CN110535679B

CN110535679B - Slice management method, architecture, network slice sales platform and management system

Info

Publication number: CN110535679B
Application number: CN201910613969.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 张思雨; 李晓成; 程宝平
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Hangzhou Information Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-07-09
Filing date: 2019-07-09
Publication date: 2022-11-29
Anticipated expiration: 2039-07-09
Also published as: CN110535679A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, and discloses a slice management method, a slice management architecture, a network slice sales platform and a slice management system. In the present invention, the method for managing slices includes: recommending slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user; generating an order according to the slicing product selected by the user; after the successful payment of the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to a network slicing management system so that the network slicing management system can create a network slicing example according to the order information, and therefore when a user wants to obtain a required network slicing product so as to obtain a corresponding network service, the communication cost with an operator is reduced, the time required for the user to spend is reduced, and the user can conveniently select the required slicing product to obtain the required network service.

Description

Slice management method, architecture, network slice sales platform and management system

Technical Field

The embodiment of the invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a slice management method, a slice management architecture, a network slice sales platform and a slice management system.

Background

With the continuous emergence of various communication services, the requirements of different communication services for network performance are significantly different, and the fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) system introduces the concept of Network Slice (NS) to cope with the difference of the requirements of different communication services for network performance. With the development of the internet and the internet of things, differentiation requirements are provided for mobile communication networks, and operators need to provide network slice products with different performance indexes to meet the actual requirements of a large number of users. At present, most of the network slice providing and managing methods focus on the network side management method and internal logic of the network slice, i.e., how to manage and schedule network resources.

However, the inventors found that at least the following problems exist in the related art of network slice management: the communication cost between the user and the operator for obtaining the required network slicing product is high, the time is long, and the user is inconvenient to select the required network slicing product.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention aims to provide a slicing management method, a slicing management framework, a network slicing sales platform and a slicing management system, so that when a user wants to obtain a required network slicing product so as to obtain a corresponding network service, the communication cost with an operator is reduced, the time required for the user is reduced, and the user can conveniently select the required slicing product to obtain the required network service.

In order to solve the above technical problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides a slice management method applied to a network slice sales platform, where the method includes: recommending slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user; generating an order according to the slicing product selected by the user; and after the successful payment of the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to a network slicing management system, so that the network slicing management system can create a network slicing instance according to the order information.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a slice management method, which is applied to a network slice management system and comprises the following steps: after receiving information of an order sent by a network slice sales platform, generating a network service descriptor file according to the information of the order; the network slicing sale platform recommends slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user, generates an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sends information of the order to the network slicing management system after detecting that payment on the order is successful; and sending the network service descriptor file to a network function virtualization management orchestrator so that the network function virtualization management orchestrator creates a network slice instance according to the network service descriptor file.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a network slicing sale platform, which comprises: at least one processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform a method of slice management as described above for a network slice sales platform.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a network slice management system, including: at least one processor; and a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; wherein the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform a method of slice management as described above for a network slice management system.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a slice management architecture, which comprises: the system comprises a network slice sales platform, a network slice management system and a network function virtualization management orchestrator; the network slicing sale platform is used for recommending slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user, generating an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sending information of the order to the network slicing management system after detecting that payment on the order is successful; the network slicing management system is used for generating a network service descriptor file according to the order information after receiving the order information sent by the network slicing sales platform, and sending the network service descriptor file to the network function virtualization management orchestrator; the network function virtualization management orchestrator is to create a network slice instance from the network service descriptor file.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the invention provides a user-oriented slicing management method, a network slicing sale platform recommends slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user, so that the slicing products provided by an operator can be displayed online on the network slicing sale platform, and the user can conveniently and directly select the required slicing products online according to the slicing products recommended by the network slicing sale platform. And then the network slicing sale platform generates an order according to the slicing product selected by the user, and after the successful payment to the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to the network slicing management system, so that the network slicing management system creates a network slicing example according to the information of the order, and a process based on the online direct purchasing and payment of the user is provided, so that the network slicing management system can create the network slicing example according to the information of the order, and the created network slicing example can provide network service required by the user. The embodiment of the invention introduces a network slicing sale platform and a network slicing management system of an operator between a user and the operator, provides an online and operation flow of slicing products facing the operator, and also provides an online recommendation, purchase and payment flow facing the user, thereby providing convenience for communication between the user and the operator, reducing the communication cost between the user and the operator, reducing the time spent for ordering proper slicing products, and facilitating the user to select required slicing products, thereby obtaining required network services.

Additionally, prior to the recommending slicing products to the user, comprising: displaying sliced products on the network sliced sales platform to the user; wherein, the slicing products on the network slicing sale platform are marked with scene labels in advance; acquiring a scene label selected by the user; the recommending slicing products to the user specifically comprises: recommending the slicing product marked with the acquired scene label to the user. In some embodiments of the invention, slicing products on the network slicing sales platform are classified in advance according to application scenes, and the slicing products on the network slicing sales platform are all marked with scene labels in advance, so that the slicing products marked with the scene labels selected by the user can be recommended to the user in a targeted manner, the selection range of the user can be narrowed while the actual requirements of the user can be met, and the user can conveniently and quickly select the required slicing products in a small range.

