EP-4738936-A1 - APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING COMMUNICATION, AND OPERATION METHOD THEREOF

EP4738936A1EP 4738936 A1EP4738936 A1EP 4738936A1EP-4738936-A1

Abstract

This first network entity which performs communication in a wireless communication system supporting a network slice comprises: a memory that stores instructions; a transmission/reception unit; and at least one processor that is operatively connected to the memory and the transmission/reception unit, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions that instruct the first network entity to: receive, from a second network entity, a request for activation or deactivation of a network slice instance (NSI) for a first geographical coverage area; retrieve a list including at least one of at least one network slice subnet instance (NSSI) and at least one network slice subnet management function (NSSMF); and transmit, to a third network entity, a request for activating or deactivating the NSSI, wherein each of the at least one NSSI and the at least one NSSMF supports at least one of the first geographical coverage area and an area code list mapped to the first geographic coverage area, and wherein the NSSI is mapped to at least one of the first geographical coverage area and the area code list.

Inventors

KIENIG, Jan
SLOWIKOWSKI, PAWEL
KWIATKOWSKI, Gracjan

Assignees

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20241023

Claims (15)

A first network entity performing communication in a wireless communication system supporting a network slice, comprising: memory storing instructions; a transceiver; and at least one processor operatively connected to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the first network entity to: receive, from a second network entity, a request to activate or deactivate a network slice instance (NSI) for a first geographical coverage area; search for a list comprising at least one of: at least one network slice subnet instance (NSSI), or at least one network slice subnet management entity function (NSSMF); and send a request to a third network entity to activate or deactivate an NSSI, wherein the at least one NSSI and the at least one NSSMF each support at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or an area code list mapped to the first geographical coverage area, and wherein the NSSI is mapped to at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or the area code list.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the NSI comprises a plurality of geographical coverage areas comprising the first geographical coverage area.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the second network entity comprises: a user device; a communication service management function (CSMF) entity; an operations support systems (OSS); or a business support systems (BSS).
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the request from the second network entity comprises at least one of an area code mapped to the first geographical coverage area, a geographical coordinate of the first geographical coverage area, a geographical name of the first geographical coverage area, a postal code of the first geographical coverage area, or a network function list of the first geographical coverage area.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the request to the third network entity further comprises a second geographical coverage area, and wherein the first geographical coverage area and the second geographical coverage area overlap with each other.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the first network entity to: convert the first geographical coverage area into an area code; and include the area code in the request to the third network entity.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the first network entity to: apply an update to a state of the NSI based on sending the request to the third network entity, wherein the update to the state comprises a first update to at least one of: an NSI administrativeState, an NSI operationalState, an NSI coverageArea administrativeState, or an NSI coverageAre operationState, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the first network entity to: send the request to the third network entity to activate or deactivate a plurality of NSSIs; and apply the update to the state of the NSI with respect to the plurality of NSSIs.
The first network entity of claim 1, wherein the second network entity is a network slice management entity function (NSMF), wherein the third network entity is an NSSMF, and wherein the second network entity and the third network entity are included in a network slice system.
A method performed by a first network entity in a wireless communication system supporting a network slice, the method comprising: receiving, from a second network entity, a request to activate or deactivate a network slice instance (NSI) for a first geographical coverage area; searching for a list including at least one of at least one network slice subnet instance (NSSI) or at least one network slice subnet management entity function (NSSMF); and sending a request to a third network entity to activate or deactivate an NSSI, wherein the at least one NSSI and the at least one NSSMF each support at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or an area code list mapped to the first geographical coverage area, and wherein the NSSI is mapped to at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or the area code list.
The method of claim 9, wherein the NSI includes a plurality of geographical coverage areas including the first geographical coverage area.
The method of claim 9, wherein the request from the second network entity comprises at least one of an area code mapped to the first geographical coverage area, a geographical coordinate of the first geographical coverage area, a geographical name of the first geographical coverage area, a postal code of the first geographical coverage area, or a network function list of the first geographical coverage area.
The method of claim 9, wherein the request to the third network entity further comprises a second geographical coverage area, and wherein the first geographical coverage area and the second geographical coverage area overlap with each other.
The method of claim 9, further comprising converting the first geographical coverage area into an area code; and including the area code in the request to the third network entity.
The method of claim 9, further comprising applying an update to a state of the NSI based on sending the request to the third network entity.
The method of claim 14, wherein the applying the update to the state comprises a first update to at least one of an NSI administrativeState, an NSI operationalState, an NSI coverageArea administrativeState, or an NSI coverageAre operationState, wherein the sending the request to the third network entity is to activate or deactivate a plurality of NSSIs, and wherein the applying the update to the state of the NSI is performed with respect to the plurality of NSSIs.

