions within the home network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If one mobile network operator prevents the other from receiving locality information or performs topology hiding, then network security and information protection are improved, but the ability to match network functions based on locality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The home network acts as an intermediary that receives discovery requests from the visited network, infers the sending region from the request characteristics or metadata, and then provides locality-matched network function information. This mediator approach allows the home network to maintain security by not exposing its internal topology while still enabling locality-based matching through the inferred region information.
Solution Approach 2:
The home network performs preliminary inference of the sending region from the discovery request before processing the actual network function discovery. By determining the likely region in advance, the home network can prepare and prioritize appropriate network function candidates, enabling efficient locality-based matching without requiring the visited network to have direct visibility into home network topology.
2Reliability
If locality information is hidden or not transmitted in roaming scenarios, then network topology protection is improved, but communication efficiency and path optimization deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The home network serves as a mediator that translates the visited network's discovery request into a form that enables locality-based matching without exposing home network topology. By inferring the sending region and using this information to prioritize network function selections, the system maintains topology protection while achieving communication efficiency through intelligent matching.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter representation of locality information by inferring region characteristics from the discovery request metadata rather than directly transmitting actual locality data. This parameter transformation allows the system to work with regional identifiers and priorities without exposing sensitive topology information, thereby maintaining both security and efficiency.
3Loss of information
If a network function discovery request does not include sending region information, then information privacy is improved, but the precision of network function matching based on locality deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The home network performs preliminary analysis of the discovery request to infer the sending region from available metadata, request patterns, or other indirect indicators. This preliminary inference action enables the system to achieve reasonable locality matching precision without requiring explicit region information to be transmitted, thus maintaining information privacy while improving matching accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The system replaces the direct mechanical transmission of locality information with an inference-based approach. Instead of relying on explicit region fields in the discovery request, the home network uses analytical methods to deduce the sending region, substituting direct information exchange with intelligent inference to maintain both privacy and matching precision.
Data Source
AI summary
A disclosed method may include (i) receiving, by a home security edge protection proxy at a home cellular network from a visited security edge protection proxy at a visited cellular network, a discovery request from a first network function located at the visited cellular network to discover a second network function within the home cellular network and (ii) inferring, by a component of the home cellular network in response to the discovery request, that the discovery request was sent from a sending region of the visited cellular network despite the discovery request failing to indicate the sending region in a preferred locality field of the discovery request.