CN111225348A

CN111225348A - Application instance migration method and multi-access edge computing host

Info

Publication number: CN111225348A
Application number: CN201811412800.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 冯江平
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2018-11-23
Filing date: 2018-11-23
Publication date: 2020-06-02
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-23
Also published as: CN113422804A; CN111225348B

Abstract

The embodiment of the application discloses a method for migrating an application instance and a multi-access edge computing host, wherein the method comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that an MEC platform obtains a wireless node identification list, wherein the wireless node identification list comprises identification of wireless nodes connected with an MEC host where the MEC platform is located; when the UE moves among the cells, the MEC platform determines a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell where the UE is currently located; the MEC platform judges whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list or not; and if the target wireless node identifier is not in the wireless node identifier list, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and completing the migration of the application instance by the MEC platform according to the target wireless node identifier. By adopting the embodiment of the application, the correct migration of the application example can be ensured, the system operation efficiency is improved, and the waste of system resources is reduced.

Description

Application instance migration method and multi-access edge computing host

Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method for migrating an application instance and a multi-access edge computing host.

Background

Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) proposed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is a technology based on the architecture of the evolution of the fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5th-Generation, 5G for short) and deeply fusing the mobile access network with the internet service. The MEC can provide services and cloud computing functions required by telecommunication users nearby by using a wireless access network, thereby creating a telecommunication service environment with high performance, low delay and high bandwidth, accelerating the rapid downloading of various contents, services and applications in the network, and enabling consumers to enjoy uninterrupted high-quality network experience. The MEC can improve user experience and save bandwidth resources on one hand, and provides third party application integration by sinking computing capacity to the mobile edge node on the other hand, thereby providing infinite possibility for service innovation of the mobile edge entrance.

MEC applications such as car networking applications, internet of things referencing or video caching applications and the like can be simultaneously run on a plurality of MEC hosts to form an application example, and User Equipment (UE for short) such as an intelligent car, internet of things Equipment or a mobile phone can access the application examples nearby through a telecommunication access network. Some applications may also provide certain capabilities for consumption by other applications, the provider of the capabilities may be referred to as a service, or the service may have multiple instances of the application at the same time. In the prior art, specification ETSI GS MEC 012 defines a Radio Network Information Service (RNIS) that can provide real-time Radio Network condition information, UE information under a wireless node associated with a MEC host. The MEC application or the MEC platform on the MEC host may subscribe to the RNIS for cell change notification, and when the UE moves across cells, the RNIS sends a notification event to the subscriber, and the MEC platform or the MEC application may initiate application instance migration. But one MEC host may be connected to several radio access nodes each comprising several cells. When the UE moves between cells, it does not mean movement across the MEC master. Therefore, the existing application instance migration method can cause a large amount of invalid migration, waste system resources and influence the efficiency of system operation.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present application is to provide an application instance migration method and a multi-access edge computing host, so as to ensure correct migration of an application instance, improve system operation efficiency, and reduce waste of system resources.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for migrating an application instance, which may include:

a multi-access edge computing MEC platform acquires a wireless node identification list, wherein the wireless node identification list comprises the identification of a wireless node connected with an MEC host where the MEC platform is located;

when User Equipment (UE) moves among cells, the MEC platform determines a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell where the UE is currently located;

the MEC platform judges whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list or not;

and if the destination wireless node identifier is not in the wireless node identifier list, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and completing the migration of the application instance by the MEC platform according to the destination wireless node identifier.

Through obtaining the wireless node identification list of the wireless node connected with the MEC host, then when the UE moves, whether the target wireless identification list is in the wireless node identification list is judged, whether the UE moves out of the range of the original MEC host can be determined, if the UE does not move out of the range of the original MEC host, the application instance does not need to be migrated, thereby the waste of system resources caused by a large amount of invalid migrations is reduced, the system efficiency is improved, and the method is favorable for improving better MEC application experience.

In one possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the MEC platform, a wireless node identifier list includes:

the MEC platform receives the wireless node identification list sent by the MEC platform manager, and the wireless node identification list is configured to the MEC platform manager by an Operation Support System (OSS); or

The MEC platform receives the wireless node identification list sent by the MEC platform manager, and the wireless node identification list is sent to the MEC platform manager by an MEC composer; or

And the MEC platform receives the wireless node identification list reported by the base station under the MEC platform.

Through various configuration methods of the wireless node identification list, the MEC platform can acquire the identification of the wireless node connected with the MEC host to which the MEC platform belongs.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the MEC platform, a destination wireless node identifier corresponding to a cell in which the UE is currently located when the UE moves between cells includes:

the MEC platform subscribes a UE cell change notification event to a Radio Network Information Service (RNIS);

receiving a cell change notification event message sent by the RNIS when the UE moves between cells;

the MEC platform extracts the destination wireless node identification from the cell change notification event message.

