WO2024252589A1 - Slice requirement division system, slice requirement division method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

This slice requirement division system which divides an end-to-end requirement for a slice constructed across a plurality of management domains in a communication network comprises: an input unit through which the end-to-end requirement is inputted; and a division processing unit which divides the end-to-end requirement into requirements for the respective management domains and outputs the requirements to management units of the respectively corresponding management domains.

Description

Slice requirement division system, slice requirement division method, and program

The present invention relates to a network operation system in the field of communications.

In today's telecommunications networks, an operating system (OpS: Operation System) is provided for each management domain (MD: Management Domain) according to the type of resources, such as the core network (CN: Core Network), transport network (TN: Transport Network), and access network (AN: Access Network), and each OpS is operated by a different maintainer.

When providing a service over a communications network, an end-to-end (E2E) network slice for the service is constructed across multiple MDs. With the introduction of 5G/6G in the future, the number of MDs and network slices is expected to increase further, making it urgent to automate network operation tasks.

Standardization organizations such as ETSI ISG ZSM are studying a method of controlling network slices across resource MDs in networks where multiple resource MDs exist. Figure 5.1-1 in Non-Patent Document 1 discloses the control architecture being studied in ETSI ZSM.

In the ETSI architecture, the Management Functions (MnF) of the E2E Service MD and the MnF of each resource MD are connected by a cross domain integration fabric. The MnF of each resource MD manages the resource MD and provides functions such as data collection and slice construction to enable the E2E Service MD to perform integrated control of the E2E domain.

ETSI GS ZSM 003 V1.1.1 (2021-06), Zero-touch network and Service Management (ZSM); End-to-end management and orches tration of network slicing, https://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/ZSM/001_099/003/01.01.01_60/gs_ZSM003v010101p.pdf

Patent No. 6586228, Route calculation control device and route calculation control method Patent No. 6586237, Resource allocation device and resource allocation method

When constructing an E2E network slice, it is conceivable that the E2E requirements of the slice are divided into requirements for each resource MD (called MD requirements) in the E2E Service MD, and the MnF of each resource MD determines whether it can secure resources that satisfy the divided MD requirements. In conventional technology, the above determination is assumed to be made centrally in the E2E Service MD.

However, conventional technology has the problem that it is not possible to obtain requirements decomposition results that allow efficient resource allocation.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and aims to provide a technology for dividing the E2E requirements of slices constructed across multiple management domains, which results in requirements division that allows efficient resource allocation.

According to the disclosed technology, there is provided a slice requirement division system for dividing end-to-end requirements of a slice constructed across multiple management domains in a communication network, comprising:
an input unit for inputting the end-to-end requirements;
A slice requirement division system is provided, comprising: a division processing unit that divides the end-to-end requirement into requirements for each management domain, and outputs each requirement to a management unit of a corresponding management domain.

The disclosed technology provides a technique for dividing E2E requirements for slices that are constructed across multiple management domains, and for obtaining requirements division results that allow efficient resource allocation.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of a distributed cooperative control system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a format of data exchanged between functional units in the configuration shown in FIG. 1 . 1 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the slice requirement division system 100. FIG. 13 illustrates an example of slice E2E requirement division. FIG. 13 illustrates an example of slice E2E requirement subdivision. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a slice requirement division unit 120 (or a slice requirement division system 100). FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a slice requirement division system 100.

Below, an embodiment of the present invention (present embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applicable is not limited to the embodiment described below.

Below, we will first provide a more detailed explanation of the conventional technology and its problems, and then provide a detailed explanation of the technology related to this embodiment. Note that while the conventional technology disclosed in non-patent documents and patent documents is itself publicly known, the explanation of the conventional technology and the problems described below are not publicly known.

(Regarding conventional technology and issues)
As mentioned above, in the ETSI architecture, the Management Functions (MnF) of the E2E Service MD and the MnF of each resource MD are connected by a cross domain integration fabric. The MnF of each resource MD manages the resource MD and provides functions such as data collection and slice construction for the integrated control of the E2E domain in the E2E Service MD.

