US-12625726-B2 - Method and apparatus for improving a multi-access edge computing (MEC) network

US12625726B2US 12625726 B2US12625726 B2US 12625726B2US-12625726-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a communication method and system for converging a 5th-Generation (5G) communication system for supporting higher data rates beyond a 4th-Generation (4G) system with a technology for Internet of Things (IoT). The present disclosure may be applied to intelligent services based on the 5G communication technology and the IoT-related technology, such as smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car, connected car, health care, digital education, smart retail, security and safety services. Disclosed is a method of operating a MEC system, comprising the step of instantiating a first application in the MEC system, which comprises the step of a first entity transmitting an application instantiation request to a second entity, wherein the application instantiation request comprises pre-emption information concerning the first application, such that the pre-emption information may be used to pre-empt the first application in the future, if required.

Inventors

Walter Featherstone

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20210203
Priority Date: 20200203

Claims (14)

1 . A method performed by an operational support system (OSS) in a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system, the method comprising: transmitting, to an MEC orchestrator (MEO), an application instantiation request message for instantiating a first application, wherein the application instantiation request message includes pre-emption information concerning the first application, wherein the pre-emption information is used to pre-empt the first application in the future, if required; transmitting, to the MEO, an application instantiation request message for instantiating a second application; and receiving, from the MEO, an application instantiation response message, wherein pre-emption of the first application is decided by the MEO in response to the application instantiation request message for instantiating the second application, in case that available resources for the second application are insufficient in the MEC system, or in case that the presence of an application conflict associated with the first application and the second application is identified, wherein the application conflict prohibits the first application and the second application running concurrently.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-emption information includes at least one of resource requirements, key performance indicators (KPIs), a priority level, a pre-emption-capability, or a pre-emption-vulnerability associated with the first application.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-emption of the first application comprises either a change in an operational state of the first application or the removal of the first application.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the application instantiation request message for the first application includes information on expiry time of the first application.
5 . A method performed by a multi-access edge computing (MEC) orchestrator (MEO) in an MEC system, the method comprising: receiving, from an operational support system (OSS), an application instantiation request message for instantiating a first application, wherein the first application instantiation request message includes pre-emption information concerning the first application, wherein the pre-emption information is used to pre-empt the first application in the future, if required; transmitting, to a target host, the application instantiation request message for instantiating the first application; receiving, from the OSS, an application instantiation request message for instantiating a second application; and deciding to pre-empt the first application in response to the application instantiation request message for instantiating the second application, in case that available resources for the second application are insufficient in the MEC system, or in case that a presence of an application conflict associated with the first application and the second application is identified; and, transmitting, to the target host, the application instantiation request message for instantiating the second application; wherein the application conflict prohibits the first application and the second application running concurrently.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the application instantiation request message for the first application include information on expiry time.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the pre-emption information includes at least one of resource requirements, key performance indicators (KPIs), a priority level, a pre-emption-capability, or a pre-emption-vulnerability associated with the first application.
8 . A method performed by a target host in a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system, the method comprising: receiving, from an MEC orchestrator (MEO), an application instantiation request message for a first application, wherein the application instantiation request message includes pre-emption information concerning the first application, wherein the pre-emption information is used to pre-empt the first application in the future, if required; receiving, from the OSS, an application instantiation request message for instantiating a second application; and deciding for the pre-emption of the first application in response to the application instantiation request message for instantiating the second application, in case that available resources for the second application are insufficient in the MEC system, or in case that a presence of an application conflict associated with the first application is identified, wherein the application conflict prohibits a first application and a second application running concurrently.
9 . The method of claim 8 , the method further comprising: assessing whether the application conflict is resolved by pre-empting the first application in case that the presence of the application conflict is identified.
10 . The method of claim 8 , the method further comprising: assessing resource availability; and assessing whether the resource availability could be available by pre-empting the first application in case that the resource availability is assessed insufficiently.
11 . The method of claim 10 , the method further comprising: transmitting, to the second entity, an application instantiation response message, in case that the resource availability is available by pre-empting the first application.
12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the application instantiation request message for the first application includes information on expiry time of the first application.
13 . The method of claim 12 , the method further comprising: re-assessing whether the application conflict is resolved by pre-empting the first application, in case that the expiry time has not elapsed.
14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the pre-emption information includes at least one of resource requirements, key performance indicators (KPIs), a priority level, a pre-emption-capability, or a pre-emption-vulnerability associated with the first application.

Description

PRIORITY This application is a National Phase Entry of PCT International Application No. PCT/KR2021/001428, which was filed on Feb. 3, 2021, and claims priority to United Kingdom Patent Application No. 2001451.0, which was filed on Feb. 3, 2020, the entire content of each of which is incorporated herein by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to multi-access edge computing (MEC). BACKGROUND ART To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a ‘Beyond 4G Network’ or a ‘Post LTE System’. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 60 GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Co-ordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) and sliding window su-perposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier (FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed. The Internet, which is a human centered connectivity network where humans generate and consume information, is now evolving to the Internet of Things (IoT) where distributed entities, such as things, exchange and process information without human intervention. The Internet of Everything (IoE), which is a combination of the IoT technology and the Big Data processing technology through connection with a cloud server, has emerged. As technology elements, such as “sensing technology”, “wired/wireless communication and network infrastructure”, “service interface technology”, and “Security technology” have been demanded for IoT implementation, a sensor network, a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and so forth have been recently researched. Such an IoT environment may provide intelligent Internet technology services that create a new value to human life by collecting and analyzing data generated among connected things. IoT may be applied to a variety of fields including smart home, smart building, smart city, smart car or connected cars, smart grid, health care, smart appliances and advanced medical services through convergence and combination between existing Information Technology (IT) and various industrial applications. In line with this, various attempts have been made to apply 5G communication systems to IoT networks. For example, technologies such as a sensor network, Machine Type Communication (MTC), and Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication may be implemented by beamforming, MIMO, and array antennas. Application of a cloud Radio Access Network (RAN) as the above-described Big Data processing technology may also be considered to be as an example of convergence between the 5G technology and the IoT technology. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION Technical Problem The constraints exist since it is impractical, from a cost perspective, to dimension MEC hosts with sufficient resources to run all possible applications all of the time, especially as the number of available applications is only likely to increase over time. The result is that the finite resource available in practice should be carefully managed, since additional capacity cannot be brought into service without physically deploying more computing resource (i.e. server hardware) at the network edge. Therefore, it is preferable that application instances are only located where necessary, since each instance consumes valuable resource. Embodiments of the present invention aim to address shortcomings in the prior art. Solution to Problem In one embodiment, a method performed by a first entity in a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system, the method comprising: transmitting, to a second entity, an application instantiation request message, wherein the application instantiation request message includes pre-emption information associated with a first application, and wherein the pre-emption information is used to pre-empt of the first application. In another embodiment, a method performed by a second entity in a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system, the method comprising: receiving, from a first enti