In addition, the query request information carries a scene tag, and the recommending of the slicing product to the user specifically includes: recommending the slicing products marked with the carried scene labels to the user according to the scene labels carried in the query request information; wherein, the slicing products on the network slicing sale platform are marked with scene labels in advance. By directly carrying the scene tags in the query request information, the network slicing sale platform can directly recommend the slicing products marked with the carried scene tags to the user after receiving the query request information, so that the actual requirements of the user can be met, the selection range of the user is narrowed, and the user can conveniently and quickly select the required slicing products in a small range.

In addition, generating order information according to the sliced product selected by the user comprises: providing a slicing template corresponding to the selected slicing product for the user according to the slicing product selected by the user, so that the user can fill in parameters of performance indexes of the slicing template; acquiring parameters of performance indexes of the slice template filled by the user; and generating order information according to the acquired parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template. By providing the slicing template for the user, the user can fill in the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template according to actual needs, so that network resources with parameter performances of different dimensions can be provided for application scenes, and the requirements of the user on the performance index parameter performances of different dimensions can be met.

In addition, after the sending the information of the order to the network slice management system, the method further includes: if modification request information of the user for the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template is received, providing the slicing template for the user so that the user can modify the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template; acquiring parameters of performance indexes of the slice template modified by the user; generating a modified order according to the modified parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template; and after the payment of the modified order is successfully detected, sending the information of the modified order to the network slicing management system so that the network slicing management system modifies the network slicing instance according to the information of the modified order. Some embodiments of the present invention provide an after-sale modification process, so that the created network slice instance can be modified according to the change of the actual requirements of the user, thereby obtaining the required network service and facilitating the improvement of the user experience.

Drawings

One or more embodiments are illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which correspond to and are not to be construed as limiting the embodiments, in which elements having the same reference numeral designations represent like elements throughout, and in which the drawings are not to be construed as limiting in scale unless otherwise specified.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart of a management method of slices according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a networking structure of a slice providing method according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an interaction diagram of a user purchasing a sliced product according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of an interaction requesting termination of a network service according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a management method of slices according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an interaction diagram of a user requesting modification of a sliced product in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flow chart of NSMS processing a request according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a management method of slices according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network slice sales platform according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic configuration diagram of a network slice management system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a slice management architecture according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more apparent, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that numerous technical details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present application in various embodiments of the present invention. However, the technical solution claimed in the present application can be implemented without these technical details and various changes and modifications based on the following embodiments. The following embodiments are divided for convenience of description, and should not constitute any limitation to the specific implementation manner of the present invention, and the embodiments may be mutually incorporated and referred to without contradiction.

The first embodiment of the present invention relates to a Slice management method, which is applied to a Network Slice sales platform (NS Store for short). The slice in this embodiment and the following embodiments may be a network slice, and a network slice may be understood as a network slice that is customized according to different service requirements on a physical or virtual network infrastructure. The NS Store may be an operation Management platform connecting a user and an operator, and the NS Store may provide functions such as slicing product classification, slicing product display, slicing product recommendation, order Management, and user Management, and may also provide an add-delete check interface for a slicing product for a slicing Management System (NSMS) inside the operator, and provide a purchase flow for the slicing product for the user and the operator, where the add-delete check may be understood as adding the slicing product to the NS Store by the NSMS, deleting the slicing product, modifying the slicing product, and querying the slicing product. The NSMS may be responsible for functions of design, online, instantiation, modification, termination, and the like of a sliced product, and interface with a network function virtualization management orchestrator (NFV MANO for short) of an operator to realize management of network slices. The following describes implementation details of the slice management method according to the present embodiment in detail, and the following is only provided for easy understanding and is not necessary for implementing the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 1, the slice management method in the present embodiment may specifically include:

step 101: and recommending the slicing products to the user after receiving the query request information of the user.

Specifically, the user can send query request information to the NS Store through the terminal device, and after receiving the query request information sent by the user through the terminal device, the NS Store can push the slicing products on line to the terminal used by the user, so that the user can view the slicing products recommended by the NS Store through the terminal. The user may select among the slicing products recommended by the NS Store to select a desired slicing product.

In one example, the slicing products on the NS Store may be pre-labeled with scene labels, the slicing products applicable to different application scenes are labeled with different scene labels, and the different application scenes may include: an enhanced mobile broadband (eMB) scene, which has high requirements for bandwidth and rate and needs xGbps bandwidth, such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and other scenes; a massive machine type communication (mtc) scenario, where the mtc scenario needs to support massive device access, for example, hundreds of millions or billions of devices need to be supported, for example, a wearable scenario, a smart grid, and other scenarios; ultra-reliable and low latency communications (urlllc for short) scenarios need to support ultra-low latency of 1ms, such as scenarios of automatic driving, remote surgery, industrial control, etc. The application scenarios in the present embodiment are only the above-described eMBB scenario, mtc scenario, and urrllc scenario, and are not limited to this in practical applications. The NS Store may classify the sliced products on the platform according to the applicable application scenarios, and label the sliced products with corresponding scenario labels. For example, an eMBB tag is added to a slice product applicable to an eMBB scene, and an mtc tag is added to a slice applicable to an mtc scene. It can be understood that the mtc tag can be added to a virtual reality slicing product and an augmented reality slicing product, and the urrllc tag can be added to an industrial control slicing product, a medical control slicing product, an automatic driving control slicing product, and other slicing products.