Description

[TECHNICAL FIELD] The disclosure relates to a device for performing communications and a method for operating the same. [BACKGROUND ART] In order to meet the demand for wireless data traffic soaring since the 4G communication system came to the market, there are ongoing efforts to develop enhanced 5G communication systems or pre-5G communication systems. For the reasons, the 5G communication system or pre-5G communication system is called the beyond 4G network communication system or post long-term evolution (LTE) system. For higher data transmit rates, 5G communication systems are considered to be implemented on ultra-high frequency bands (mm Wave), such as, for example, 60GHz. To mitigate pathloss on the ultra-high frequency band and increase the reach of radio waves, the following techniques are taken into account for the 5G communication system: beamforming, massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO), full dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, analog beamforming, and large scale antenna. Also being developed are various technologies for the 5G communication system to have an enhanced network, such as evolved or advanced small cell, cloud radio access network (cloud RAN), ultra-dense network, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, coordinated multi-point (CoMP), and interference cancellation. There are also other various schemes under development for the 5G system including, for example, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC), which are advanced coding modulation (ACM) schemes, and filter bank multi-carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NoMA) and sparse code multiple access (SCMA), which are advanced access schemes. The area of network slicing, which may increase monetization of 5G solutions, is being targeted. Network slicing is a technique that allows creating at least one logically separated network slice using different configurations and quality of service (QoS) requirements on a shared basic infrastructure. In this network slicing technology, however, a method to efficiently activate or deactivate management entities is desired. [DISCLOSURE] [TECHNICAL SOLUTION] Provided is a device capable of activating or deactivating a network slice in a selected geographical coverage area and a method for operating the same. According to one or more embodiments, a first network entity performing communication in a wireless communication system supporting a network slice, includes: a memory storing instructions; a transceiver; and at least one processor operatively connected to the memory and the transceiver, wherein the at least one processor is configured to execute the instructions to cause the first network entity to: receive, from a second network entity, a request to activate or deactivate a network slice instance (NSI) for a first geographical coverage area; search for a list including at least one of: at least one network slice subnet instance (NSSI), or at least one network slice subnet management entity function (NSSMF); and send a request to a third network entity to activate or deactivate an NSSI, wherein the at least one NSSI and the at least one NSSMF each support at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or an area code list mapped to the first geographical coverage area, and wherein the NSSI is mapped to at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or the area code list. According to one or more embodiments, a method performed by a first network entity in a wireless communication system supporting a network slice, includes: receiving, from a second network entity, a request to activate or deactivate a network slice instance (NSI) for a first geographical coverage area; searching for a list including at least one of at least one network slice subnet instance (NSSI) or at least one network slice subnet management entity function (NSSMF); and sending a request to a third network entity to activate or deactivate an NSSI, wherein the at least one NSSI and the at least one NSSMF each support at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or an area code list mapped to the first geographical coverage area, and wherein the NSSI is mapped to at least one of: the first geographical coverage area, or the area code list. [DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain embodiments of the present disclosure are more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a structure of a service-based 5G network;FIG. 2 is a view illustrating a signal flow when a root-NSSI referenced by an NSI is activated under the assumption that an entity is not shared in a system;FIG. 3 is a view illustrating a geographical activation procedure of an NSI according to one or more embodiments;FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a geographical deactivation procedure of