In one possible implementation, the method further includes:

the MEC platform receives an MEC host change notification event subscribed by the MEC application;

when the MEC platform determines that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, sending an MEC host change notification event message to the MEC application.

In a possible implementation manner, the completing, by the MEC platform, the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identifier includes:

the MEC platform sends an application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance; or

The MEC platform receives an application instance migration request sent by the MEC application, forwards the application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager, and completes the migration of the application instance;

wherein, the application instance migration request carries the destination wireless node identifier.

In a possible implementation manner, if the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, it is determined that the MEC host to which the UE belongs has not changed.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for application instance migration, which may include:

the method comprises the steps that a multi-access edge computing MEC application subscribes an MEC host change notification to a preset service, wherein the preset service is provided by a wireless network information service (RNIS) or an MEC platform;

when the preset service determines that the MEC host to which the user equipment UE belongs changes, the MEC application receives an MEC host change notification event message sent by the preset service;

and the MEC application completes application instance migration according to the MEC host change notification event message.

In a possible implementation manner, when the preset service is a service provided by the MEC platform, the MEC host change notification event message is obtained by the MEC platform to obtain a wireless identifier list, and it is determined that a destination wireless node identifier is not generated after the wireless node identifier list, the destination wireless node identifier is subscribed to the RNIS by the MEC platform for UE cell change notification, and when the UE moves between cells, the destination wireless node identifier is obtained from a cell change notification message sent by the RNIS.

In a possible implementation manner, when the preset service is the RNIS, the MEC host change notification event message is sent by the RNIS to an MEC platform to send a wireless node identifier query request, and it is determined that, when the UE moves between cells, a target wireless node identifier corresponding to a current cell is not generated after a wireless node identifier list acquired by the MEC platform.

In one possible implementation form of the method,

the wireless node identification list is configured to the MEC platform manager by an Operation Support System (OSS), and then is sent to the MEC platform by the MEC platform manager; or

The wireless node identification list is sent to the MEC platform manager by an MEC organizer and then sent to the MEC platform by the MEC platform manager; or

And the wireless node identification list is reported to the MEC platform by a base station under the MEC platform.

In a possible implementation manner, the completing, by the MEC application, the migration of the application instance according to the MEC host change notification event message includes:

the MEC application sends an application instance migration request to the MEC platform according to the MEC host change notification event message, so that the MEC platform forwards the application instance migration request to an MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance;

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for migrating an application instance, which may include:

the method comprises the steps that a multi-access edge computing MEC application subscribes a user equipment UE cell change notification event to a wireless network information service RNIS;

when the UE moves among cells, the MEC application receives a cell change notification event message sent by the RNIS, wherein the cell change notification event message comprises a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the current cell where the UE moves;

the MEC application sends a wireless node identification query request to an MEC platform, wherein the wireless node identification query request is used for querying whether the destination wireless node identification is in a wireless node identification list configured by the MEC platform;

the MEC application receives a query result sent by the MEC platform;

and if the target wireless node identification is not in the wireless node identification list configured by the MEC platform, the MEC application completes application instance migration according to the query result.

In a possible implementation manner, the wireless node identifier list is configured to the MEC platform manager by an operation support system OSS, and then is sent to the MEC platform by the MEC platform manager; or

In a possible implementation manner, the completing, by the MEC application, the migration of the application instance according to the query result includes:

the MEC application sends an application instance migration request to the MEC platform according to the query result, so that the MEC platform forwards the application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance;

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for application instance migration, which may include:

a multi-access edge computing MEC platform acquires a wireless node identification list; the wireless node identification list comprises the identification of the wireless node which can be connected with the MEC host where the MEC platform is located;

and the MEC platform or the MEC application determines whether to initiate application instance migration according to the wireless node identification list.

The MEC platform receives the wireless node identification list sent by the MEC platform manager, and the wireless node identification list is sent to the MEC platform manager by the MEC orchestrator; or

In one possible implementation manner, the determining, by the MEC platform or the MEC application, whether to initiate application instance migration according to the wireless node identifier list includes:

when User Equipment (UE) moves among cells, the MEC platform or the MEC application determines whether the UE moves out of the range of the MEC host according to a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell where the UE is located currently and the wireless node identifier list;

and if the UE moves out of the range of the MEC host, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and initiating application instance migration by the MEC platform or the MEC application.

