WO2022226970A1

WO2022226970A1 - Providing services in communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2022226970A1
Application number: PCT/CN2021/091358
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jing PING; Anatoly ANDRIANOV; Olaf Pollakowski
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2021-04-30
Filing date: 2021-04-30
Publication date: 2022-11-03
Also published as: CN117296363A

Abstract

Service request handling by a service provider comprises, in response to receiving a request for a service, determining a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service, and stitching the list of managed resources to a resource collection object.

Description

[Title established by the ISA under Rule 37.2] PROVIDING SERVICES IN COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

Field

The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses and computer program products for providing services in a communication system, and more particularly but not exclusively to network slicing.

Background

A communication system provides a facility communication between two or more devices such as user terminals, machine-like terminals, base stations and other access points, network functions, service producers, service consumers, and/or other devices. A communication system can be provided for example by means of a communication network and one or more compatible devices providing communication channels for carrying information between the communicating devices. Communication sessions may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications for services such as voice, video, electronic mail (email) , text message, multimedia, control data and/or content data and so on.

In a mobile or wireless communication system at least a part of a communications between at least two devices occurs over a wireless or radio link. Examples of wireless systems comprise public land mobile networks (PLMN) , satellite-based communication systems and different wireless local networks, for example wireless local area networks (WLAN) . A user can access the wider communication system via an access system means of an appropriate communication device or terminal. Non-limiting examples of communication devices are a user equipment (UE) or user device and various machine-like terminals. The wireless access can be provided by a base station of a radio access system or network (RAN) . Radio access systems provide local coverage areas and are connected via an appropriate transport system to a larger communication system, known as the core network.

The core network comprises a wide variety of entities providing various functions and services. Similar functions and/or services may be provided by different entities in separate locations and/or by distributed data processing. At least some of the functions and/or services may be provided by virtual data processing instances. Providing data communications between the accessing devices and the service providing entities such as application functions can involve intermediate and otherwise associated entities, processes and functions.

A management system comprises a wide variety of entities providing various management services, e.g. provisioning, configuration, performance monitoring, fault supervision, and so on.

The communication system, services, functions and devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used for the connection are also typically defined. Non-limiting examples of communication systems include those based on fifth generation (5G) networks standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) .

A feature of modern communication systems is known as network slicing. Network slicing is a feature that enables multiplexing of virtualized and/or independent logical networks on a physical network infrastructure. A sliced network can comprise a set of logical networks on top of a shared infrastructure. Each logical network is designed to serve a defined purpose and comprises all required network resources, configured and connected end-to-end. Each network slice can be understood as an isolated end-to-end network tailored to fulfil diverse requirements requested by a particular application. Flexible and scalable network slices can be provided on top of a common network infrastructure. Each network slice can be administrated by a network operator. Further, a network slice of one operator can be offered to another operator to build another network slice. Operators can define the specific characteristics of a slice, for example speed, latency, reliability, and security. Different slices can be required by different functions. For example, some services require a low latency and very reliable slice whereas others may require higher bandwidth but would have less need for low latency.

The network operator can be a mobile network operator or a virtual mobile network operator. Network slicing can be supported in mobile networks designed to efficiently embrace a plethora of services which can have very different service level requirements. The infrastructure provider, i.e., the owner of the underlying telecommunication infrastructure can lease its physical resources to mobile operators. In addition, an operator, acting as a network slice provider, can lease its network slice to other mobile operators. According to the availability of the assigned resources, a mobile operator can autonomously deploy multiple network slices that are customized to the various applications provided to its own users. However, there are still unresolved issues to enable appropriate support for network slicing across operators.

Summary

In accordance with an aspect there is provided a method for handling service requests by a service provider, the method comprising in response to receiving a request for a service, determining a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service, and stitching the list of managed resources to a resource collection object.

According to another aspect there is provided apparatus for a communication system, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: in response to receiving a request for a service, determine a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service, and stitch the list of managed resources to a resource collection object.

