Service Proxy Controller for 5G Network Core Load Balancing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing 5G network architecture places a significant burden on service consumers and producers to handle networking functionalities such as service discovery, load balancing, overload control, and circuit breakers, which is inefficient and resource-intensive.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a service proxy function in the telecommunications network core using a service-based architecture, comprising a service proxy controller and workers, to manage inter-service communication, provide routing policies, and handle load balancing, resilience, and visibility across network functions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If service consumers directly communicate with service producers using RESTful APIs, then service discovery and communication flexibility are improved, but the burden on service consumers and producers to implement networking functionality increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a service mesh architecture with service proxies that act as intermediaries between service consumers and service producers. The service proxies handle networking functionalities such as service discovery, load balancing, and circuit breaking, thereby reducing the implementation burden on service consumers and producers while maintaining communication flexibility
2Ease of operation
If service consumers implement their own load balancing and circuit breaker logic, then autonomy and control are improved, but system complexity and resource consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
The service mesh architecture introduces service proxies as intermediaries that centralize the implementation of load balancing and circuit breaker logic. This approach maintains autonomy and control through configurable policies while reducing system complexity and resource consumption by eliminating the need for each service consumer to implement these functionalities independently
Solution Approach 2:
The service proxies provide universal functionality by handling multiple networking concerns (load balancing, circuit breaking, service discovery) in a single centralized component. This multi-functional approach reduces overall system complexity compared to having each service implement its own set of networking functionalities
3Productivity
If distributed service components communicate directly, then system scalability is improved, but the need for comprehensive networking functionality implementation across all components increases
Solution Approach 1:
The service mesh architecture introduces service proxies as intermediaries that centralize the implementation of networking functionalities such as service discovery, load balancing, and circuit breaking. This approach maintains system scalability by allowing distributed service components to communicate through standardized proxy interfaces while reducing the implementation burden on individual components
Data Source
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AI summary
An example system includes a service proxy controller and a number of service proxy workers. The service proxy controller is configured for providing routing policies for a telecommunications network core. The telecommunications network core includes network functions communicating using a service-based architecture. Each service proxy worker is configured for routing telecommunications network core messages between a respective subset of the network functions by consuming the routing policies from the service proxy controller and enforcing the routing policies from the service proxy controller. Each service proxy worker is configured for providing network status reports to the service proxy controller based on the telecommunications network core messages.