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EP-4740542-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LEADER ELECTION AND TRAFFIC ROUTING IN TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

EP4740542A1EP 4740542 A1EP4740542 A1EP 4740542A1EP-4740542-A1

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamic leader election in telecommunication systems, e.g. 3GPP 5G or 6G system. The dynamic leader election refers to selecting among a group of devices a device to be the leader device and routes a traffic toward the selected leader device. The solution allows leader election requirements to be provided from an external entity to the system.

Inventors

  • LI, XU
  • SHI, Weisen
  • YANG, Chenchen
  • ZHANG, HANG

Assignees

  • Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20230728

Claims (20)

  1. A method in a communication network, the method comprising, by a first function (TCF) : receiving one or more policies indicative of parameters for a leader election for a group of devices; performing the leader election to elect a member of the group of devices as a leader device based on the one or more policies; and initiating data plane path management operations to cause select traffic to be routed toward the leader device.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, by a second function: receiving a request to perform the leader election for the group of devices; sending, toward the first function, the one or more policies generated based on the request.
  3. The method of claim 2, wherein the request includes one or more of: traffic information for use in identifying the select traffic for said causing the select traffic to be routed toward the leader device; device information for use in identifying the group of devices; device information for use in identifying one or more traffic sources generating the select traffic; a leader election indication indicative that the leader election is to be performed; traffic source selection information indicating whether or not all devices indicated by the device information can act as the traffic sources; information indicative of validity conditions specifying time, location, or both time and location at which the first function is to perform the leader election; and information indicative of validity conditions specifying time, location, or both time and location at which the first function is to perform selection of the traffic sources.
  4. The method of claim 3, wherein the leader election indication includes information regarding whether the leader election is to be performed in one iteration or in multiple iterations.
  5. The method of claim 3, wherein the leader election indication includes leader election criteria to be respected or considered during the leader election.
  6. The method of claim 5, wherein the leader election criteria includes one or more of: computing power, remaining energy, availability of data, and sufficiency of data.
  7. The method of claim 3, wherein the leader election indication is further indicative that the select traffic is to be routed to the leader device.
  8. The method of claim 3, wherein the group of devices is separate, identical, or overlapping with the one or more traffic sources.
  9. The method of any one of claims 2 to 8, further comprising, by a third function: sending the request toward the second function.
  10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the select traffic comprises data plane traffic from one or more traffic sources.
  11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the select traffic is identified based on one or a combination of: a source address, a destination address, and one or more port numbers.
  12. The method of any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein the data plane path management operations comprise selection of data plane paths toward the leader device, or selection of data plane paths from traffic sources generating the select traffic, or configuration of one or more data plane functions handling said select traffic, or a combination thereof.
  13. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more data plane functions include one or both of: a data plane function operating as a data plane anchor (DPA) for the leader device; and a data plane function operating as a DPA for one or more of the traffic sources.
  14. The method of any one of claims 1 to 13, further comprising, by the first function: selecting one or more traffic sources from the group of devices or from another group of devices, the traffic sources being potential sources of the select traffic.
  15. The method of any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the leader election is performed at least in part taking into account current or statistical network status or network conditions, status of members of the group of devices, or a combination thereof.
  16. The method of any one of claims 1 to 15, wherein said data plane paths management operations comprise: initiating notification to said member of the group of devices, that said member is selected to be the leader device; initiating, via messaging, operation of a path management function (PMF) to configure one or more data plane functions (DPFs) to detect and process select traffic and route the select traffic toward the leader device.
  17. The method of claim 16, wherein the notification that said member is selected to be the leader device is included in a non-access stratum (NAS) message sent to said member of the group of devices through a radio access network (RAN) .
  18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the PMF is integrated with the first function.
  19. The method of any one of claims 1 to 18, wherein said data plane paths management operations comprise: initiating, , via messaging, operation of a path management function (PMF) to select data plane (DP) paths for use in routing the select traffic from one or more traffic sources toward the leader device, routing traffic from the leader device to the one or more traffic sources, or both.
  20. The method of claim 19, further comprising, by the PMF, selecting the DP paths.

Description

SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LEADER ELECTION AND TRAFFIC ROUTING IN TELECOMMUNICATION SYSTEMS TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure generally pertains to telecommunication systems such as 5th generation (5G) or 6th generation (6G) systems and, in particular, to a system and a method for leader device election and associated traffic routing in such telecommunication systems. BACKGROUND For some applications (e.g. peer-to-peer gaming) , and in the context of telecommunication networking, traffic may be required to be routed to a leader device (e.g. acting as game host) among a group of devices. The traffic is related to the application and is referred to as application traffic. The application traffic is originated or transmitted from one or multiple traffic sources (TS) , each of which may be an application server (AS) or a device. In some scenarios, a device in the group of devices is a TS generating at least part of the application traffic. The leader may need to be dynamically elected from the group of devices, taking a number of factors into consideration, e.g. device status (like remaining energy, computing resource availability) and network status (throughput, delay) . In various scenarios, a device among the group of devices should be dynamically elected as, or selected to be, the leader with respect to those factors (e.g. different devices act as the game host in turn in peer-to-peer gaming) . The device elected as the leader is referred to as the leader device. Due to the current deficit in this area, there is a need to develop systems and methods of enabling such dynamic leader election in telecommunication systems, e.g. the 5G system or 6G systems. The leader election problem described above may be viewed as a traffic routing problem, where the traffic is routed to a selected device. The application function (AF) influence on traffic routing feature in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) 5G system allows an AF to influence the session management function’s (SMF’s) traffic routing decision by providing traffic routing requirements. The traffic routing requirements are provided to the policy control function (PCF) , which then transform them to policies and send the policies to relevant SMFs. The AF influence on traffic routing feature in the 3GPP 5G system is limited to traffic routing to a data network (DN) , where the traffic requirements indicate a list of potential application locations that the traffic should be routed to. The potential application locations are expressed by data network access identifiers (DNAIs) , which identify locations where the DN can be accessed. When the SMF selects a user plane path (including user plane functions UPFs) ) to route the traffic, the SMF also selects a DNAI. The user plane path selection and the DNAI selection can be performed jointly to provide for user plane efficiency. However, such a feature cannot at present be used to solve the issues addressed in this invention, which requires the traffic to be routed to a device, rather than toward a DNAI (e.g. a location identified by the DNAI) . Therefore, there is a need for leader election systems and methods which obviate or mitigate one or more limitations in the prior art. This background information is provided to reveal information believed by the applicant to be of possible relevance to the present invention. No admission is necessarily intended, nor should be construed, that any of the preceding information constitutes prior art against the present invention. SUMMARY Embodiments of this disclosure provide for systems and methods supporting dynamic leader election among a group of devices. Network functions, for example in a 3GPP 5G or 6G network operate to elect a leader from the group. Additionally, data plane path management operations are initiated or performed by such network functions to support interactions with the elected leader. A technical effect according to various embodiments is the development and provision of systems and methods to support dynamic leader election in telecommunication systems, e.g. 5G or 6G systems. The dynamic leader election refers to selecting, from among a group of potential (candidate) devices, a device to be the leader device. Traffic is then routed to the selected leader device from other devices, referred to as traffic sources, which may be mobile devices, server devices, or the like, or a combination thereof. The leader may process the traffic and reply to the other devices or yet further devices. The traffic can be associated with one or more particular applications. According to embodiments, there is provided a method performed in a communication network. The method includes the following operations by a first function, which may be a traffic coordination function (TCF) . The method includes receiving one or more policies indicative of parameters for a leader election for a group of devices. the method includes performing the leader election to elect a memb