In accordance with a more specific aspect the resource collection object is exposed to the requestor as a service in a service model object associating resource level information with information of service level specifications associated with the service model object.

A new list of managed resources may be created and/or an existing list of managed resources may be allocated to obtain a list of managed resources.

Determining a list of managed resources may comprises requesting a service from another service provider, receiving the requested service from the other service provider, and treating the received service as a managed resource.

The service may comprise a network slice. The managed resources may comprise at least one of a network slice, a network slice subnet, a managed function, a managed service, and a transport endpoint. The resource collection object may comprise a network slice subnet. The managed resource object may be contained by managed element or a subnetwork. The resource collection object may be contained by a subnetwork.

The resource collection object and at least one managed resource on the list of managed resources can inherit from a top object.

The list of managed resources and stitching may be provided by recursive operation.

An end-to-end service may be build based on the resource collection object.

Means for implementing the herein disclosed operations and functions can also be provided.

A computer software product embodying at least a part of the herein described functions may also be provided. In accordance with an aspect a computer program comprises instructions for performing at least one of the methods described herein.

Brief description of Drawings

Some aspects will now be described in further detail, by way of example only, with reference to the following examples and accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a schematic example of a communication system;

Figure 2 shows an example of a control apparatus;

Figure 3 shows example of network slices in a layered structure;

Figure 4 is an example of network slice topology spanning across a multiple of operators;

Figures 5 and 6 are flowcharts according to certain examples; and

Figures 7 to 10 illustrate object relationships according to certain examples.

Detailed description of examples

The following description gives an exemplifying description of some possibilities and useful background information to practise the invention. Although the specification may refer to “an” , “one” , or “some” examples or embodiment (s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same example of embodiment (s) , or that a particular feature only applies to a single example or embodiment. Single features of different examples and embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

On overall description of an example for a communication system is given first as background with reference to Figure 1 where a schematic presentation of system 1 comprising

radio access systems

20, 22, 24 (radio access network; RAN) and a core network (CN) system shown as cloud 3 are given. A transport system for connecting the core and the respective RAN is denoted by

respective lines

21, 23 and 25. A communications device 10 can be located in the service area of one of the radio access systems and can thus communicate wirelessly with the access point provided by the system 20. The access system 20 connect the device to the core network 3. The access system 20 may not be operated by a network operator the device 10 subscribes to. A large number of systems provided by a number of different operators can be comprised in the system. The technical specifications, features and capabilities of the different systems can vary substantially.

In Figure 1 example the

radio access systems

20, 22 and 24 are schematically presented by a base station. However, it is noted that a radio access system can comprise a plurality of access points. An access point can comprise any node that can transmit/receive radio signals (e.g., a TRP, a base station such as gNB, eNB, a user device such as a UE and so forth) . An example of wireless access architecture is 3GPP 5G radio access architecture. The communication device may access to the Core Network via NG RAN (possibly including satellite access) or via other technologies like Untrusted Non 3GPP access to 5G core (using e.g. a N3IWF) , Trusted Non 3GPP access to 5G core (using e.g. a TNGF/TWIF) or Wireline Access (using e.g. a W-AGF or AGF) . However, embodiments are not limited to such an architecture.

The communications device 10 is an example of a user which can request for one or more services provided by service providers through the core network 3. The device can be associated with a unique user identity. The user identity may be assigned to the device, to a user of the device or a subscription by a user of the device to a network operator. The device 10 may be any suitable communications device adapted for wireless communications. Non-limiting examples comprise a mobile station (MS) (e.g., a mobile device such as a mobile phone or what is known as a ’s mart phone’ ) , a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongle) , personal data assistant (PDA) or a tablet provided with wireless communication capabilities, machine-type communications (MTC) devices, Internet of Things (IoT) type communications devices or any combinations of these or the like. The device may be provided as part of another device. The device may receive signals over an air or radio interface via appropriate apparatus for receiving and may transmit signals via appropriate apparatus for transmitting radio signals. The communications can occur via multiple paths. Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) type communications may be provided with multiantenna elements.