When constructing an E2E network slice, it is conceivable that the E2E requirements of the slice are divided into requirements for each resource MD (called MD requirements) at the E2E Service MD, and the MnF of each resource MD determines whether it can secure resources that satisfy the divided MD requirements. Slice requirements take into account parameters such as bandwidth requirements, latency requirements, and availability requirements. In conventional technology, the above determination is assumed to be made centrally at the E2E Service MD.

The standardization is aimed at distributed cooperative control in which the E2E Service MD and each resource MD work together, rather than centralized control in which the E2E Service MD calculates the resource allocation of all MDs.

When considering a distributed cooperative control mechanism like the one described above, the way in which the slice's E2E requirements are divided into MD requirements in the E2E Service MD is important. This is because if the slice E2E requirements are poorly divided, resources may not be secured in each resource MD, and resources may not be allocated optimally overall.

As an example, let us take up delay requirements as slice requirements. When an E2E delay requirement is given, it is necessary to divide it into delay requirements for each resource MD. However, if the delay requirement value assigned to a certain MD is too small, and the requirement cannot be achieved even if resources are allocated in the shortest possible time in that MD, resource allocation will fail and the requirement must be divided again. Conventional technology assumes resource allocation under centralized control, making it difficult to obtain a requirement division result that allows efficient resource allocation.

The following describes the technology that can solve the above problems.

(Overview of the embodiment)
In this embodiment, a technique for appropriately dividing the E2E requirements of a slice in the E2E Service MD into the requirements of each resource MD in a distributed cooperative control system in which the management units of the E2E Service MD and each resource MD cooperate to perform slice control across resource MDs, as in the architecture considered in the ETSI ZSM, will be described. In this embodiment, a slice requirement division system 100 executes a process for appropriately dividing the E2E requirements into the requirements of each resource MD. In the following, the requirements of the resource MD may be referred to as MD requirements.

In this embodiment, the present invention is described by taking as an example a case where the present invention is applied to a distributed cooperative control system based on the architecture considered in ETSI ZSM, but the application of the present invention is not limited to this distributed cooperative control system. The present invention can be applied to various communication systems. The configuration and operation of the system in this embodiment will be described in detail below.

(System configuration example, operation overview)
An example of the configuration of a distributed cooperative control system according to the present embodiment is shown in Fig. 1. The distributed cooperative control system shown in Fig. 1 includes a slice requirement division system 100.

The slice requirement division system 100 belongs to the E2E Service MD and includes a slice requirement division unit 120 and a slice requirement division history storage DB 110.

The slice requirement division system 100 operates in cooperation with the control unit 200 of the E2E Service MD and the management unit 300 of each resource MD. For example, in the case where there is an AN MD, a CN MD, and a TN MD, the slice requirement division system 100 operates in cooperation with each of the management unit 300 of the AN MD, the management unit 300 of the CN MD, and the management unit 300 of the TN MD.

The slice requirement division unit 120 in the slice requirement division system 100 receives the E2E requirements of a slice, for example, from an operator's terminal, and divides the E2E requirements into multiple MD requirements. The slice requirement division history storage DB 110 stores past division history.

The control unit 200 sends control commands to the management unit 300 for each resource MD based on the MD requirements divided by the slice requirement division unit 120.

The management unit 300 in each resource MD is a management function in the MD, and performs tasks such as reporting the resource load status of the MD, determining whether or not resources can be allocated based on the division requirements, and controlling the MD resources based on control commands.

(Example of data format)
FIG. 2 shows an example of the format of data exchanged between the functional units shown in FIG.

The slice E2E requirements input to the slice requirement division unit 120 are slice requirements in E2E, and are composed of parameters such as bandwidth, delay, and availability, as shown in Figure 2A.

The slice MD requirements input from the slice requirement division unit 120 to the resource MD management unit 300 are the result of dividing the slice's E2E requirements into MD requirements, and as shown in FIG. 2B, in addition to the E2E requirement parameters, an MD identifier is assigned so that it is clear which MD the requirement is for. For example, an MD requirement with CN1 assigned as the MD identifier is sent to the MD management unit 300 of CN1.

The resource load status input from the management unit 300 to the slice requirement division unit 120 is the resource usage status for each resource MD, and is composed of a link identifier, a physical resource upper limit, and a resource usage amount, as shown in Figure 2C.

