EP4042641A1

EP4042641A1 - Method for monitoring a data stream associated with a process within a shared network

Info

Publication number: EP4042641A1
Application number: EP20790370.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nicolas Bihannic; Jean-Michel CORNILY
Original assignee: Orange SA
Current assignee: Orange SA
Priority date: 2019-09-30
Filing date: 2020-09-24
Publication date: 2022-08-17
Also published as: US20220345399A1; WO2021064310A1; FR3101498A1

Abstract

According to the prior art, operators route separate process data on shared paths, making it difficult to monitor the correct routing of data specific to one process in particular, the monitoring relating in a static manner to all the data in the path and not specifically and dynamically to the data of one process in particular. The invention relates to a method for monitoring a stream of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path, comprising a plurality of streams, of a communication network, the method being implemented in a device in said path and comprising the steps of: - receiving, from a supervising entity, an item of information for identifying the stream to be monitored, - configuring at least one parameter for monitoring the stream, the parameter relating to the process corresponding to the item of information received, and - executing an operation for monitoring the data stream depending on at least one configured parameter.

Description

DESCRIPTION

Title of the invention: Method for controlling a data flow associated with a process within a shared network

1. Technical field

The invention relates to the identification and routing of process data in a communication network, in particular structured into data paths having, for example, quality of service, security and common routing characteristics. This involves, for example, managing flows associated with specific services in a network comprising network slices, also called "network slices" in English.

2. State of the art

In the context of the digitization of their business processes, companies, particularly in the industrial sector, want a strong integration of the performance control mechanisms of their connectivity services with the mechanisms specific to the processes of their activity. The process is defined as a set of tasks which allow the monitoring of the achievement and the quality of the service provided or the product delivered.

The product or service delivered is more and more personalized, specific to a customer or to a set of customers, requiring appropriate monitoring of the process of implementing the product or service.

A process may require the intervention of several actors. For example, one (or more) supplier (s) of industrial equipment, one (or more) supplier (s) of connectivity services, one (or more) supplier (s) of business applications, one (or more) cloud infrastructure provider (s) or even a process integrator involving the various actors mentioned above, can thus intervene in the implementation of the process.

A process can further include a variety of services which can be performed simultaneously or sequentially. For example, the process may require group calls between workers within production lines, IoT (Internet of Things) type communications to collect machine operating information, or transmission of application data to devices. customers who are the recipients of the product or service resulting from the process. Each of these services, associated with the process, has different connectivity needs in terms of volume, tolerance to packet loss, responsiveness for example to piloting commands, as well as very different supervision requirements depending on their level of criticality. 5G (Fifth Generation) technology must be a facilitator in the implementation of these requirements, in particular through the support of data routing services that are specific to each of the services mentioned above. The slices of networks implemented in 5G technology are deployed in particular to convey data having common characteristics in terms of quality of service, security and management. Thus, separate processes requiring the same connectivity characteristics will have their data routed within a single network slice. Also, the data streams of a process that correspond to distinct services will likely be routed over different network slices. Indeed, the operator of the communication service organizes his communication network by routing all the data having common characteristics from the point of view of the network but possibly relating to separate customers, in the same network slice. For example, the operator deploys a network slice for IoT data, a network slice for very critical data, a network slice for Best-Effort data. In addition, the network operator administers its network according to its own needs and deploys mechanisms for managing and monitoring the traffic of a network slice according to its own constraints. The company in charge of the process does not have dynamically configured supervision information specific to its process and therefore cannot supervise and adapt the process control, for example to modify the process in question according to this control. Network architectures and monitoring solutions also do not make it possible to quickly detect a problem that may arise on one of the services making up the process, complicating and delaying the decisions taken to resolve the problem.

The object of the present invention is to provide improvements over the state of the art.

3. Disclosure of the invention

The invention improves the situation using a method for controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path, comprising a plurality of flows, of a communication network, said method being implemented in a device of said path and comprising receiving, from a supervision entity, information identifying the flow to be controlled, the configuration of at least one flow control parameter, said parameter being relating to the process corresponding to the information received and the execution of an operation to control the flow of data as a function of at least one configured parameter.

