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EP-4604488-B1 - SELECTING A NETWORK SLICE INSTANTIATION FOR UPLINK PACKET TRANSMISSION

EP4604488B1EP 4604488 B1EP4604488 B1EP 4604488B1EP-4604488-B1

Inventors

  • MOUQUET, ANTOINE
  • MOUAFIK, Ali Amine

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20170303

Claims (15)

  1. Method for selecting a network slice instantiation (S0, S1, S2) in a communication network for uplink data transmission from a user terminal (UE), the method comprising the following steps: verifying (E30), by way of a communication module (COM) of the user terminal, the correspondence between an uplink packet received by said communication module (COM) and at least one rule from among a plurality of rules (R1, R2) that are prioritized with respect to one another, designating a network slice instantiation capable of transmitting the uplink packet in the communication network; and, when the uplink packet corresponds to several of said rules designating a network slice instantiation capable of transmitting the packet, transmitting (E54), by way of the communication module (COM), the uplink packet to an access entity for accessing the user plane (ANUP 1 ) of the network slice instantiation designated by the highest-priority rule from among said rules corresponding to the uplink packet.
  2. Method according to Claim 1, wherein, when none of said rules designating a network slice instantiation corresponds to the uplink packet, the uplink packet is transmitted (E41) to an access entity for accessing the user plane (ANUP 0 ) of a default network slice instantiation (S0).
  3. Method according to Claim 2, furthermore comprising a prior phase of attaching (E10) the user terminal to the default network slice instantiation (S0), during which the communication module receives (E13), from an access entity for accessing the control plane (CNCP 0 ) of the default network slice instantiation, an attachment acknowledgement message containing said at least one rule designating a network slice instantiation.
  4. Method according to Claim 2, wherein the communication module furthermore receives, from the access entity for accessing the control plane (CNCP 0 ) of the default network slice instantiation, a message containing said at least one rule designating a network slice instantiation.
  5. Method according to one of Claims 2 to 4, wherein said at least one rule (R1, R2) furthermore comprises a validity period parameter, the method furthermore comprising : verifying the validity period parameter for said at least one rule (R1, R2); and when the validity period of said at least one rule has expired, transmitting, to the access entity for accessing the control plane (ANCP 0 ) of the default network slice instantiation, a request to obtain said message for updating said at least one rule (R1, R2).
  6. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 5, wherein, when the uplink packet corresponds to a rule designating a network slice instantiation to which the user terminal is not attached, the communication module transmits (E51) an attachment request to an access entity for accessing the control plane (ANCP 1 ) of the designated network slice instantiation, the uplink packet being transmitted following the receipt (E53) of an attachment acknowledgement message from the access entity for accessing the control plane (ANCP 1 ).
  7. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 6, wherein said at least one rule contains at least one determined parameter from among a packet destination address, a transport protocol, a source port, a destination port, an application protocol, terminal location information or a time range for application of the rule, the verification of the correspondence between the uplink packet and said at least one rule comprising verifying the matching between a parameter of the uplink packet and the determined parameter.
  8. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 7, furthermore comprising a prior step of verifying (E22) that the uplink packet belongs to a new data flow, the correspondence between the uplink packet and at least one rule being verified (E30) when the uplink packet belongs to a new data flow; and when the uplink packet does not belong to a new data flow, the uplink packet is transmitted (E24) to an access entity for accessing the user plane of the network slice instantiation used for at least one previous uplink packet of the data flow to which the uplink packet belongs.
  9. Method according to one of Claims 1 to 8, wherein, when the terminal (UE) is attached to a network slice instantiation and does not exchange any payload data packet with an access entity for accessing the user plane of said network slice instantiation for a determined period of time, the communication module (COM) transmits a detachment request to an access entity for accessing the control plane of said network slice instantiation.
  10. Method according to Claim 9, wherein the detachment request relates to a default network slice instantiation (S0) and is transmitted to an access entity for accessing the control plane (ANCP 0 ) of said default network slice instantiation, the method furthermore comprising: verifying a validity period parameter contained in said at least one rule (R1, R2); and when the validity period of said at least one rule has expired, transmitting, to the access entity for accessing the control plane (ANCP 0 ) of the default network slice instantiation, an attachment request to attach to the default network slice instantiation and, following receipt of an attachment acknowledgment message, a request to update said at least one rule (R1, R2).
  11. User terminal (UE) comprising a communication module (COM), said communication module (COM) being configured to: verify (E30) the correspondence between an uplink packet (Pi) received from an application module (APP) of the user terminal and at least one rule from among a plurality of rules (R1, R2) that are prioritized with respect to one another, designating a network slice instantiation capable of transmitting the uplink packet in a communication network; and when the uplink packet corresponds to several of said rules designating a network slice instantiation capable of transmitting the packet, transmit (E53) the uplink packet to an access entity for accessing the user plane (ANUP 1 ) of the network slice instantiation designated by the highest-priority rule from among said rules corresponding to the uplink packet.
  12. User terminal (UE) according to Claim 11, said communication module (COM) furthermore being configured, when none of said rules designating a network slice instantiation corresponds to the uplink packet, to transmit (E41) said uplink packet to an access entity for accessing the user plane (ANUP 0 ) of a default network slice instantiation (S0).
  13. Network entity (ANCP 0 , CNCP 0 ) capable of enabling access to the control plane of a network slice instantiation in a communication network, comprising a communication module configured to transmit, to a user terminal (UE), a message containing at least a plurality of rules (R1, R2) that are prioritized with respect to one another, designating a network slice instantiation capable of transmitting an uplink packet in a communication network, such that the user terminal is able to transmit (E53) an uplink packet to an access entity for accessing the user plane (ANUP 1 ) of the network slice instantiation designated by the highest-priority rule from among said rules corresponding to said uplink packet.
  14. Computer program comprising code instructions for implementing the selection method according to one of Claims 1 to 10 when the program is executed by the processor of a user terminal (UE).
  15. Recording medium on which the code instructions of a computer program according to Claim 14 are stored.