In a fifth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a multiple-access edge computing host, which may include:

the MEC platform is used for acquiring a wireless node identification list; when User Equipment (UE) moves among cells, determining a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell where the UE is currently located; judging whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list or not; if the destination wireless node identifier is not in the wireless node identifier list, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and completing the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identifier;

an MEC application for deployment on the MEC host in the form of a virtual machine or container, generating an application instance on the MEC host.

In a possible implementation manner, the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

receiving the wireless node identifier list sent by the MEC platform manager, wherein the wireless node identifier list is configured to the MEC platform manager by an Operation Support System (OSS); or

Receiving the wireless node identification list sent by the MEC platform manager, wherein the wireless node identification list is sent to the MEC platform manager by an MEC organizer; or

And receiving the wireless node identification list reported by the subordinate base station.

In a possible implementation manner, when the MEC platform determines a destination wireless node identifier corresponding to a cell in which the UE is currently located, the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

subscribing a UE cell change notification event to a Radio Network Information Service (RNIS);

extracting the destination wireless node identification from the cell change notification event message.

In one possible implementation, the MEC application is further configured to:

subscribing to MEC host change notification events to the RNIS;

when the UE moves between cells, the MEC platform is further configured to:

receiving a wireless node identifier query request sent by the RNIS, judging whether the target wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, and feeding back a query result of the wireless node identifier to the RNIS;

the MEC application is further configured to:

and when the query result indicates that the MEC host to which the UE belongs is changed, receiving an MEC host change notification event message sent by the RNIS.

In one possible implementation, the MEC application is further configured to:

subscribing a UE cell change notification event to an RNIS, receiving a cell change notification event message sent by the RNIS when the UE moves between cells, and sending a wireless node identifier query request to the MEC platform;

the MEC platform is further configured to:

and receiving the wireless node identifier query request, judging whether the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, and feeding back a query result of the wireless node identifier to the MEC application.

In one possible implementation, the MEC platform is further configured to:

receiving an MEC host change notification event subscribed by the MEC application;

and when the MEC host to which the UE belongs is determined to be changed, sending an MEC host change notification event message to the MEC application.

In a possible implementation manner, when the MEC platform completes migration of an application instance according to the destination wireless node identifier, the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

sending an application instance migration request to an MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance; or

Receiving an application instance migration request sent by the MEC application, and forwarding the application instance migration request to an MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance;

In one possible implementation, the MEC platform is further configured to:

and if the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs is unchanged.

In a sixth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a multiple-access edge computing host, which may include:

the processor is used for calling the program codes stored in the memory, and executing the steps in any implementation manner of the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, the fifth aspect, the sixth aspect, the seventh aspect, the eighth aspect, the seventh aspect, the eighth aspect, the seventh aspect.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium, where instructions are stored, and when the instructions are executed on a computer, the computer-readable storage medium implements the method according to the first aspect, the second aspect, the third aspect, the fourth aspect, any implementation manner of the first aspect, any implementation manner of the second aspect, any implementation manner of the third aspect, or any implementation manner of the fourth aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments or the background art of the present application, the drawings required to be used in the embodiments or the background art of the present application will be described below.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a reference architecture of a multi-access edge computing system according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture for application instance migration according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another application example migration method according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a further method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a further method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a further method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a multi-access edge computing host according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of another multiple-access-edge computing host according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present application.

The terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, in the description and claims of this application and the drawings described above, are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. For example, a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not limited to only those steps or elements listed, but may alternatively include other steps or elements not listed, or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

Referring to fig. 1, a schematic diagram of a reference architecture of an MEC system is shown, and under the architecture shown in fig. 1, the architecture is mainly divided into an MEC system level (MEC system level) and an MEC host level (MEC host level) by a horizontal dashed line. The MEC host consists of an MEC platform, MEC applications, and a virtualization infrastructure. The virtualization infrastructure may provide computing, storage and network resources for the MEC applications and may provide persistent storage and time-related information for the MEC applications, including a data forwarding plane to implement forwarding rules for data received from the MEC platform and route traffic between various applications, services and networks. The MEC platform receives traffic forwarding rules from an MEC platform manager, an MEC application, or an MEC service, and issues instructions to the forwarding plane based on the forwarding rules. In addition, the MEC platform also supports the configuration of a local Domain Name System (DNS) proxy server, and can redirect data traffic to corresponding applications and services. The MEC platform can also communicate with other MEC platforms through an Mp3 reference point, and in a cooperation mechanism of the distributed MEC system, an Mp3 reference point can be used as a basis for interconnection of different ME platforms.