The allocation feasibility result input from the management unit 300 to the slice requirement division unit 120 indicates whether the MD resource can be allocated based on the divided MD requirements, and takes the value OK or NG, as shown in D of Figure 2.

The past history stored in the slice requirement division history storage unit 110 is the conditions of past requirement division and the allocation feasibility results, and includes slice E2E requirements, resource load status, slice MD requirements, allocation feasibility results, etc.

(Example of system operation)
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the slice requirement division system 100. An example of the operation of the slice requirement division system 100 will be described with reference to FIG.

<S101>
In S101, the slice requirement division unit 120 receives E2E requirements for a slice to be newly deployed, which starts the subsequent processing.

<S102>
In S102, the slice requirement division unit 120 acquires the resource load status from the management unit 300 of each of the multiple resources MD as information required for division, and acquires past division history from the slice requirement division history storage DB 110.

<S103>
In S103, the slice requirement division unit 120 divides the E2E requirement of the slice into multiple MD requirements based on the information acquired in S102.

<S104>
In S104, the slice requirement division unit 120 transmits each MD requirement obtained by division to the corresponding resource MD management unit 300. The management unit 300 that receives the MD requirement determines whether or not it is possible to allocate resources to satisfy the MD requirement. The management unit 300 of each resource MD responds to the slice requirement division unit 120 with the result of the determination on whether or not the resource can be allocated.

<S105>
In S105, the slice requirement division unit 120 stores the allocation feasibility result, the E2E requirement, the MD requirement, and the resource load status in the slice requirement division history storage DB 110. More specifically, the slice requirement division unit 120 stores in the slice requirement division history storage DB 110 the E2E requirement, the division result in S103 (MD requirement for each resource MD), the allocation feasibility result for each resource MD, and the resource load status for each resource MD.

<S106>
In S106, the slice requirement division unit 120 judges whether the allocation result is OK for all MDs. If Yes, proceed to S107, and if No, proceed to S108.

<S107>
In S107 where the allocation results are OK for all MDs, the slice requirement division unit 120 instructs the control unit 200 to issue a resource control command to the management unit 300 of each resource MD based on the MD requirements of each resource MD obtained by division. The control unit 200
It issues resource control commands to the management unit 300 of each resource MD.

<S108>
In S108, when there is an MD whose allocation result is NG, the current division result does not allow resources to be secured in E2E, so the slice requirement division unit 120 re-divides the E2E requirement of the slice and returns to S105. In S105, as described above, the management unit 300 of each resource MD judges whether or not it can be allocated. The processes of S105->S106->S108 are repeated until the judgment in S106 is Yes.

(Example)
Next, an embodiment (specific example) of the division process of the E2E requirements of a slice in the slice requirement division unit 120 will be described.

As explained in the flow in Figure 3, the requirements splitting process is broadly divided into "slice E2E requirements splitting" and "slice E2E requirements re-splitting" in the case where the allocation result in the resource MD is NG, so each will be explained below.

<Slice E2E requirements division>
An example of "slice E2E requirement division" is shown in Fig. 4. In the example of Fig. 4, a slice spanning AN to TN2 is the slice to be constructed, and its E2E requirements are "bandwidth: 100 Mbps, delay: 30 ms, availability: 99.9%". The slice requirement division unit 120 divides the E2E requirements into "requirements to be satisfied in AN, requirements to be satisfied in TN1, requirements to be satisfied in CN, and requirements to be satisfied in TN2".

Any method can be used for the division method, but here we will explain two methods as examples: "(1) Equal requirement division" and "(2) Requirements division based on past history."

(1) Equal Requirement Division In equal requirement division, the slice requirement division unit 120 divides the E2E requirement equally according to the number of resource MDs. However, instead of dividing all parameters, a common value is used for the bandwidth requirement because it is necessary to secure the bandwidth specified in all resource MDs.

On the other hand, for delay and availability, which require dividing the requirements and setting them for each resource MD, the E2E requirements are divided so that the values are similar for each resource MD. That is, in the example of Figure 4, the E2E requirement delay of 30 ms is divided into four to calculate a delay of 7.5 ms for each resource MD. Furthermore, for availability, the availability for each resource MD is set to 99.975%, which is 4 times the fourth power, or 99.9%.