The wider communication system, or core network (CN) 3 can comprise a 5G core network (5GC) and entities providing one or more interconnected network functions (NF) . The system can comprise one or more data networks (DN) . In Figure 1 blocks 11 denote various possible network functions. The non-liming and non-exhaustive list of these include an access and mobility management function (AMF) , a session management function (SMF) , a local PDU session anchor user plane function (L-PSA UPF) , a policy control function (PCF) , an application function (AF) , a network repository function (NRF) , and a local NEF (L-NEF) . Other management, control and application functions are also possible. For example, entities providing an edge application server (EAS) , a unified data management (UDM) , a unified data repository (UDR) and various user plane functions may be provided. A plurality of content providers can also be provided. It shall be appreciated that at least some of the entities denoted by blocks 11 can be provided as virtual data processing instances in virtualized environment.

Functions of devices such as equipment of the

access systems

20, 22, 24 or the accessing device 10, or equipment of the service developers and/or service providers and any of the network entities can be provided by data processing apparatus. The data processing can be provided by apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory. Figure 2 shows an example of a data processing apparatus 50 comprising processor (s) 52, 53 and memory or memories 51. Figure 2 further shows connections between the elements of the apparatus and an interface for connecting the data processing apparatus to other components of the device. The at least one memory may comprise at least one ROM and/or at least one RAM. The communications device may comprise other possible components for use in software and hardware aided execution of tasks it is designed to perform and implementing the herein described features. The at least one processor can be coupled to the at least one memory. The at least one processor may be configured to execute an appropriate software code to implement one or more of the following aspects. The software code may be stored in the at least one memory, for example in the at least one ROM.

The processing may be distributed between several processors. The processing may be provided by virtual data processing instances such as virtual machines or separated cores (containers) operated on a shared operating system resource. In this specification the term entity covers such virtual data processing instances.

Services can be provided to the user device by means of one or more sliced networks, e.g., using resources leased by mobile operators from the owner of the underlying telecommunication infrastructure. An example of this is illustrated in Figure 3 showing two network operators (NOP) 30 and 32. A layered structure comprising a management plane (management view 34) and network plane (network view 35) are also shown. The example concerns network slices Y and X. The NOP 32 block of the management view shows how NOP 32 can build network slice Y and offer it to CSP 36. The network slice Y has been built based on network slice X which was offered by NOP 30 as a service. In the following an example modelling addressing issues related to this example will be described in more detail.

3GPP TR 28.811 v0.4.0 (for Rel17) "Public Network Integrated Non Public Network (PNI-NPN) " describes an example where a network slice can be used in multiple networks such that an end-to-end network slice can span across multiple networks and operators. A network operator A (NOP-A) may want to provide a network slice to a user in multiple regions. However, NOP-A does not have a radio access network (RAN) coverage in the geographical areas required by the user. NOP-A can select network operator B (NOP-B) to provide the needed RAN coverage for one or more geographical areas. Service requirements need to be agreed with NOP-B whereafter NOP-B can offer a network slice as a service to NOP-A in the geographical areas based on the service level agreement (SLA) between the operators. NOP-A can then create an End to End (E2E) network slice which covers the required geographical areas based on combination of a core network (CN) and RAN network slice subnets of NOP-A and RAN-only network slice provided by NOP-B.

A proposal to support such network slicing is to configure a top Managed Object Instance (MOI) NetworkSliceSubnet in the management system of NOP-Awith a reference to the top RAN NetworkSliceSubnet MOI in the management system of NOP-B based on existing Network Resource Model (NRM) Information of network slice defined in 3GPP TS 28.541 version 17.1.0 Release 17. Network Resource Model (NRM) comprises a description of Information Object Classes representing manageable aspects of network resources.