In an example, after receiving the query request information of the user, the NS Store may first show the slicing products, which are labeled with different scene labels and are suitable for different application scenes, to the user, and specifically, the NS Store may optionally select the slicing products, which are labeled with different scene labels, to show the slicing products to the user, and the user may select one of the scene labels according to the scene labels labeled by the slicing products. The mode of the user selecting the scene tags may also be that the NS Store directly displays all the scene tags to the user, and the user selects one of the scene tags displayed on the NS Store. The NS Store recommends the slicing product labeled with the user-selected scene tag to the user according to the user-selected scene tag. For example, if the scene tag selected by the user according to the actual requirement is a uRLLC tag, the NS Store may recommend to the user slicing products such as an industrial control slicing product, a medical control slicing product, and an automatic driving control slicing product, which are labeled with the uRLLC tag.

In one example, the NS Store may directly carry the scene tag in the query request information received from the user, and the NS Store recommends the slicing product labeled with the carried scene tag to the user according to the scene tag carried in the query request information. For example, if the scene tag carried in the query request information received by the NS Store is an mtc tag, the NS Store may recommend slice products such as virtual reality slice products and augmented reality slice products labeled with the mtc tag to the user.

Step 102: an order is generated according to the slicing product selected by the user.

Specifically, the NS Store may provide the user with a slicing template corresponding to the selected slicing product according to the slicing product selected by the user, so that the user fills in parameters of performance indexes of the slicing template. The slicing products suitable for different application scenes correspond to different slicing templates, that is, different application scenes correspond to different slicing templates, and the slicing templates can be used for refining parameters of performance indexes of the slicing products. The performance index may include: speed, time delay, access quantity and other indexes. The slice templates corresponding to different application scenes have respective outstanding performance, and the following description takes the slice template corresponding to the eMBB scene as an example: it can be appreciated that the eMBB scenario has high requirements on rate and relatively low requirements on access amount and latency.

In an example, a slice template corresponding to the eMBB scenario may provide a plurality of parameter values for a rate to be selected by a user, for example, 10 parameter values may be provided, and a smaller parameter value may be provided for the user to be selected for an access amount and a delay, for example, the parameter value may be fixed to be within 3, so as to highlight a key characteristic, that is, the rate, in the eMBB scenario. The parameter value of each performance index finally selected by the user is the parameter of the performance index of the slicing template filled by the user.

In another example, a plurality of parameter value ranges may be provided for the user to refer to for the rate in the slicing template corresponding to the eMBB scenario, and the user may refer to the parameter value ranges of the rate in the slicing template and select one parameter value in one of the parameter value ranges as a parameter value of the rate of the filled slicing template according to an actual requirement. For the access amount and the time delay, the slice template corresponding to the eMBB scenario may also provide a plurality of parameter value ranges for the user to refer to, but in the eMBB scenario, the number of the parameter value ranges provided for the access amount and the time delay is smaller than the number of the parameter value ranges provided for the rate, so as to highlight important characteristics in the eMBB scenario. For example, the number of parameter value ranges provided for the access amount and the delay is fixed within 3, and the number of parameter value ranges provided for the rate is fixed to 10. It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the number of parameter values or parameter value ranges provided for different performance indexes is only an example of the number, and is not limited in practical application.

It can be understood that, in the embodiment, different application scenarios correspond to different slice templates, and in the same application scenario, parameter values filled by a user according to requirements may also have differences for the same slice template, so that the network resources with different dimensional parameter performances provided for the same application scenario are facilitated to meet actual requirements of different users.

In this embodiment, after acquiring the parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template filled by the user, the NS Store may generate the order information according to the parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template filled by the user. The order information may include user information, parameters of performance indexes filled by the user, amount of money to be paid by the user, and the like, and the user information may be a company or an individual user name, account information, a physical address, and the like. The NS Store may feed back the generated order information to the user, who may choose whether to complete payment for the order after viewing the order information.

Step 103: and after the successful payment to the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to the network slicing management system, so that the network slicing management system can create a network slicing instance according to the information of the order.

Specifically, after detecting that the payment for the order is successful, the NS Store may send the information of the order to the NSMS, so that the NSMS obtains the user information and the parameter of the performance index of the slice template filled by the user according to the received order information, and further, the NSMS may create a network slice instance according to the user information and the parameter of the performance index of the slice template filled by the user.

In this embodiment, the method for creating the network slice instance by the NSMS may be as follows: the NSMS generates a Network Service Descriptor (NSD) file according to the received order information. Specifically, the NSMS may generate an NSD file according to a parameter of a performance index in the information of the order, where the NSD file is used to describe a network topology of the network slice instance that needs to be created and required resource information. Then, the NSMS sends the generated NSD file to an NFV MANO of an operator, the NFV MANO parses the NSD file to generate a Virtualization Network Function Descriptor (VNFD) file, the VNFD file describes a configuration template of deployment and operation behaviors of each Virtualization Network Function (VNF), a Network Slice Instance can be created by using the VNFD file, and lifecycle management of the Network Slice Instance (NSI) is implemented. The instance of the network slice created by the NFV MANO is a logical network that operates in reality and can satisfy the network services required by the user.