MEC applications are virtual machine instances running on the MEC virtualization infrastructure, which communicate with each other through Mp1 reference points and the MEC platform. The Mp1 reference point may also provide additional functionality to identify application availability, prepare or relocate application states for a user when an MEC switch occurs, and the like.

The MEC platform manager (MEC platform manager, referred to as MECM for short) has the functions of MEC platform element management, MEC application lifecycle management, MEC application rule and requirement management and the like. MEC application lifecycle management includes the creation and termination of MEC applications and provides an indication message of application related events to a MEC organizer (MECO for short). The MEC application rules and demand management include authentication, traffic rules, DNS configuration, and conflict coordination, among others. An Mm5 reference point is used between the MEC platform and the mecmp that enables configuration of the platform and traffic filtering rules and is responsible for managing relocation of applications and supporting the lifecycle procedures of the applications. The Mm2 is a reference point between an Operation Support System (OSS) and the MEPM, and is responsible for configuration and performance management of the ME platform. Mm3 is the reference point between MEOs and MEPMs and is responsible for providing support for lifecycle management of applications and application-related policies, while providing time-related information for the ME's available services.

MECO is the core function provided by MEC, which macroscopically governs the resources and capacity of MEC network, including all the MEC hosts and services already deployed, the available resources in each host, the applications already instantiated, and the topology of the network, etc. When selecting the accessed target MEC host for the user, the MECO measures the user requirement and the available resource of each host, selects the most suitable MEC host for the user, and triggers the switching program by the MECO if the user needs to switch the MEC host. The instantiation and termination of MEC applications is triggered between MECO and OSS through the Mm1 reference point. Virtual machine images of virtualized resources and applications are managed between the MECO and a Virtualization Infrastructure Manager (VIM) via an Mm4 reference point while maintaining state information of available resources.

From the perspective of the MEC system, OSS is the highest level management entity that supports system operation. The OSS receives requests to instantiate or terminate MEC applications from a customer-facing service (CFS) portal and UEs, checks the integrity and authorization information of the application data packets and requests. The request data packet that is authorized by OSS authentication is forwarded to the MECO for further processing over the Mm1 reference point.

The CFS portal entity is equivalent to a third-party access point, developers use the interface to access various applications developed by the developers into the MEC system of the operators, and enterprises or individual users can also select the applications in which the developers are interested and specify the time and the place of the applications used by the enterprises or the individual users. The CFS communicates with the OSS through the Mx1 reference point.

The user application lifecycle proxy (user app LCM proxy) is an entity used by the MEC user to request application-related services like instantiation and termination. The entity can realize application relocation between an external cloud and an MEC system, is responsible for authenticating all requests from the external cloud, and then sends the requests to OSS and MECO for further processing through Mm8 and Mm9 reference points respectively. Notably, the LCM can only be accessed through a mobile network, and the Mx2 reference point provides the basis for the UE to communicate with the LCM.

The VIM is used to manage the virtual resources of the MEC application, management tasks include allocation and release of virtual compute, storage, and network resources, and software images may also be stored on the VIM for quick instantiation of the application. Meanwhile, the VIM is also responsible for collecting information of virtual resources, and reports the information to upper management entities such as MECO and mecm through an Mm4 reference point and an Mm6 reference point.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of an MEC system architecture for application instance migration according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; MEC systems are typically located between wireless access points and wired networks. In a telecommunications cellular network, a MEC system may be deployed between a radio access network and a mobile core network. The core device of the MEC system is an MEC server constructed based on an IT general hardware platform. The MEC system can provide localized cloud service through edge cloud deployed in a wireless base station or at the edge of a wireless access network, and can be connected with private clouds in other networks such as an enterprise network to realize hybrid cloud service. The MEC system provides a virtualization environment based on a cloud platform, and supports a third party application to run on a virtual machine (VM for short) in an edge cloud. The related wireless network capabilities may be opened to third party applications through platform middleware on the MEC server. In the MEC system shown in fig. 1, there may be included, but not limited to: a first MEC host 10, a second MEC host 20, user equipment 30, and a base station 40 connected with the first MEC host 10.

The user equipment 30 may be a vehicle-mounted terminal, an internet of things device, or various mobile terminals such as a mobile phone and a tablet computer. The current state is that the MEC application service on the edge cloud is acquired by connecting the base station 40 with the first MEC host 10.

The first and second MEC hosts 10 and 20 are located on the MEC server and may run various MEC applications such as car networking applications. Internet of things application, video cache application and the like.