More detailed explanation of this proposal can be found, e.g., from sections 6.2 and 6.3 and figure 6.2.2-1 of said 3GPP TS 28.541. The scenario explained above, if the current definitions are applied, would result a situation shown in Figure 4. In the Figure 4 schematic illustration the top NetworkSliceSubnet MOI (Networkslicesubnet-A_E2E_top) of the E2E network slice (Networkslice-A_E2E) of NOP-A is comprised of a core network (CN) NetworkSliceSubnet MOI (Networkslicesubnet-A_CN_1) , a RAN NetworkSliceSubnet MOI (Networkslicesubnet-A_RAN_1) of NOP-A, and a top RAN NetworkSliceSubnet MOI (Networkslicesubnet-B_RAN_top) of NOP-B.

The following explain in more detail how a network slice service provider can service a customer of the service, i.e., a party that consumes/uses the service on a management plane. It is noted that in this description the terms ‘customer’ and ‘consumer’ are used to denote the user of the network slice management service. Such user is not the end user, for example a user terminal but typically an organization such as a network operator who uses, e.g., "lends or buys" the network slice to support its own end users (the subscribers) by means of the tenanted the service.

An arrangement based on the existing Network Resource Model Information (NRM) can have certain aspects that may affect use of sliced networks in various scenarios. For example, the proposal can break the layering principles for a Telecommunications Management Network as defined by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) . That is, different layers of the protocol stack have different views (scope, abstraction level, exposure etc. ) to the network. Generally the service provider (SP) offers services to its service customers (SC) as a blackbox without exposing the detailed network/resource topology (encapsulation/abstraction principle) in order to avoid leaking unnecessary sensitive information ( ‘need to know’ principle) and potential mis-use and mis-operation. Therefore, only service layer level objects and related attributes are exposed to the users of the service instead of exposing lower layer resources (e.g. physical infrastructure and/or transport resources) to the users. This is particularly so when the resource is shared by multiple services of different users, possibly subscribing to different operators. In other words, a user of a service is typically prevented from “decomposing” or "reverse-engineering" the service (e.g. a network slice) provided by a service provider. Instead, a service is provided as one of the "building blocks" of the consumed service, such as a partial resource of the service, i.e. a single network slice subnet or network function out of the entire network slice. The service decomposition or reverse-engineering is typically prevented, e.g. by the terms of the agreement and/or technical means, as causing threat/risk to the network of the service provider.

Also, the proposal has no reference from the NetworkSliceSubnet managed object instance (MOI) representing the managed network or part of the network being used to satisfy the requirements of the service customer to NetworkSlice MOI representing the commercial exposure to the service customer in the current NRM. Because of this it can be impossible, or at least very difficult and not practical, for NOP-A to track the agreement and terms with NOP-B for the referred NetworkSliceSubnet MOI. As a result, NOP-A cannot know at the time of attempting to respond to a service request if the referred NetworkSliceSubnet MOI of NOP-B satisfies the agreement and terms or not.

In the following some examples for an extension of a network resource model (NRM) information are explained to enable efficient support for network slicing across operators. It is noted that despite use of the term network slice, in a more general sense a network slice can be considered to provide an example of a service. A network slice subnet can be considered an example of a grouping or collection of managed resources. Managed function or service, network slice, and other possible resource (e.g. transport endpoints) can be considered as examples of managed resources.

In accordance with an example a network slice is modelled as a combination proving a dual view of the service aspects and the resource aspects. From one perspective, a network slice can be treated as a service (commercial exposure) when it is offered by a network slice provider (NSP) to a network slice customer (NSC) . From another perspective, a network slice can be treated as a resource. The resource can be provided either by the same operator in a network slice as a network operator (NOP) internal mode or offered by a different operator in a network slice as a service (NSaaS) mode.