To facilitate understanding of the present embodiment, reference may be made to a networking structure diagram of the slice providing method shown in fig. 2, where the networking structure diagram includes a user side 201, an NS Store202, an NSMS203, an NFV MANO204, an Element Management System (EMS for short) 205, a VNF206, and a Network function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI for short) 207. The EMS205 is configured to issue service configuration of the network function to the network function. VNF206 may be deployed in an implementation of a network function module of a network function virtualization infrastructure. NFVI207 is a generic term for all hardware devices and software components in an environment with the capability to deploy network function virtualization. The implementation process of the slice providing method under the networking structure may be: the method comprises the steps that a user side 201 sends query request information to an NS Store202, the NS Store202 recommends slicing products to the user side 201, the user side 201 feeds back slicing products selected by a user to the NS Store202, the NS Store202 generates orders according to the slicing products selected by the user, after successful payment of the orders is detected, the information of the orders is sent to an NSMS203, the NSMS203 generates NSD files according to the information of the orders and sends the NSD files to an NFV MANO204, the NFV MANO204 analyzes the NSD files to obtain VNFD files, and during the process of creating network slicing examples, virtualized network function deployment and operation information captured in the VNFD files, and additional operation example specific information and constraint conditions are used.

Specifically, the NFV MANO204 is responsible for managing and orchestrating the entire network function virtualization infrastructure and NFVI resources, for mapping and associating the service network and NFVI resources, for implementing the Operation Support System (OSS) service resource flow, and the like. The NFV MANO204 includes a Network Function Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO) 2041, a Virtualized Network Function module Manager (VNFM) 2042, and a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 2043. The NFVO2041 is configured to manage a Network Service (NS) lifecycle, coordinate management of the NS lifecycle, coordinate management of the VNF lifecycle (which needs to be supported by a VNF manager VNFM), and coordinate management of various NFVI resources (which needs to be supported by a VIM), so as to ensure optimal configuration of various required resources and connections. VNFM2042 is used for lifecycle management of virtualized network function modules. The VIM2043 is responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI computing, storage, and network resources.

It should be noted that the networking structure diagram in fig. 2 is for illustration and does not limit the technical solution of the present invention.

The following description takes an interaction diagram of a user purchasing a sliced product as an example, and with reference to fig. 3, includes:

step 301: a User side User sends query request information to an NS Store; the user side can be a terminal device used by the user, such as a mobile phone, a computer and other devices capable of communicating with the NS Store.

Step 302: the NS Store displays the sliced products to the User in a classified way; wherein, the slicing products are all marked with scene labels.

Step 303: the User feeds back the selected scene tag to the NS Store.

Step 304: NS Store recommends slicing products to User; and the recommended slicing product is marked with a scene label selected by the user.

Step 305: user feeds back the selected sliced product to the NS Store.

Step 306: NS Store provides the slice template to User; wherein the provided slicing template is a slicing template corresponding to the slicing product selected by the user.

Step 307: the User feeds back the set parameter value to the NS Store; wherein the set parameter value is the parameter value of the performance index of the slice template.

Step 308: the NS Store generates an order; the NS Store generates orders according to parameter values set by the User.

Step 309: the NS Store sends the order information to the User; the information of the order includes set parameter values, user information, the amount of money to be paid by the user and the like.

Step 310: the User completes the payment.

Step 311: the NS Store sends the order information to the NSMS.

Step 312: the NSMS generates an NSD file according to the information of the order.

Step 313: NSMS sends the NSD file to the NFV MANO.

Step 314: the NFV MANO parses the VNFD files from the NSD files.

Step 315: the NFV MANO creates a network slice instance in conjunction with the EMS/VNF.

Step 316: the NFV MANO feeds back completion of instantiation to the NSMS; wherein instantiation completion indicates successful creation of the network slice instance.

Step 317: the NSMS feeds back the deployment to the NS Store to be completed; wherein the deployment completion indicates that the network resources required for the slice product to be purchased by the user are deployed completely.

Step 318: the NS Store feeds back to the User that the purchase is complete.

It should be noted that the interaction flow in fig. 3 is an example, and does not limit the technical solution of the present invention.

In this embodiment, a method for requesting termination of a network service provided by a network slice instance is further provided, so that a user can conveniently terminate the network service provided by the network slice instance according to actual needs. Referring to fig. 4, an interaction diagram of a specific method for terminating a network service may include:

step 401: the User sends a network service abort request to the NS Store.

Step 402: the NS Store sends user information and a network service suspension request to the NSMS.

Step 403: the NSMS sends a network service suspend request to the NFV MANO.

Step 404: the NFV MANO, in conjunction with the EMS/VNF, terminates the network service.

Step 405: the NFV MANO feeds back termination success to the NSMS.

Step 406: the NSMS feeds back the termination success to the NS Store.

Step 407: the NS Store feeds back the termination success to the User.

