US-20260128948-A1 - METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR UPGRADING RANDOM ACCESS NETWORK IN A COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

US20260128948A1US 20260128948 A1US20260128948 A1US 20260128948A1US-20260128948-A1

Abstract

A pre-5th-Generation (5G) or 5G communication system for supporting higher data rates Beyond 4th-Generation (4G) communication system such as Long Term Evolution (LTE). Method and/or electronic device for managing a software upgrade of a network element of a random access network (RAN) by a management data analytics service (MDAS) producer is provided. The method comprises: receiving a request related to an optimal time for the software upgrade of the network element in the RAN, from a MDAS consumer; identifying information related to a dedicated radio bearer (DRB); identifying information related to the optimal time for the software upgrade of the network element based on the information related to the DBR; and transmitting a report including the information related to the optimal time for the software upgrade of the network element.

Inventors

Karthikeyan Subramaniam
Deepanshu GAUTAM
Karthikeyan Narayanan
Naveen Kumar

Assignees

SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260507
Application Date: 20251230
Priority Date: 20200514

Claims (15)

1 . A method for managing a software upgrade for a radio access network (RAN) node by a management data analytics service (MDAS) producer, wherein the RAN node is connected to a user equipment (UE) through a dedicated radio bearer (DRB) to provide a communication service to the UE, the method comprising: receiving a request related to a time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, from a MDAS consumer; identifying information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node in response to the request; and generating a report including the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node includes a number of guaranteed bit-rate (GBR) DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, a number of non-GBR DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, and the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the request received from the MDAS consumer includes information indicating the network element and a predetermined time window in which the time is included.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is identified based on information related to the DRB comprising at least one of radio bearer state, bearer modification count related to the DRB, or handover in progress information for the DRB.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein further comprising optimizing the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node at least by collaborating with the MDAS consumer, wherein the collaboration involves the MDAS consumer providing a feedback to the MDAS producer regarding optimality of the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
5 . The method of claim 4 , further comprising re-identifying information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node based on the feedback indicating that the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is not optimal.
6 . An electronic device of a management data analytics service (MDAS) producer for managing a software upgrade for a radio access network (RAN) node, wherein the RAN node is connected to a user equipment (UE) through a dedicated radio bearer (DRB) to provide a communication service to the UE, the electronic device comprising: at least one processor comprising processing circuitry; and memory storing instructions which, when executed individually and/or collectively by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to: receive a request related to a time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, identify information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node in response to the request, and transmit a report including the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node includes a number of guaranteed bit-rate (GBR) DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, a number of non-GBR DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, and the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
7 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the request received from the MDAS consumer includes information indicating the network element and a predetermined time window in which the time is included.
8 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is identified based on information related to the DRB comprises radio bearer state, bearer modification count related to the DRB, or handover in progress information for the DRB.
9 . The electronic device of claim 6 , wherein the instructions which, when executed individually and/or collectively by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to optimize the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node at least by collaborating with the MDAS consumer, wherein the collaboration involves the MDAS consumer providing a feedback to the MDAS producer regarding optimality of the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
10 . The electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the instructions which, when executed individually and/or collectively by the at least one processor, cause the electronic device to re-identify the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node based on the feedback indicating that the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is not optimal.
11 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program code which, when executed by at least one processor of an electronic device of (MDAS) producer for managing a software upgrade for a radio access network (RAN) node, causes the electronic device to perform operations, wherein the RAN node is connected to a user equipment (UE) through a dedicated radio bearer (DRB) to provide a communication service to the UE, the operations comprising: receiving a request related to a time for the software upgrade for the RAN node; identifying information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node in response to the request; and transmitting a report including the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node includes a number of guaranteed bit-rate (GBR) DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, a number of non-GBR DRBs at the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node, and the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
12 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the request received from the MDAS consumer includes information indicating the network element and a predetermined time window in which the time is included.
13 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is identified based on information related to the DRB comprises radio bearer state, bearer modification count related to the DRB, or handover in progress information for the DRB.
14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise optimizing the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node at least by collaborating with the MDAS consumer, wherein the collaboration involves the MDAS consumer providing a feedback to the MDAS producer regarding optimality of the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node.
15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 14 , wherein the operations further comprise re-identifying the information related to the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node based on the feedback indicating that the time for the software upgrade for the RAN node is not optimal.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 18/054,296, filed Nov. 10, 2022, which is a PCT-Bypass Continuation of International Application No. PCT/KR2021/005708, filed May 7, 2021, designating the United States, in the Korean Intellectual Property Receiving Office, and claiming priority to IN Patent Application No. 202041020288 (PS), filed May 14, 2020, and to IN Patent Application No. 202041020288 (CS), filed Mar. 12, 2021, the disclosures of which are all hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. BACKGROUND Technical Field Embodiments herein relate to random access network (RAN) upgrade, and more particularly to methods and apparatuses for upgrading the software of a virtual RAN node of a 5th generation (5G) communication network using management data analytics service (MDAS). Description of Related Art To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (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, coordinated multi-points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, hybrid FSK and QAM modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition 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. A telecom network element may include a plurality of software blocks. The software blocks need to be periodically upgraded for fixing bug related issues and introducing new features in the telecom network element. A telecom network operator is likely to trigger a software upgrade of a particular software block or a particular telecom network element at night time, which requires manual intervention. The requirement of manual intervention can strain the telecom network operator, as manual intervention requires having dedicated personnel on standby for checking whether the current traffic conditions are apt for triggering the software update. As the software upgrade is likely to interrupt the availability of services, it is necessary to ensure that the traffic is minimal during the software upgrade. SUMMARY In-service software upgrades allow the network operator to address software bugs and add new features to the telecom network element without interrupting network availability. Although in-service software upgrades are preferred, application of in-service software upgrades on the telecom network elements require introducing changes to the telecom network elements. Various example embodiments disclose methods and/or apparatuses for providing a machine learning (ML) model for predicting an optimal timestamp for upgrading the software of virtual network elements of a 5G network based on analysis of parameters pertaining to the traffic conditions of the virtual network elements of the 5G network. Various example embodiments enable automatic update of the software of the virtual network elements by integrating the ML model with a cloud management system (CMS) such as network functions virtualization management and network orchestration (NFV MANO). Various example embodiments generate a bearer information analytical report (BIAR), by the ML model, on receiving a request from the NFV MANO to provide the optimal timestamp for upgrading the software of virtual network elements, wherein the request specifies at least one target virtual network element and a reporting interval, wherein the NFV MANO initiates a software upgrade of the at least one target virtual network element, based on the BIAR. Various example embodiments generate the BIAR report based on traffic data pertaining to different bearer types, wherein the traffic data is collected from at least one target virtual network element in the 5G network. Various example embodiments provide the BIAR report to the NFV MANO for enabling the NFV MANO to trigger software upgrade of the at least one target virtual network element at the predicted optimal time