US-12628030-B2 - Technologies for network path and topology management

US12628030B2US 12628030 B2US12628030 B2US 12628030B2US-12628030-B2

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to techniques for determining optimal routing paths for computing devices in a network, including selecting an optimal gateway among a number of available gateways. The techniques include gathering data regarding characteristics of a network, including gateways and network access nodes (NANs) in at least one access network. The characteristics can include, e.g., supported frequency bands, communication protocols, signal-to-noise ratio, power, signal noise and quality, slicing information, and whether a network vender is a standalone network vendor or a non-standalone network vendor. In one aspect, the characteristics are obtained using the Mobile Broadband Interface Model (MBIM). The characteristics can be used by devices in determining routing paths based on requirements of individual flows and/or workflows of individual application instances.

Inventors

Amar Srivastava
Kshitij A. Doshi
Cristian Florin Dumitrescu
Christian Maciocco

Assignees

INTEL CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20211223

Claims (14)

1 . An apparatus to be associated with one or more network devices, the apparatus comprising: a memory to store instructions; and a processor to execute the instructions, the instructions, when executed by the processor resulting in performance of operations comprising: determine one or more requirements of a subject flow of a set of flows of an application; obtain, from a database, characteristics of at least one radio access network (RAN); and select, for the subject flow, a gateway among a plurality of gateways to access the at least one RAN based on a comparison of the obtained characteristics to the one or more requirements of the subject flow; wherein: the apparatus is to execute the application; the database is to be distributed, at least in part, in respective local versions of the database in the apparatus and the one or more network devices; and the respective local versions of the database are to be updated with updated information to be used in determining dynamic traffic splitting and/or dynamic traffic shaping.
2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the characteristics comprise parameters of a Mobile Broadband Interface Model (MBIM).
3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to select different gateways from among the plurality of gateways to access the at least one RAN for different flows of the application.
4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to select different paths for the subject flow to the at least one RAN at different times.
5 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to select different gateways from among the plurality of gateways for the subject flow at different times.
6 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the selection of the gateway from among the plurality of gateways is based on an output of a multi-objective satisfaction algorithm.
7 . The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to operate the multi-objective satisfaction algorithm to select the gateway from among the plurality of gateways.
8 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to: prioritize selection of a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a network access node (NAN) of a standalone network over a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN of a non-standalone network when a requirement of the one or more requirements is a guaranteed bit rate requirement.
9 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to: prioritize selection of a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN configured to operate at a sub-band greater than 6 GHz over a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN configured to operate at a sub-band less than 6 GHz when a requirement of the one or more requirements is a guaranteed bit rate requirement.
10 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to: prioritize selection of a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN having a higher signal quality than other NANs over a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN having a lower signal quality than at least one other NAN when a requirement of the one or more requirements is a high signal quality requirement.
11 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to: prioritize selection of a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN configured for Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) communication over a gateway among the plurality of gateways in communication with a NAN configured for Time Division Duplex (TDD) communication when a requirement of the one or more requirements is a low latency requirement.
12 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein, when a requirement of the one or more requirements is a requirement for a guaranteed bit rate, the processor is to execute the instructions to: prioritize selection of a default gateway of the plurality of gateways when the default gateway has a capacity to provide the guaranteed bit rate; and prioritize selection of another gateway of the plurality of gateways over the default gateway if the default gateway does not have the capacity to provide the guaranteed bit rate and the other gateway has the capacity to provide the guaranteed bit rate.
13 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is to execute the instructions to: determine, after selection of the gateway among a plurality of gateways, whether an existing connection with the selected gateway can be used to carry the subject flow; and determine whether a new connection can be established for the subject flow when the existing connection of the selected gateway cannot be used to carry the subject flow.
14 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more requirements include at least one of a maximum allowable packet error rate, a packet delay budget, and a quality of service (QoS) classification.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure is generally related to edge computing, cloud computing, network communication, data centers, network topologies, traffic steering and/or shaping techniques, and communication system implementations, and in particular, to techniques for dynamically routing flows along various network paths in a network. BACKGROUND The number and variety of edge devices and Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and their application usages, have increased significantly in the last decade. These devices and their associated networks interact with one another in a wide variety of ways, and may be used in many different modes of operation. One example is Factory 4.0, in which manufacturers are integrating/enabling technologies including IoT devices such as sensors and actuators, cloud computing and analytics. Under these initiatives, a large factory may include thousands of connected devices. However, various challenges are presented by this technology. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different letter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. Some embodiments are illustrated by way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which: FIG. 1 depicts an example arrangement of devices and gateways in networks according to various embodiments. FIG. 2 depicts a flowchart of an example process for creating a database of characteristics of base stations in radio access networks (RANs) according to various embodiments. FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of an example process for using a database of characteristics of base stations in radio access networks (RANs) to select a gateway and a routing path according to various embodiments. FIG. 4 depicts a flowchart of an example implementation of the process of FIG. 2 according to various embodiments. FIG. 5 depicts a flowchart of an example implementation of the process of FIG. 3 according to various embodiments. FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 depict example computing node scenarios according to various embodiments. FIG. 6 illustrates an example edge computing environment. FIG. 7 depicts example components of a compute node. FIG. 8 illustrates an example software distribution platform. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following embodiments generally relate to techniques for determining optimal routing paths for computing devices in a network, including selecting an optimal gateway among a number of available gateways. As mentioned, the deployment of computer devices such as IoT devices in factories or other settings presents various challenges. For example, consider a factory extending over 100,000 square meters. While 4G networks can support a maximum of 100,000 devices per km2, 5G networks will connect up to a million devices per km2, or one device per square meter. This translates to a need to connect up to 100,000 devices, permitting companies to connect every sensor, actuator, or other types of devices in a factory. Given the possible range of operation, it is desirable to bring a degree of prescriptive or opinionated management over how they are configured, deployed, and optimized. Generally, it is imperative to connect the various heterogeneous devices using well-defined interfaces and reliable communication means. To achieve this, the devices must be correctly configured and the operations scaled. These edge and IoT devices are typically inexpensive, single purpose and simple devices that are manually selected and configured, and connected, using a variety of protocols, to each other and to a cloud/network for external connectivity. It is not realistic to expect these numerous simple devices to perform complex decisions in case of network failures. Worst case scenarios can result quickly if a critical operation signal either goes undelivered or is not received in a timely manner. Some examples include the catastrophic life or safety threats when communications do not transpire in a deterministic manner to/from medical cardiac devices such as pacemakers or when time-coordinated signals do not get delivered to defibrillators. In additional to the example of a factory, the device can be deployed in other settings such as a home or vehicle. For example, a representative home edge/IoT network includes a personal subnetwork connecting devices such smart phones, smart watches, laptops, health or activity sensors, etc. A typical car subnetwork links Lidar, Sensors, gyroscopes, acceleration sensors, smart phones and/or other devices as applicable. When edge/IoT devices that belong to a particular subnetwork interact with other subnetworks and/or other external subnetworks, important concerns relating to finding best routing paths are raised. These include, for example, managing topology, minimizing energy, maximizing connectivity, achieving high operational efficiency, and so on. As