This allows the network slice to be stitched to a resource collection object (e.g., a network slice subnet) to build another E2E service. For a NOP case, this can be the same NOP where a network slice is provided as NOP internal mode or a different NOP e.g. where network slice is provided in a service mode. Stitching can take one or more network slice subnets, network slices, managed functions and/or managed services as input and produce a single composite network slice subnet. A "top" network slice subnet can be exposed as network slice by attaching service level specification to the network slice. A network slice can be modelled as a managed resource which can be used as an element to be stitched to a network slice subnet. The model can be generalized to support not only the network slice case but such that other use cases can use the resource collection in a NRM instance.

Creating a network slice across multiple operators based on the herein described modeling solution can comprise, after receiving a request from a network slice customer (NSC) to provide a network slice, a Network Slice Provider (NSP; e.g. an operator) identifying a list of network slice subnets, and/or a list of managed functions, and/or a list of managed services, and/or a list of network slices. The network slice customer can be a vertical X, e.g. a business organization that is a vertical customer to an operator. The providing of a network slice can comprise creating a new or allocating an existing network slice as necessary. In this context creating means deploying a new network slice (instance) and allocating means that an existing network slice (instance) can be re-used/shared. In accordance with a possibility, when a network slice customer requests for a slice from a network slice provider, the customer may use a "create" request or an "allocate" request.

The NSP can also perform the stitching of a list of network slice subnets, and/or a list of managed functions, and/or a list of managed services, and/or a list of network slices into a (top) network slice subnet. The (top) network slice subnet can then be exposed to the NSC (e.g. the vertical X) as a network slice by attaching or otherwise associating information of the satisfied Service Level Specification (SLS; represented by the service profile) to the network slice.

To stitch a network slice to a (top) network slice subnet as a resource in above, operator A can request a network slice as a service from operator B. After receiving the requested network slice from operator B, operator A can stitch the network slice as a managed resource to the (top) network slice subnet. For example, the service level specification can the stripped at this stage from the network slice as a service, assigned a new resource identity (ID) in the namespace of operator A to the network slice, and so on. This may also be provided by means of appropriate translation or mapping operation. This step can be repeated until all required "building blocks" are stitched to the top network slice subnet. The building blocks can comprise, e.g., network slices obtained from one or more operators.

Figure 5 shows a method for handling service requests by a service provider in a communication system. In the method a request for a service is received at 100. A list of resource level managed resources for the requested service is then determined at 102. The list of resource layer managed resources is stitched at 104 to a resource collection object.

An operation such as exposure of the resource collection object may then be performed at 106. The exposure may be to the requestor as a service in a service model object associating resource level information with information of service level specifications associated with the service model object. It is noted that this is only an example and there are other use cases than the cross-operator network slicing.

In accordance with an example a method implemented at a service provider comprises, upon receiving a service request from a service customer, for example a management tool on behalf of the service customer, requesting for the service and determining a list of managed resources. The list of the managed resources is then stitched to a resource collection object. The resource collection object can then be exposed to the service customer as a service by attaching relevant information of a service level agreement to the service.

Determining (identifying) a list of managed resources may comprise the service provider requesting another service provider to create/allocate a service, the service provider thus acting as a consumer of the requested service. Upon receiving the service from the other service provider, the service can be stitched to a resource collection object as a managed resource.

Figure 6 shows an example for operation where a service provider requests for a service from another service provider (SP) . A request for a service is sent at 200 to the other service provider. At 202 a service model object is received, the object exposing a resource as a service. As explained above, a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service can then be stitched to the resource collection object at 204.

There are various possibilities to model network slices as combination of resources and services. A network slice subnet can be modelled as a resource or a collection of resources. A network slice subnet, network slice and other managed resources can be contained by a subnetwork or a managed element.

A service can be a network slice or any other service. A managed resource can also comprise a network slice. A managed recourse can also comprise a network slice subnet, a managed function, a managed service, a transport endpoint, etc. A resource collection can comprise a network slice subnet. A managed resource may be contained by a managed element or a subnetwork. A resource collection may be contained by a subnetwork. Containment in this context is naming containing and means that the managed resource can be part of managed element or subnetwork. A resource collection and a managed resource can inherit from the top level.