The method makes it possible to differentiate the options for monitoring a flow within a shared data path. According to the prior art, the data path is supervised in a uniform manner for all the data of the path, that is to say that the data of the different flows within the path are controlled with the same characteristics or control parameters. . In the network architectures implemented, the flows of the same data path can have the same routing parameters, i.e. the data of the flows are routed according to quality of service and quality criteria. comparable security.

However, depending on the nature of these flows and in particular the processes associated with the different flows, the control of one flow must be able to be differentiated from the control of another flow, associated with another process, and also require the implementation. of the control process. The method makes it possible to be able to dynamically configure control parameters for a specific flow of data in a shared (or pooled) data path, thus making it possible to improve the supervision of the process. It is thus possible to dynamically modify the control parameters of a flow, to provide for a feedback of supervision information adapted to the flow and to analyze specific characteristics of the data according to the type, the criticality in terms of availability, the requirements in terms of quality of service of a process whose data is transmitted in a data path, for example by using methods of multiplexing and / or structuring in network slices.

According to one aspect of the invention, in the control method, the shared data path corresponds to a network slice.

In network architectures currently being specified, for example of the 5G (Fifth Generation) type, the data flows are routed in slices of network, also called "network slices". The data of a network slice are routed according to common routing characteristics and the method makes it possible to customize the type of supervision of a particular flow within a network slice comprising a plurality of data flows, corresponding to possibly separate processes.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, the flow identification information comprises a process identifier, and optionally at least one identifier from an identifier of the shared data path, an identifier of the device, a identifier of the supervision entity.

A flow can advantageously be identified by a process identifier with which it is associated to facilitate the use and association of the control data received. The process identifier can be supplemented by a data path identifier, for example a network slice identifier, knowing that data from the same process can be routed on different data paths depending, for example, on their requirement. in terms of quality of service. In the case where certain data of a process must pass through a specific device, for example for security reasons, a device identifier can be used in addition to the process identifier and optionally to the identifier of a path of data. An identifier of the supervision entity can also be used as an identifier in addition to the process identifier, in particular to verify that the supervision entity actually corresponds to the process to be controlled.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, at least one flow control parameter is obtained from the supervision entity prior to the configuration of said parameter by the device.

The supervision entity can advantageously transmit the flow control parameter (s) in addition to the identifier of the flow to be supervised. These two pieces of information can be transmitted simultaneously or separately. In particular, if the supervision entity wishes to modify the control parameter dynamically to improve the monitoring of the process, a specific sending of the control parameter (s) can be sent to modify the parameter while the data of the flow is conveyed. in the shared path.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, at least one flow control parameter comprises at least one parameter from: a field of flow data, a period during which flow control is executed, a frequency corresponding to the number of iterations of the control operation per unit of time, a method of calculating the control data, the type of interface used to perform the control operation, data for synchronization of control operations control.

The control parameter can make it possible to evaluate a specific field of data in the stream, for example a field relating to the quality of service. It may be advantageous to indicate a control period in the case where the control is carried out for a limited period, meeting a specific need or the detection of an incident in the implementation of the process. It is possible to collect monitoring data at specific intervals depending on the type of process to be monitored, among other things. A process requiring high availability requires, for example, a higher frequency. The calculation method corresponds for example to a calculation of average value of a controlled datum or to a calculation of instantaneous value. The type of interface may depend on the type and frequency of control. Thus, a streaming interface on the device is preferred for frequent uploading of data while a file transfer interface is more suitable for less frequent uploading of control data. In particular in the case where several data flows relating to a process are controlled, the addition of a synchronization datum, such as a clock, makes it possible to correlate the various operations and to be able to interpret the results of the control operations carried out. on the different streams. The synchronization data also makes it possible to follow the evolution of the results of the control operations over time.

According to another aspect of the invention, the control method further comprises sending to the supervisory entity a result of the control operation performed.

Once the control has been carried out on the identified flow and in accordance with the control parameter configured, the device sends the supervision entity a result of the control carried out allowing the supervision entity to make a decision based on the result. The decision may, for example, be to request that the process data flow be routed on another data path or that the data flow be supervised in accordance with another control parameter.