The first MEC master 10 may be connected to a plurality of base stations other than the base station 40, and the second MEC20 may be connected to a plurality of base stations as well. Each base station comprises a plurality of cells, and when the UE moves among the cells, in order to continue to improve the MEC application service with low time delay and high speed to the user, the application instance may need to be migrated. However, when the judgment of the migration is not accurate enough, a large amount of invalid migration will occur, which wastes system resources. Therefore, it is necessary to improve an accurate migration determination method to determine when to migrate to the second MEC host 20, so as to provide a good MEC application service for the user without wasting MEC system resources.

The method for migration of the application example of the present application is described in detail below with reference to fig. 2 to 6. In these embodiments, the MEC platform may have built-in services that may provide certain capabilities for other applications to consume, the capability raiser may be called a service, and the MEC application may also provide services that may have multiple instances similar to the application, and may perform the same processing and migration on the instances formed by these services as the application instances. For simplicity, in the embodiment of the present application, the MEC platform and the built-in service are collectively referred to as an MEC platform, and the MEC application and the service are collectively referred to as an MEC application.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of an application example migration method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; the method specifically comprises the following steps:

s301, the multi-access edge computing MEC platform obtains a wireless node identification list.

Wherein, the wireless node identification list includes the identification of the wireless node connected to the MEC host where the MEC platform is located. Each MEC host may connect multiple wireless nodes.

Alternatively, the wireless node may be a base station or a cell, wherein a cell may also be referred to as a cell and refers to an area covered by one of the base stations or a part of the base station (sector antenna) in a cellular mobile communication system, and in this area, a mobile station, such as a UE, can reliably communicate with the base station through a wireless channel. The identity of the wireless node may thus be an identity of a base station or cell (the identity may be a name, a sequence number, or a hardware identity, etc.) such as a base station name, a base station sequence number, or a base station hardware identity, etc.; if the single-sector base station, that is, the base station includes only one cell, the identifier of the wireless node may be an identifier of the single-sector base station or an identifier of an antenna of the single-sector base station, and if the multi-sector base station, that is, the base station includes multiple cells, the identifier of the wireless node may be an identifier of a cell or a sector antenna, and the multi-sector base station may include identifiers of multiple different cells or sector antennas, or multiple cells or sector antennas of the multi-sector base station may share one same prefix name, and the prefix name is used as the identifier of the multi-sector base station. The examples of the present application are not intended to be limiting in any way.

Optionally, when acquiring the wireless node identifier list, the MEC platform may acquire the wireless node identifier list in any one of the following manners:

S302, when user equipment UE moves among cells, the MEC platform determines the destination wireless node identification of the cell where the UE is located currently.

S303, the MEC platform judges whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list. If so, go to step S204, otherwise go to step S205.

S304, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs is not changed.

When the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, it indicates that the UE moves within the range of the original MEC host without exceeding the range of the original MEC host, and therefore the MEC host to which the UE belongs is not changed.

S305, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and completing the migration of the application instance by the MEC platform according to the destination wireless node identification.

When the destination wireless node identifier is not in the wireless node identifier list, it indicates that the UE moves out of the range of the original MEC host, and therefore the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes.

And when the MEC host to which the UE belongs is changed, the migration of the application instance can be initiated.

Optionally, the MEC platform may send an application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator through the MEC platform manager, to complete the migration of the application instance; or

The MEC platform can receive an application instance migration request sent by the MEC application, and the MEC platform manager forwards the application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator to complete the migration of the application instance;

Optionally, the movement of the application instance may be divided into two types according to whether the application instance is already run on the migration destination MEC host: 1. if the application instance is not operated on the target MEC host, transferring the application instance and the user context to the target MEC host; 2. the application instance is already running on the destination MEC host, and the user context may be migrated to the destination MEC host. For example, if the application instance is not run on the destination MEC host, it is necessary to newly establish such an application instance on the destination MEC host, configure relevant data, such as user context, run by the application instance on the source MEC host, send the configured data to the destination MEC host, and configure the configured data to the newly established application instance on the destination MEC host; if the application instance is already running on the destination MEC host, relevant data, such as a user context, of the application instance running on the source MEC host can be configured to be sent to the destination MEC host, and configured to the application instance already running on the destination MEC host.

In the embodiment of the application, the wireless node identification list of the wireless node connected with the MEC host is obtained, and then when the UE moves, whether the target wireless identification list is in the wireless node identification list is judged, so that whether the UE moves out of the range of the original MEC host can be determined, if the UE does not move out of the range of the original MEC host, the application instance does not need to be migrated, thereby reducing the waste of system resources caused by massive invalid migration, improving the system efficiency, and being beneficial to improving better MEC application experience.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of another application example migration method provided in the embodiment of the present application; in the present embodiment, the method includes:

s401, an Operation Support System (OSS) sends a wireless node identification list to an MEC platform manager.