Figs. 7A -7C show an example of network slice class diagrams. NetworkSlice and NetworkSliceSubnet are inherited from Function_, where NetworkSliceSubnet has uni-directional aggregation with the Function_. More particularly, Fig. 7A shows network slice inheritance relationship, Fig. 7B shows network slice NRM fragment, and Fig. 7C shows network slice containment relationship.

Figs. 8A -8C show another example, providing a variant of the example of Figs. 7. More particularly, Fig. 8A shows network slice inheritance relationship, Fig. 8B shows network slice NRM fragment, and Fig. 8C shows network slice containment relationship. In this example a NetworkSlice is inherited from a NetworkSliceSubnet, and thus object NetworkSlice can be seen as a NetworkSliceSubnet with service properties information added. In this way, it is possible to drop the “top” NetworkSliceSubnet concept and take the NetworkSlice as the top NetworkSliceSubnet with service characters.

Figures 9A -9E show another example. More particularly, Fig. 9A shows a generic inheritance relationship, Fig. 9B shows a generic containment relationship network slice, Fig. 9C shows generic association /aggregation relationship, Fig. 9D shows network slice inheritance relationship, and Fig. 9E shows network slice NRM fragment. This example presents an abstract and refined generic NRM. The managed resources can comprise, e.g., NetworkSlice, NetworkSliceSubnet, ManagedFunction, ManagedService, EP_Transport, and so on. NetworkSlice can then be considered as “collection of resource” , and ManagedElement/Subnetwork as a “box” or “domain” containing the resources.

Specifications for NRM definitions differ in different network architectures. For example, there is one NRM definition for 5G network and network functions, one for LTE network functions, one for EPC network functions, and a common definition which can be reused by 5G, LTE, RAN and Core, and so on. The different NRM definitions can be modified according to this example. This can be especially beneficial for the common NRM definition used by different systems.

Figures 10A -10F show another example. More particularly, Fig. 10A shows a generic inheritance relationship, Fig. 10B shows a generic containment relationship network slice, Fig. 10C shows generic association /aggregation relationship, Fig. 10D shows network slice inheritance relationship, Fig. 10E shows network slice containment relationship, and Fig. 10F shows network slice NRM fragment. This example presents a further abstraction and refinement of a generic NRM. A collection of resources is created which can then be inherited from the Top.

The NetworkSlice is also inherited from the Top. The collection can aggregate the Top, meaning everything inherited from the Top can be aggregated into the collection. NetworkSliceSubnet is inherited from the collection of resources. Therefore everything may be aggregated as well.

The collection can comprise a resource collection, service collection, etc., and it is possible to define a more "abstract" collection which covers different or even all types of objects, e.g. service, resource, and so on. This example further generalizes a resource collection to a collection.

The herein described examples follow the principle that the resources shall be stitched by resource collection recursively until to the top level resource collection (e.g. top NetworkSliceSubnet MOI) instead of a service (e.g. NetworkSlice MOI; a network slice as a service in cross operators use case) . In addition, bi-directional relationship between service (e.g. network slice) and resource (e.g. network slice subnet) can be avoided. In general, the resource layer does not need to know the service it serves in the upper layer, but only needs to know the service requirements from the upper layer (typically immediately above) to allocate sufficient resources to satisfy the service requirements. A backward compatible network slicing arrangement can be provided. For example, support for other services besides a network slice, other resource types besides managed function and network slice subnet, as well as support for possible future extensions can be provided. It is noted that while the above describes example embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention. Different features from different embodiments may be combined.

Although the shown access networks are wireless, any other access types are valid. Similarly, the 5G core is only an example. Also, 5G core is specified to interwork with multiple types of wireline and wireless accesses.

The above examples illustrate certain possibilities to enhance network resource model (NRM) of the management plane. The examples can be implemented in a management system of a communication system, e.g. Operations Support System, Network Manager, Element Manager, Network Slice Management Function, Network Slice Subnet Management Function and so on.