It should be noted that the interaction flow in fig. 4 is an example, and does not limit the technical solution of the present invention.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment provides the user-oriented slicing management method, the network slicing sale platform recommends the slicing products to the user after receiving the query request information of the user, so that the slicing products provided by an operator can be displayed online on the network slicing sale platform, and the user can conveniently and directly select the required slicing products online according to the slicing products recommended by the network slicing sale platform. And then the network slicing sale platform generates an order according to a slicing product selected by a user, and after successful payment on the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to the network slicing management system so that the network slicing management system creates a network slicing example according to the information of the order, and a process based on online direct purchasing and payment of the user is provided, so that the network slicing management system can create the network slicing example according to the information of the order, and the created network slicing example can provide network services required by the user. The embodiment of the invention introduces a network slicing sale platform and a network slicing management system of an operator between a user and the operator, provides an online and operation flow of slicing products facing the operator, and also provides an online recommendation, purchase and payment flow facing the user, thereby providing convenience for communication between the user and the operator, reducing the communication cost between the user and the operator, reducing the time spent on ordering proper slicing products, facilitating the user to select required slicing products and further obtaining required network services.

A second embodiment of the present invention relates to a slice management method. In the present embodiment, an implementation manner for modifying an already created network slice instance is provided, so as to conveniently meet the change of the actual needs of the user.

As shown in fig. 5, the slice management method in the present embodiment may specifically include:

step 501: and recommending the slicing products to the user after receiving the query request information of the user.

Step 502: an order is generated according to the sliced product selected by the user.

Step 503: and after the successful payment to the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to the network slicing management system, so that the network slicing management system can create a network slicing instance according to the information of the order.

Steps 501 to 503 are substantially the same as steps 101 to 103 in the first embodiment, and are not repeated here.

Step 504: and if receiving modification request information of the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template from the user, providing the slicing template for the user.

Specifically, along with the change of the actual requirements of the user, if the network service provided by the created network slice example gradually fails to meet the requirements of the user, the user can send modification request information to the NS Store through the terminal, after the NS Store receives the modification request information sent by the user, the NS Store can search the slice template filled by the user according to the information of the user, provide the slice template filled by the user to the user, and the user can modify one or more parameter values in the performance indexes ever filled in the slice template provided by the NS Store according to the actual requirements.

Step 505: and acquiring parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template modified by the user.

For example, the parameter value of the performance index of the slice template modified by the user may be sent to the NS Store through the terminal used by the user, so that the NS Store obtains the parameter of the performance index of the slice template modified by the user.

Step 506: and generating a modified order according to the parameters of the performance indexes of the modified slice template.

Specifically, the modified order is substantially the same as the order before modification, except that the parameters of the performance index of the slice template are changed, and the information of the modified order may include: parameters of performance indexes of the modified slice template, user information and the amount of money the user needs to pay for the modified order. In one example, the more parameters of the performance indicators that are modified, the more amount that needs to be paid for the modification, e.g., the more amount that needs to be paid for modifying the parameter values of two performance indicators may be greater than the amount that needs to be paid for modifying the parameter values of one performance indicator. The NS Store may feed back information of the modified order to the user, and the user may confirm the parameters of the modified performance index again and determine whether to complete the payment according to the amount of money to be paid that is fed back by the NS Store.

Step 507: and after the payment success of the modified order is detected, sending the information of the modified order to a network slice management system.

Specifically, the NS Store may send information of the modified order to the NSMS upon detecting that the payment of the modified order by the user is successful. The NSMS may obtain the user information and the parameter of the performance index of the modified slice template according to the received modified order information, then search for the network slice instance created for the user, and modify the network slice instance created for the user according to the parameter of the performance index of the modified slice template.

In this embodiment, the method for the NSMS to modify the network slice instance according to the modified order information may be as follows: the NSMS determines whether the NSD file needs to be changed according to the modified order information. And if the NSMS determines that the NSD file needs to be changed, the NSD file is changed, and the changed NSD file is sent to the NFV MANO so that the NFV MANO can modify the network slice example according to the changed NSD file. The NSD file to be changed may be a new VNF that needs to be added for the modification operation, and changing the NSD file may be a new NSD file that is regenerated according to the modified parameter of the performance index of the slice template. And if the NSMS determines that the NSD file does not need to be changed, the NSMS sends a capacity expansion and reduction request to the NFV MANO according to the modified order information, so that the NFV MANO modifies the network slice example according to the capacity expansion and reduction request. If the NSMS determines that the NSD file does not need to be changed, the modification operation can be realized through the capacity expansion VNF, and then a capacity expansion and reduction request is issued to the NFV MANO.

In a specific implementation, the NSMS may send an abort request of an original network service while sending the changed NSD file to the NFV MANO, where the original network service refers to a network service provided by a network slice instance before modification, so that the modified network slice instance provides a new network service for a user to meet an actual requirement of the user.

For the convenience of understanding the embodiment, the following description takes an interaction diagram of a user requesting to modify a sliced product as an example, and refers to fig. 6:

step 601: the User sends a modification request message to the NS Store.

Step 602: NS Store provides a modification template to User; the modification template is a slice template which is searched according to the user information and is filled by the user.

Step 603: the User feeds back a modification parameter to the NS Store; the feedback modification parameters are parameters of performance indexes of the slice template modified by the user according to actual needs.

Step 604: the NS Store generates a modified order; the modified order can be generated according to the modification parameters fed back to the NS Store by the User.

Step 605: the NS Store sends the modified order information to the User; the modified order information includes modified parameter values, user information, and the amount of money to be paid by the user for modification operation.

Step 606: the User completes payment; here, the payment completion means that the user completes payment for the modified order.

Step 607: the NS Store sends the modified order information to the NSMS.