The wireless node identification list includes a set of identifications of wireless nodes to which the MEC host is connected.

And S402, the MEC platform manager sends a wireless node identification list to the MEC platform.

And S403, subscribing the cell change notification event to the RNIS by the MEC platform.

And S404, when the UE moves among the cells, the RNIS sends a cell change notification event message to the MEC platform.

And S405, extracting the destination wireless node identification from the cell change notification message by the MEC platform.

And S406, the MEC judges whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list or not, and determines whether application instance migration is needed or not according to the judgment result.

If the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, it indicates that the movement of the UE does not exceed the range of the original MEC host, so that the application instance can not be migrated; if the destination wireless node identification is not in the wireless node identification list, it indicates that the movement of the UE is beyond the range of the original MEC host, and the MEC platform or the MEC application may initiate the migration of the application instance.

Optionally, after step S306, if the MEC application needs to know exactly whether a change of MEC host has occurred, an MEC host change notification event may be subscribed to the MEC platform.

Referring to fig. 5, fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of another method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application; in this embodiment, steps S501 to S506 are substantially the same as steps S401 to S406 in fig. 4, and are not repeated here, and after step S506, the method further includes the following steps:

s507. the MEC application subscribes to MEC host change notification events to the MEC platform.

When the MEC platform determines that the MEC host is changed according to the destination wireless node identifier and the wireless node identifier list, step S508 may be executed.

And S508, the MEC platform sends an MEC host change notification event message to the MEC application.

Therefore, both the MEC platform and the MEC application can sense whether the UE moves from the range of the original MEC host to the range of other MEC hosts, and the migration of the application instance is initiated when the UE is determined to move to the range of other MEC hosts.

In addition to the above, the MEC application may determine whether migration of an application instance is required in the manner of fig. 6 and 7.

Referring to fig. 6, fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of another method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application; in the present embodiment, the method includes:

s601. the oss sends a list of wireless node identities to the MEC platform manager.

And S602, the MEC platform manager sends the wireless node identification list to the MEC platform.

S603.MEC application subscribes MEC host change notification event to RNIS

And S604, when the UE moves among the cells, the RNIS sends a wireless node identification query request.

The query request carries a destination wireless node identifier corresponding to a cell where the UE is currently located.

And S605, judging whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list by the MEC platform.

And S606, returning the query result to the RNIS by the MEC platform.

And S607. when the MEC host changes, the RNIS sends an MEC host change notification event message to the MEC application.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of another method for migrating an application instance according to an embodiment of the present application; in the present embodiment, the method includes:

and S701, the OSS sends a wireless node identification list to the MEC platform manager.

S702 the MEC platform manager sends a list of wireless node identifications to the MEC platform.

S703. the mec application subscribes to the RNIS for cell change notification events.

And S704, when the UE moves among the cells, the RNIS sends a cell change notification event message to the MEC application.

And S705, the MEC application sends a wireless node identification query request to the MEC platform.

S706, the MEC platform judges whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list.

And S707, returning a query result.

After receiving the query result, the MEC application determines whether the MEC host has changed.

It should be noted that steps S507 and S508 in fig. 5 may be applied to any scenario after the MEC platform confirms whether the MEC host has changed, for example, in the embodiment of fig. 6 or fig. 7, the MEC application may also subscribe the host change notification event to the MEC platform to learn whether the MEC host has changed. The examples of the present application are not intended to be limiting in any way.

For example, for the car networking which is developed rapidly at present, when a car runs, the car terminal moves fast along with the car, the car terminal communicates with the MEC application located on the edge cloud, running information of the car, such as speed, direction, steering intention, merging intention, emergency braking and the like, is reported, and the MEC application also sends running information of surrounding vehicles and surrounding road traffic condition information to the car terminal. For autonomous driving, the MEC application monitors the real-time status of the vehicle and controls the vehicle in real time. Therefore, when a vehicle carrying the in-vehicle terminal moves across the MEC host, the MEC platform or MEC application needs to be able to detect and perform fast application instance migration. Otherwise, information transmission is slowed down or failed, and traffic accidents are caused, by implementing the method for migrating the application example in the embodiment of the application, the MEC platform and the MEC application can sense whether a vehicle bearing the vehicle-mounted terminal really moves out of the range of the original MEC host, if the vehicle bearing the vehicle-mounted terminal only moves in the range of the original MEC host, the migration of the application example is not needed, the user can be ensured to continuously obtain the good MEC application service, and when the vehicle bearing the vehicle-mounted terminal moves out of the range of the original MEC host, the original MEC host cannot provide the service for the vehicle, so that the migration of the application example can be executed at the moment, and the user can be ensured to continuously obtain the good positioning service.