The results of the equal requirement division may be adjusted depending on the resource load status obtained from the management unit 300 of each resource MD. For example, in the example of equal requirement division in FIG. 4 (1), when the load on the AN is high (when resources are tight) and the load on the CN is low (when resources are surplus), the delay requirement on the AN may be relaxed (e.g., 8 ms) and the delay requirement on the CN may be tightened (e.g., 7 ms).

(2) Requirements division based on past history In requirements division based on past history, the slice requirements division unit 120 divides requirements based on the trends of division results under similar past division conditions (slice E2E requirements, resource load status).

For example, the slice requirement division unit 120 analyzes the trends of past history where the allocation result in the resource MD was OK, and reflects this in the requirement division of the new slice.

In the example shown in Figure 4, past requirements division results showed that resource allocation was possible even if the domain division requirements for TN1 and TN2 were strict (low delay, high availability), so the requirements for TN1 and TN2 were made stricter and the requirements for CN and AN were relaxed accordingly (longer delay, lower availability).

Specifically, the slice requirement division unit 120 extracts from the slice requirement division history storage DB 110 those division results (division results) that were OK under similar past division conditions (slice E2E requirements, resource load status), calculates the average or median of parameters for each extracted MD requirement, and sets the result as the E2E division value for the new slice.

<Slice E2E requirement re-division>
Fig. 5 shows an example of repartitioning E2E requirements when the resource allocation feasibility judgment is NG. The example in Fig. 5 assumes that the resource allocation feasibility judgment for the result of "(2) Requirements division based on past history" in Fig. 4 is NG.

Any method can be used to repartition the E2E requirements, but here we will explain the method of "repartition based on the resource allocation feasibility result." As shown in Figure 5, the slice requirement division unit 120 relaxes the MD requirements of domains with a resource determination result of NG (longer delay, lower availability), and adjusts the MD requirements of domains with a resource allocation result of OK (smaller delay, higher availability).

When tightening the MD requirements for domains with OK resource allocation results, the decision as to which domains' MD requirements should be tightened may be based on past history or on the current resource load situation.

(Other configuration examples)
In the slice requirement division system 100 in this embodiment, the slice requirement division history storage DB 110 may be provided outside the slice requirement division system 100 .

The slice requirement division unit 120 may also be considered to be the slice requirement division system 100. The slice requirement division system 100 may also be called a slice requirement division device.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the configuration of the slice requirement division unit 120. The configuration shown in FIG. 6 may be considered to be the configuration of the slice requirement division system 100.

As shown in FIG. 6, the slice requirement division unit 120 (slice requirement division system 100) includes an input unit 410 and a division processing unit 420.

The input unit 410 inputs the E2E requirements of the slice. The division processing unit 420 can perform all the processing described so far as the processing of the slice requirement division unit 120. That is, for example, the division processing unit 420 divides the E2E requirements of the slice into requirements for each management domain, and outputs each requirement to the management unit of the corresponding management domain.

(Hardware configuration example)
The slice requirement division system 100 described in this embodiment can be realized, for example, by causing a computer to execute a program. This computer may be a physical computer or a virtual machine on a cloud.

In other words, the slice requirement division system 100 can be realized by executing a program corresponding to the processing performed by the slice requirement division system 100 using hardware resources such as a CPU and memory built into a computer. The above program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as a portable memory) and stored or distributed. The above program can also be provided via a network such as the Internet or email.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the computer. The computer in FIG. 7 has a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, etc., all of which are interconnected by a bus BS. The computer may further include a GPU.

The program that realizes the processing on the computer is provided by a recording medium 1001, such as a CD-ROM or a memory card. When the recording medium 1001 storing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 via the drive device 1000 into the auxiliary storage device 1002. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 1001, but may be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files, data, etc.

When an instruction to start a program is received, the memory device 1003 reads out and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 1002. The CPU 1004 realizes functions related to the slice requirement division system 100 in accordance with the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is used as an interface for connecting to a network, etc. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like according to a program. The input device 1007 is composed of a keyboard and mouse, buttons, a touch panel, etc., and is used to input various operation instructions. The output device 1008 outputs the results of calculations.