Step 608: the NSMS determines whether the NSD file needs to be changed; if so, step 609 is performed, otherwise step 612 is performed.

Step 609: the NSD file is changed.

Step 610: the NSMS sends the modified NSD file to the NFV MANO.

Step 611: the NFV MANO combines with the EMS/VNF to modify the network slice example according to the changed NSD file; step 611 may be executed and then step 614 may be directly executed.

Step 612: the NSMS sends a scale-out request to the NFV MANO.

Step 613: the NFV MANO combines with the EMS/VNF to modify the network slice example according to the expansion and contraction capacity request; step 614 may be directly entered after step 613 is executed.

Step 614: the NFV MANO feeds back instantiation or expansion and contraction capacity completion to the NSMS; wherein, if step 611 directly enters step 614, the NFV MANO feeds back the completion of instantiation to NSMS, and if step 613 directly enters step 614, the NFV MANO feeds back the completion of scaling to NSMS.

Step 615: the NSMS feeds back to the NS Store that the modification is complete.

Step 616: the NS Store feeds back to the user that the modification is complete.

It should be noted that the interaction flow in fig. 6 is an example, and does not limit the technical solution of the present invention.

In a specific implementation, the request sent by the NSMS receiving the NS Store may be query request information, modification request information, and termination request information, where the purpose of sending the query request information is to create a new network slice instance, and may also be understood as purchasing a slice product, a specific implementation flow may refer to fig. 3, and since the final purpose of sending the query request information is to create a new network slice instance, the query request information may also be understood as new request information. The modification request message is sent to modify the created network slice example, and may also be understood as modifying the already purchased slice product, and a specific implementation flow may refer to fig. 6. The purpose of sending the abort request message is to terminate the network service provided by the created network slice instance, and a specific implementation flow can be seen in fig. 4. For further convenience of understanding, the following description is directed to a processing flow of the NSMS receiving the request sent by the NS Store, and a processing flow chart of the NSMS for the request may refer to fig. 7, which specifically includes:

step 701: a request sent by the NSMS is received.

Step 702: judging the type of the request; if the request type is a new request, executing step 703; if the request type is a modification request, go to step 704; if the request type is a termination request, step 705 is performed.

Step 703: and generating the NSD file. After the step 703 is completed, the process proceeds to step 706.

Step 704: it is determined whether the NSD file needs to be modified and if so step 707 is performed, otherwise step 708 is performed.

Step 705: issuing an interruption request to the NFV MANO; wherein, the NFV MANO can implement the termination process of the network service after receiving the suspension request.

Step 706: sending the NSD file and the instantiation request to the NFV MANO; the NFV MANO creates a network slice instance according to the NSD file, and realizes a process of network service instantiation.

Step 707: the NSD file is changed, and the changed NSD file, the modified instantiation request and the original network service termination request are sent to the NFV MANO; the NFV MANO modifies the network slice instance according to the changed NSD file, and terminates the network service provided by the network slice instance before modification according to the original network service termination request.

Step 708: sending the capacity expansion and contraction request to the NFV MANO; wherein, the NFV MANO modifies the network slice instance according to the capacity expansion and reduction request.

The processing flow in fig. 7 is an example, and does not limit the technical solution of the present invention.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment provides an after-sale modification process, which comprises an interaction process of a user and an NS Store, an interaction process of an NSMS inside an NS Store operator and an interaction process of the NSMS and an NFV MANO, so that the created network slice example can be modified according to the change of the actual requirement of the user, thereby providing a new network service for the user and terminating the original network service, and being beneficial to improving the use experience of the user.

The third embodiment of the present invention relates to a slice management method, which is applied to a network slice management system NSMS, and the NSMS may be a network slice management system in an operator. The following describes implementation details of the slice management method according to the present embodiment in detail, and the following is only provided for easy understanding and is not necessary for implementing the present embodiment.

As shown in fig. 8, the slice management method in the present embodiment may specifically include:

step 801: and after receiving the information of the order sent by the NS Store, generating an NSD file according to the information of the order.

The NS Store recommends slicing products to the user after receiving the query request information of the user, generates an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sends the information of the order to the NSMS after detecting that the order is paid successfully.

Step 802: the NSD file is sent to the NFV MANO for the NFV MANO to create a network slice instance from the NSD file.

In one example, if the NSMS receives the modified order information transmitted from the NS Store, it determines whether the NSD file needs to be modified according to the modified order information; the modified order is an order generated by the NS Store according to the parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template modified by the user after receiving the modification request information of the parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template by the user; the slice template is a slice template provided by the NS Store to the user corresponding to the user-selected slice product. And if the NSD file is determined to need to be changed, changing the NSD file, and sending the changed NSD file to the NFV MANO so that the NFV MANO can modify the network slice example according to the changed NSD file. And if the NSD file does not need to be changed, sending a capacity expansion and reduction request to the NFV MANO according to the modified order information so that the NFV MANO can modify the network slice example according to the capacity expansion and reduction request.