Please refer to fig. 8, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a multi-access edge computing host according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; can include the following steps:

the MEC platform 100 is configured to obtain a wireless node identifier list; when User Equipment (UE) moves among cells, determining a target wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell where the UE is currently located; judging whether the destination wireless node identification is in the wireless node identification list or not; if the destination wireless node identifier is not in the wireless node identifier list, determining that the MEC host to which the UE belongs changes, and completing the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identifier;

an MEC application 200 for deployment on the MEC host in the form of a virtual machine or container, on which an application instance is generated.

Optionally, the MEC platform 100 is further configured to:

Optionally, the MEC platform 100 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MEC host may further comprise a virtualization infrastructure 300 (not shown) in addition to the MEC platform 100 and the MEC application 200, the virtualization infrastructure may provide virtualized computing, storage, and network resources for the MEC application 200, and the MEC application 200 may be deployed on the MEC host in the form of a virtual machine or container. The MEC platform 100 mainly includes a service registration and discovery function, and also includes some public services, such as a Domain Name System (DNS) server or a DNS proxy service. The MEC management system may include an MEC orchestrator, an MEC platform manager, a virtualization infrastructure manager, and the like. The MEC orchestrator may maintain an overall view of all MEC hosts, available resources, available MEC services in the MEC system, triggering instantiation and termination of MEC application 200. The MEC platform manager may be used to manage the MEC platform 100, manage the lifecycle of the mobile MEC application 200, manage flow rules and DNS rules of the MEC application 200. The virtualization infrastructure manager may be used to manage the virtualized resources needed by MEC application 200.

Optionally, when the MEC platform determines the destination wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell in which the UE is currently located, the MEC platform 100 is specifically configured to:

Optionally, the MEC application 200 is further configured to:

subscribing to MEC host change notification events to the RNIS;

when the UE moves between cells, the MEC platform 100 is further configured to:

the MEC application 200 is further configured to:

The MEC application 200 is further configured to:

the MEC platform 100 is further configured to:

The MEC platform 100 is further configured to:

when it is determined that the MEC master to which the UE belongs has changed, an MEC master change notification event message is sent to the MEC application 200.

Optionally, when the MEC platform 100 completes the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identifier, the MEC platform 100 is specifically configured to:

sending an application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator 400 through the MEC platform manager 300 to complete the migration of the application instance; or

Receiving an application instance migration request sent by the MEC application 200, forwarding the application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator 400 through the MEC platform manager 300, and completing the migration of the application instance;

For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application related to the multiple-access-edge computing host, reference is made to the description of these contents in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein.

Please refer to fig. 9, which is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of another multi-access edge computing host according to an embodiment of the present application; as shown in fig. 6, the host may include a processor 110, a memory 120, and a bus 130. The processor 110 and the memory 120 are connected by a bus 130, the memory 120 is used for storing instructions, and the processor 110 is used for executing the instructions stored by the memory 120 to realize the steps in the method corresponding to fig. 2-3.

Further, the device may also include an input port 140 and an output port 150. Wherein the processor 110, the memory 120, the input port 140, and the output port 150 may be connected by a bus 130.

The processor 110 is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory 120 to control the input port 140 to receive signals and the output port 150 to send signals, thereby performing the steps performed by the apparatus in the above-described method. Wherein input port 140 and output port 150 may be the same or different physical entities. When they are the same physical entity, they may be collectively referred to as an input-output port. The memory 120 may be integrated in the processor 110 or may be provided separately from the processor 110.

As an implementation manner, the functions of the input port 140 and the output port 150 may be implemented by a transceiver circuit or a dedicated chip for transceiving. The processor 110 may be considered to be implemented by a dedicated processing chip, processing circuit, processor, or a general-purpose chip.

As another implementation manner, a manner of using a general-purpose computer to implement the apparatus provided in the embodiment of the present application may be considered. Program code that implements the functionality of processor 110, input ports 140 and output ports 150 is stored in memory, and a general purpose processor implements the functionality of processor 110, input ports 140 and output ports 150 by executing the code in memory.

For the concepts, explanations, details and other steps related to the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application related to the apparatus, reference is made to the descriptions of the foregoing methods or other embodiments, which are not repeated herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that fig. 9 shows only one memory and processor for ease of illustration. In an actual controller, there may be multiple processors and memories. The memory may also be referred to as a storage medium or a storage device, and the like, which is not limited in this application.