Description

The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications networks, and more particularly to that of mobile telecommunications networks. The architecture of these mobile telecommunications networks has so far been standardized through a standardization group known as 3GPP. This is particularly the case for so-called "2G", "3G" and "4G" mobile networks, whose different architectures are defined in technical specifications established by such an organization. Until the "4G" generation of mobile network currently being deployed, the various network architectures rely on very specific equipment dedicated to certain precise functionalities, whether at the level of the access network or the core network, particularly with regard to the transmission of packets from or to a mobile terminal. The lack of flexibility and scalability inherent in this type of conventional architecture has led to consideration of adopting more flexible architectures for the next generation of mobile networks, known as "5G", in order to be able to respond quickly to extremely diverse demands in terms of traffic or quality of service. Among the solutions considered, one of the most promising is based on a network slicing technique, mentioned in particular in the 3GPP technical report TR 23.799 v0.2.0 of February 2016. Such a network slicing technique allows a telecommunications network operator to create "tailor-made" networks capable of providing optimized solutions for very diverse scenarios with very diverse constraints in terms of functionality and performance. The concept of network slicing is based on three distinct layers: the "resource" layer, the "network slice instantiation" layer, and the "service instantiation" layer. The first "resource" layer includes all the physical and logical resources of a network, in terms of computing power, memory and transmission capacity, necessary to execute the instantiation of one or more network slices. In this context, "physical" resources are all the equipment with computing power, storage capacity, and transmission capabilities within a network. "Logical" resources can then consist of a portion of a physical resource, or conversely, a collection of several physical resources dedicated to a network function or shared between several network functions. The second layer, "network slice instantiation," consists of the various network slice instantiations used to provide services, each instantiation being able to be decomposed into one or more network functions executed by physical and/or logical resources of the "resource" layer. Finally, the third layer, "service instantiation," represents services (to the user or to a business) that can be supported by the second layer, i.e., by calling upon one or more network slice instantiations to provide the network characteristics necessary for a required service instantiation. Thus, a network layer instantiation can be defined as a set of network functions and resources to execute these network functions, similar to a complete logical network to achieve certain characteristics required by a service instantiation. It is therefore planned that a multitude of network slice instantiations can be executed simultaneously within the same physical telecommunications network, in order to offer different services through this network. However, at this stage, user access, via their terminal, to either of these instantiations has not been considered. In particular, a conventional mobile terminal in a "4G/LTE" network is always connected to a single, very specific MME ("Mobility Management Entity") and a single S-GW gateway, located in the core of the mobile telecommunications network in this case, in order to obtain different services and access external networks. A conventional mobile terminal therefore does not have the ability to connect to different network slice instantiations such as are envisaged in future networks, which potentially rely on diverse and varied physical and logical resources. The article " OpenFlow as an Architecture for e-Node B Virtualization” by Daniel Philip Venmani et al. ("Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, January 1, 2012, Springer ) describes for its part a 4G-LTE network architecture in which the e-Node B base stations would be virtualized using the OpenFlow protocol, in order to allow network sharing between several network operators, without the mobile terminal intervening in any way in the selection of a network slice. The patent application FR 3 008 843 for its part describes a mechanism for selecting, by a mobile terminal, an access network from among several possible access networks, according to a selection rule obtained from an access network selection device, without mentioning the selection of an instantiation of a network slice within the same physical telecommunications network. The present invention, which is defined by the subject matter of