It is to be noted that the slice management method according to the present embodiment is applied to NSMS, and the slice management methods according to the first and second embodiments are applied to NS Store. This embodiment can correspond to the first and second embodiments, and therefore can be implemented in cooperation with the first and second embodiments. The related technical details mentioned in the first and second embodiments are still valid in this embodiment, and the technical effects that can be achieved in the second embodiment can also be achieved in this embodiment, and are not described herein again in order to reduce the repetition. Accordingly, the related-art details mentioned in the present embodiment can be applied to the first and second embodiments.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment introduces the network slicing sale platform and the network slicing management system of the operator between the user and the operator, provides the online and operation processes of the slicing products facing the operator, also provides the online recommendation, purchase and payment processes facing the user, provides convenience for communication between the user and the operator, reduces the communication cost between the user and the operator, reduces the time spent for ordering proper slicing products, and facilitates the user to select the needed slicing products, thereby obtaining the needed network service.

The steps of the above methods are divided for clarity, and the implementation may be combined into one step or split some steps, and the steps are divided into multiple steps, so long as the same logical relationship is included, which are all within the protection scope of the present patent; it is within the scope of the patent to add insignificant modifications to the algorithms or processes or to introduce insignificant design changes to the core design without changing the algorithms or processes.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention relates to a network slice sales platform, as shown in fig. 9, comprising at least one processor 901; and, memory 902 communicatively connected to at least one processor 901; the memory 902 stores instructions executable by the at least one processor 901, and the instructions are executed by the at least one processor 901, so that the at least one processor 901 can execute the slice management method applied to the network slice sales platform in the first or second embodiment.

The memory 902 and the processor 901 are coupled by a bus, which may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges that couple one or more of the various circuits of the processor 901 and the memory 902. The bus may also connect various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface provides an interface between the bus and the transceiver. The transceiver may be one element or a plurality of elements, such as a plurality of receivers and transmitters, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The data processed by the processor 901 is transmitted over a wireless medium via an antenna, which further receives the data and transmits the data to the processor 901.

The processor 901 is responsible for managing the bus and general processing and may also provide various functions including timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, power management, and other control functions. And memory 902 may be used for storing data used by processor 901 in performing operations.

A fifth embodiment of the present invention relates to a network slice management system, as shown in fig. 10, including at least one processor 1001; and memory 1002 communicatively coupled to the at least one processor 1001; the memory 1002 stores instructions executable by the at least one processor 1001, and the instructions are executed by the at least one processor 1001 to enable the at least one processor 1001 to perform the slice management method applied to the network slice management system according to the third embodiment.

The memory 1002 and the processor 1001 are coupled by a bus, which may comprise any number of interconnecting buses and bridges that interconnect one or more of the various circuits of the processor 1001 and the memory 1002. The bus may also connect various other circuits such as peripherals, voltage regulators, power management circuits, and the like, which are well known in the art, and therefore, will not be described any further herein. A bus interface provides an interface between the bus and the transceiver. The transceiver may be one element or a plurality of elements, such as a plurality of receivers and transmitters, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium. The data processed by the processor 1001 is transmitted over a wireless medium through an antenna, which further receives the data and transmits the data to the processor 1001.

The processor 1001 is responsible for managing the bus and general processing and may provide various functions including timing, peripheral interfaces, voltage regulation, power management, and other control functions. And the memory 1002 may be used for storing data used by the processor 1001 in performing operations.

A sixth embodiment of the present invention relates to a slice management architecture, as shown in fig. 11, including: a network slice sales platform NS Store 1101, a network slice management system NSMS1102 and a network function virtualization management orchestrator NFV MANO 1103; the NS Store 1101 is used for recommending the slicing products to the user after receiving the query request information of the user, generating an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sending the information of the order to the NSMS1102 after detecting that the payment for the order is successful. The NSMS1102 is configured to generate a network service descriptor file according to order information after receiving order information sent by the NS Store 1101, and send the network service descriptor file to the NFV MANO 1103; NFV MANO 1103 operates to create network slice instances from a network service descriptor file.

It should be noted that, in order to highlight the innovative part of the present invention, the NS Store 1101, the NSMS1102 and the NFV MANO 1103, which are closely related to the solution of the technical problem proposed by the present invention, are introduced into the management architecture of the slice provided in the present embodiment, and the elements that are not closely related to the solution of the technical problem proposed by the present invention are not introduced, but this does not indicate that no other elements exist in the present embodiment.

It should be noted that this embodiment is a network architecture example corresponding to the first to third embodiments, and may be implemented in cooperation with the first to third embodiments. The related technical details mentioned in the first to third embodiments are still valid in this embodiment, and are not described herein again to reduce the repetition. Accordingly, the related-art details mentioned in the present embodiment can also be applied to the first to third embodiments.

Those skilled in the art will understand that all or part of the steps in the method according to the above embodiments may be implemented by a program instructing related hardware to complete, where the program is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps in the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the foregoing embodiments are specific examples for carrying out the invention, and that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention in practice.

Claims

1. A slice management method is applied to a network slice sales platform, and comprises the following steps:

recommending slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user;

generating an order according to the slicing product selected by the user;

after the successful payment of the order is detected, the information of the order is sent to a network slicing management system, so that the network slicing management system can create a network slicing instance according to the information of the order;

wherein the generating an order according to the sliced product selected by the user comprises:

providing a slicing template corresponding to the selected slicing product for the user according to the slicing product selected by the user, so that the user fills in parameters of performance indexes of the slicing template; when the application scene is an eMB scene, the performance index in the slice template corresponding to the eMB scene includes: the eMBB scene is higher in requirement on the speed than the access quantity and the time delay, a first number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which can be selected are provided for the speed in a slicing template corresponding to the eMBB scene, a second number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which can be selected for the access quantity and the time delay in the slicing template corresponding to the eMBB scene, and the first number is larger than the second number;

acquiring parameters of performance indexes of the slice template filled by the user;

and generating an order according to the acquired parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template.