It should be understood that, in the embodiment of the present Application, the processor may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), and the processor may also be other general-purpose processors, Digital Signal Processors (DSP), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), Field-Programmable Gate arrays (FPGA), or other Programmable logic devices, discrete Gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, and the like.

The memory may include both read-only memory and random access memory, and provides instructions and data to the processor. The portion of memory may also include non-volatile random access memory.

The bus may include a power bus, a control bus, a status signal bus, and the like, in addition to the data bus. But for clarity of illustration the various buses are labeled as buses in the figures.

In implementation, the steps of the above method may be performed by integrated logic circuits of hardware in a processor or instructions in the form of software. The steps of a method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present application may be directly implemented by a hardware processor, or may be implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in a processor. The software module may be located in ram, flash memory, rom, prom, or eprom, registers, etc. storage media as is well known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and completes the steps of the method in combination with hardware of the processor. To avoid repetition, it is not described in detail here.

According to the method provided by the embodiment of the present application, the embodiment of the present application further provides a system, which includes the MEC host, the mobile terminal, and the migration destination MEC host.

In the embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks and steps (step) described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware or combinations of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the implementation. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

In the above embodiments, the implementation may be wholly or partially realized by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, cause the processes or functions described in accordance with the embodiments of the application to occur, in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy disk, hard disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., solid state disk), among others.

The above description is only for the specific embodiments of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily conceive of the changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present application, and shall be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method for application instance migration, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the MEC platform obtains a list of wireless node identifications, comprising:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining, by the MEC platform, the destination wireless node identity corresponding to the cell in which the UE is currently located when the UE moves between cells comprises:

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the MEC platform completes the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identification, comprising:

6. The method of claim 1, wherein if the destination wireless node identifier is in the wireless node identifier list, it is determined that the MEC host to which the UE belongs has not changed.

7. A method for application instance migration, comprising:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the MEC host change notification event message is generated by the MEC platform to obtain a list of radio identities when the predetermined service is a service provided by the MEC platform, and to determine that a destination radio node identity is not generated after the list of radio node identities, wherein the destination radio node identity is generated by the MEC platform to subscribe to the RNIS for UE cell change notification, and wherein the destination radio node identity is obtained from a cell change notification message sent by the RNIS when the UE moves between cells.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein when the preset service is the RNIS, the MEC host change notification event message is sent by the RNIS to an MEC platform a wireless node identifier query request, and it is determined that when the UE moves between cells, a destination wireless node identifier corresponding to a current cell is not generated after a wireless node identifier list acquired by the MEC platform.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9,

11. The method according to any of claims 7 to 10, wherein said MEC application completing migration of an application instance according to said MEC host change notification event message comprises:

12. A method for application instance migration, comprising:

the MEC application receives a query result sent by the MEC platform;

13. The method of claim 12,

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the MEC application completes application instance migration according to the query result, including:

15. A method for application instance migration, comprising:

a multi-access edge computing MEC platform acquires a wireless node identification list; the wireless node identification list comprises the identification of the wireless node connected with the MEC host where the MEC platform is located;

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the MEC platform obtains a list of wireless node identifications, comprising:

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the MEC platform or MEC application determining whether to initiate application instance migration from the list of wireless node identifications comprises:

18. A multi-access edge computing, MEC, host comprising:

19. The MEC mainframe of claim 18, wherein the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

20. The MEC host of claim 18, wherein when the MEC platform determines the destination wireless node identifier corresponding to the cell in which the UE is currently located, the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

21. The MEC host of claim 18 wherein,

the MEC application is further configured to:

subscribing to MEC host change notification events to the RNIS;

when the UE moves between cells, the MEC platform is further configured to:

the MEC application is further configured to:

22. The MEC host of claim 18 wherein,

the MEC application is further configured to:

the MEC platform is further configured to:

23. The MEC host of claim 18 wherein,

the MEC platform is further configured to:

24. The MEC host according to any one of claims 18-23, wherein when the MEC platform completes the migration of the application instance according to the destination wireless node identity, the MEC platform is specifically configured to:

sending an application instance migration request to an MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance; or receiving an application instance migration request sent by the MEC application, and forwarding the application instance migration request to the MEC orchestrator through an MEC platform manager to complete the migration of the application instance;

25. The MEC mainframe of claim 18, wherein the MEC platform is further configured to:

26. A multi-access edge computing host, comprising:

a processor, a memory and a bus, the processor and the memory being connected by the bus, wherein the memory is configured to store a set of program code, and the processor is configured to call the program code stored in the memory to perform the steps of any of claims 1-17.

27. A computer-readable storage medium, comprising:

the computer-readable storage medium has stored therein instructions which, when run on a computer, implement the method of any one of claims 1-17.