The embodiments may vary within the scope of the claims. Various hardware and/or software components can provide the means necessary to implement the herein described principles. In general, some of the examples may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. For example, some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although embodiments are not limited thereto. While various embodiments may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The embodiments may be implemented by computer software stored in a memory and executable by at least one data processor of the involved entities or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. At least a part of the functions can be provided in virtualised environment, and at least some of the entities can be provided as virtual computing instances. Further in this regard it should be noted that any of the above procedures may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic media such as hard disk or floppy disks, and optical media such as for example DVD and the data variants thereof, CD.

The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processors may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) , application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) , gate level circuits and processors based on multi core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Alternatively or additionally some embodiments may be implemented using circuitry. The circuitry may be configured to perform one or more of the functions and/or method procedures previously described. That circuitry may be provided in the network entity and/or in the communications device and/or a server and/or a device.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analogue and/or digital circuitry) ;

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as:

(i) a combination of analogue and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause the communications device and/or device and/or server and/or network entity to perform the various functions previously described; and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example integrated device.

It is noted that whilst embodiments have been described in relation to certain architectures, similar principles can be applied to other systems. Therefore, although certain embodiments were described above by way of example with reference to certain exemplifying architectures for wireless networks, technologies standards, and protocols, the herein described features may be applied to any other suitable forms of systems, architectures and devices than those illustrated and described in detail in the above examples. It is also noted that different combinations of different embodiments are possible. It is also noted herein that while the above describes exemplifying embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

A method for handling service requests by a service provider, comprising:

in response to receiving a request for a service, determining a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service; and

stitching the list of managed resources to a resource collection object.
The method of claim 1, comprising exposing the resource collection object to the requestor as a service in a service model object associating resource level information with information of service level specifications associated with the service model object.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein determining the list of managed resources comprises creating a new list of managed resources and/or allocating an existing list of managed resources.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein determining the list of managed resources comprises:

requesting a service from another service provider,

receiving the requested service from the other service provider, and

treating the received service as a managed resource.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the service comprises a network slice.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the managed resources comprise at least one of a network slice, a network slice subnet, a managed function, a managed service, and a transport endpoint.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the resource collection object comprises a network slice subnet.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the managed resource object is contained by managed element or a subnetwork.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the resource collection object is contained by a subnetwork.
The method of any preceding claim, wherein the resource collection object and at least one managed resource on the list of managed resources inherit from a top object.
The method of any preceding claim, comprising recursive performing of the steps of providing the list of managed resources and stitching.
The method of any preceding claim, further comprising building an end-to-end service based on the resource collection object.
An apparatus for a communication system, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

in response to receiving a request for a service, determine a list of resource level managed resources for the requested service; and

stitch the list of managed resources to a resource collection object.
The apparatus of claim 13, configured to expose the resource collection object to the requestor as a service in a service model object associating resource level information with information of service level specifications associated with the service model object.
The apparatus of claim 13 or 14, configured to create a new list of managed resources and/or allocate an existing list of managed resources.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 15, configured to request a service from another service provider, receive the requested service from the other service provider, and treat the received service as a managed resource.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 16, wherein the service comprises a network slice.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 17, wherein the managed resources comprise at least one of a network slice, a network slice subnet, a managed function, a managed service, and a transport endpoint.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 18, wherein the resource collection object comprises a network slice subnet.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 19, wherein the managed resource object is contained by managed element or a subnetwork.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 20, wherein the resource collection object is contained by a subnetwork.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 21, wherein the resource collection object and at least one managed resource on the list of managed resources inherit from a top object.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 22, configured to operate recursively to provide the list of managed resources and stitching.
The apparatus of any of claims 13 to 23, further configured to build an end-to-end service based on the resource collection object.
A computer readable media comprising program code for causing a processor to perform instructions for a method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 12.