2. The method for managing slices of claim 1, wherein prior to said recommending the sliced product to the user, comprising:

displaying sliced products on the network sliced sales platform to the user; wherein, the slicing products on the network slicing sale platform are marked with scene labels in advance;

acquiring a scene label selected by the user;

the recommending slicing products to the user specifically comprises:

recommending the slicing product marked with the acquired scene label to the user.

3. The method for slice management according to claim 1, wherein the query request information carries a scene tag, and the recommending a slice product to the user specifically includes:

recommending the slicing products marked with the carried scene labels to the user according to the scene labels carried in the query request information; wherein, the slicing products on the network slicing sale platform are marked with scene labels in advance.

4. The slice management method according to claim 3, wherein after the sending the information of the order to the network slice management system, further comprising:

if modification request information of the user for the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template is received, providing the slicing template for the user so that the user can modify the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template;

acquiring parameters of performance indexes of the slice template modified by the user;

generating a modified order according to the modified parameters of the performance indexes of the slice template;

and after the payment of the modified order is detected to be successful, sending the information of the modified order to the network slicing management system so that the network slicing management system modifies the network slicing instance according to the information of the modified order.

5. A slice management method is applied to a network slice management system, and comprises the following steps:

after receiving information of an order sent by a network slice sales platform, generating a network service descriptor file according to the information of the order; the network slicing sale platform recommends slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user, generates an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sends information of the order to the network slicing management system after detecting that payment on the order is successful;

sending the network service descriptor file to a network function virtualization management orchestrator for the network function virtualization management orchestrator to create a network slice instance according to the network service descriptor file;

wherein the generating an order according to the slicing product selected by the user comprises:

providing a slicing template corresponding to the selected slicing product for the user according to the slicing product selected by the user, so that the user can fill in parameters of performance indexes of the slicing template; when the application scenario is the eMBB scenario, the performance index in the slice template corresponding to the eMBB scenario includes: the method comprises the steps of obtaining a rate, an access amount and a time delay, wherein the requirement of the eMB scene on the rate is higher than the requirement on the access amount and the time delay, a first number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which are available for selection are provided for the rate in a slicing template corresponding to the eMB scene, a second number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which are available for selection are provided for the access amount and the time delay in the slicing template corresponding to the eMB scene, and the first number is larger than the second number;

6. The method for slice management of claim 5, wherein after sending the network service descriptor file to the network function virtualization management orchestrator, further comprising:

if the information of the modified order sent by the network slice sales platform is received, determining whether the network service descriptor file needs to be changed according to the information of the modified order; the modified order is generated by the network slicing sale platform according to the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template modified by the user after receiving the modification request information of the parameters of the performance indexes of the slicing template by the user; the slicing template is a slicing template which is provided by the network slicing sale platform to the user and corresponds to the slicing product selected by the user;

if the network service descriptor file is determined to need to be changed, changing the network service descriptor file, and sending the changed network service descriptor file to the network function virtualization management orchestrator so that the network function virtualization management orchestrator can modify the network slice instance according to the changed network service descriptor file;

and if the network service descriptor file is determined not to need to be changed, sending a capacity expansion and reduction request to the network function virtualization management orchestrator according to the modified order information so that the network function virtualization management orchestrator can modify the network slice instance according to the capacity expansion and reduction request.

7. A web slice sales platform, comprising:

at least one processor; and the number of the first and second groups,

a memory communicatively coupled to the at least one processor; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform a method of managing slices as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 4.

8. A network slice management system, comprising:

at least one processor; and the number of the first and second groups,

the memory stores instructions executable by the at least one processor to enable the at least one processor to perform the method of managing slices of claim 5 or 6.

9. A system for managing slices, comprising: the system comprises a network slice sales platform, a network slice management system and a network function virtualization management orchestrator;

the network slicing sale platform is used for recommending slicing products to a user after receiving query request information of the user, generating an order according to the slicing products selected by the user, and sending information of the order to the network slicing management system after detecting that payment on the order is successful;

the network slice management system is used for generating a network service descriptor file according to the information of the order after receiving the information of the order sent by the network slice sales platform, and sending the network service descriptor file to the network function virtualization management orchestrator;

the network function virtualization management orchestrator is used for creating a network slice instance according to the network service descriptor file;

providing a slicing template corresponding to the selected slicing product for the user according to the slicing product selected by the user, so that the user fills in parameters of performance indexes of the slicing template; when the application scene is an eMB scene, the performance index in the slice template corresponding to the eMB scene includes: the method comprises the steps of obtaining a rate, an access amount and a time delay, wherein the requirement of the eMB scene on the rate is higher than the requirement on the access amount and the time delay, a first number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which are available for selection are provided for the rate in a slicing template corresponding to the eMB scene, a second number of parameter values or parameter value ranges which are available for selection are provided for the access amount and the time delay in the slicing template corresponding to the eMB scene, and the first number is larger than the second number;