(Summary of the embodiment, effects, etc.)
As described above, by introducing the slice requirement division system 100 that divides the E2E requirements of a slice into MD requirements, it is possible to obtain a requirement division result that allows efficient resource allocation.

The following notes are further provided with respect to the above embodiment.

<Additional Notes>
(Additional Note 1)
A slice requirement division system for dividing end-to-end requirements of a slice constructed across multiple management domains in a communication network, comprising:
Memory,
at least one processor coupled to the memory;
Including,
The processor,
inputting said end-to-end requirements;
The slice requirement division system divides the end-to-end requirement into requirements for each management domain, and outputs each requirement to a management unit of a corresponding management domain.
(Additional Note 2)
The slice requirement division system according to claim 1, wherein the processor receives a decision result on whether or not resources can be allocated to the requirements obtained by division from the management unit of each management domain.
(Additional Note 3)
The slice requirement division system described in Appendix 2, wherein if resource allocation is not possible in at least one management domain among the multiple management domains, the processor performs a re-division of the end-to-end requirements and outputs each requirement after the re-division to a management unit of the corresponding management domain.
(Additional Note 4)
The processor,
splitting the end-to-end requirements evenly between the multiple administrative domains; or
The slice requirement division system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising dividing the end-to-end requirement based on a history of past divisions.
(Additional Note 5)
The processor outputs to a database the end-to-end requirements, each requirement obtained by division, the decision on whether or not to allocate resources received from the management unit of each management domain, and the resource load status received from the management unit of each management domain.A slice requirement division system described in any one of appendix 1 to 4.
(Additional Note 6)
A slice requirement division method executed by a slice requirement division system for dividing end-to-end requirements of a slice constructed across multiple management domains in a communication network, comprising:
an input step of inputting the end-to-end requirements;
a division processing step of dividing the end-to-end requirements into requirements for each management domain, and outputting each requirement to a management unit of a corresponding management domain.
(Additional Note 7)
A non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as the input section and the division processing section in the slice requirement division system described in any one of appendix 1 to 5.

The present embodiment has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this specific embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention as described in the claims.

100 Slice requirement division system 110 Slice requirement division history storage DB
120 slice requirement division unit 200 control unit 300 management unit 410 input unit 420 division processing unit 1000 drive device 1001 recording medium 1002 auxiliary storage device 1003 memory device 1004 CPU
1005 Interface device 1006 Display device 1007 Input device 1008 Output device

Claims (7)

A slice requirement division system for dividing end-to-end requirements of a slice constructed across multiple management domains in a communication network, comprising:
an input unit for inputting the end-to-end requirements;
a division processing unit that divides the end-to-end requirements into requirements for each management domain and outputs each requirement to a management unit of a corresponding management domain. The slice requirement division system according to claim 1 , wherein the division processing unit receives a decision result on whether or not resources can be allocated to the requirement obtained by division from a management unit of each management domain. The slice requirement division system of claim 2, wherein when resource allocation is not possible in at least one of the multiple management domains, the division processing unit performs a re-division of the end-to-end requirements and outputs each requirement after the re-division to a management unit of a corresponding management domain. The division processing unit includes:
splitting the end-to-end requirements evenly between the multiple administrative domains; or
The system of claim 1 , further comprising: partitioning the end-to-end requirements based on a history of past partitions. The slice requirement division system of claim 1, wherein the division processing unit outputs to a database the end-to-end requirements, each requirement obtained by division, the judgment result of whether or not resource allocation is possible received from the management unit of each management domain, and the resource load status received from the management unit of each management domain. A slice requirement division method executed by a slice requirement division system for dividing end-to-end requirements of a slice constructed across multiple management domains in a communication network, comprising:
an input step of inputting the end-to-end requirements;
a division processing step of dividing the end-to-end requirements into requirements for each management domain, and outputting each requirement to a management unit of a corresponding management domain. A program for causing a computer to function as the input unit and the division processing unit in the slice requirement division system described in any one of claims 1 to 5.

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