According to another aspect of the invention, the control method further comprises receiving from another device the data path of a message comprising information taken into account by the device to configure the control parameter.

A process usually involves a plurality of devices that can exercise control over the flow of data. A second device, or even several other devices, can influence the control exerted by a first device, for example by transmitting a result of a control and thus modify a control parameter of the first device. This allows distributed and coordinated control of the process to be achieved across multiple devices, each of which can exercise control over some or some process data. These devices can act on the same data path or on several data paths.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, the control operation comprises an operation of correlating a result of a control carried out on a second data flow, with a result resulting from the control on the flow of data.

A process can be associated with several data flows, each of the flows being for example established to transport data having the same routing characteristics. A process may for example comprise a real-time data stream and a “best effort” type data stream, or “audio” and “video” data streams, the two streams being routed on the same shared data path or two separate data paths. The control operation may consist of obtaining data from the control of each flow as well as a correlation operation of the various data received and then transmitting a result of the control of the process to the supervision entity or to another entity.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, the second data stream of the correlation operation is routed in a control plane of the communication network and the data flow is routed in the transfer plane of the communication network.

It is advantageous to be able to both control the data of a process transmitted in the control plane in addition to the control carried out on the data transmitted in the transfer plane to identify problems occurring in a process. The checks for establishing a connection or resolving a DNS domain name (in English "Domain Name System"), carried out in the control plane, can in fact be advantageously used in addition to the flow control in the transfer plan to detect anomalies or problems in a process, these anomalies being able to occur indifferently during the establishment or during the management of a flow as in the transmission of the data of the flow in the transfer plan.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the control method, the data stream is transmitted in a network slice established in the shared data path. A network slice allows processing specific to flows having common routing characteristics. A data flow of a process can be transmitted in a network slice, or slice, which network slice can itself be included in a network slice in the case where the shared data path is a network slice. The data flow control operation can correspond to a specific processing associated with the network slice associated with the process. Thus, a network sub-slice may have specific, process-specific control parameters within a network slice having generic control parameters independent of the process data conveyed in that slice. This configuration is directly applicable to the framework of a wholesale offer where the operator, subscribing to this wholesale offer, implements network sub-slices.

According to another aspect of the invention, the control method further comprises a reconfiguration of at least one parameter following the execution of the data flow control operation.

The method makes it possible to be able to reconfigure a control parameter following the execution of the control and thus to be able to adapt the control according in particular to the first results obtained once the control operation has been initiated. Thus, depending on the results obtained, it may be useful to control other parameters of the flow or to modify the initially controlled parameter, and thus improve, deepen or diversify the control operation carried out.

The various aspects of the control method which have just been described can be implemented independently of one another or in combination with one another.

The invention also relates to a device for controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path, comprising a plurality of flows of a communication network, implemented in a device of said path and comprising a receiver, able to receive from a supervision entity information identifying the flow to be controlled, a configuration module able to configure a flow control parameter, said parameter relating to the process corresponding to the information received , a controller, capable of performing an operation for controlling the data flow as a function of the configured parameter. This device, capable of implementing the control method which has just been described in all its embodiments, is intended to be implemented in an entity of a communications infrastructure, in a virtualized infrastructure or in a infrastructure based on physical equipment. For example, the device can be implemented in an entity of the network equipment type such as a router or an application server.

The invention also relates to a system for controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path comprising a plurality of flows, of a communication network, the system comprising:

- a control device,

- a supervision entity capable of transmitting to the control device information identifying the flow to be controlled.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the steps of the control method which has just been described, when this program is executed by a processor and a recording medium readable by a recording device. control over which the computer program is recorded.

This program can use any programming language, and be in the form of source code, object code, or intermediate code between source code and object code, such as in a partially compiled form, or in any other. desirable form.

The invention also relates to an information medium readable by a computer, and comprising instructions of the computer program as mentioned above. The information medium can be any entity or device capable of storing the programs. For example, the medium may comprise a storage means, such as a ROM, for example a CD ROM or a microelectronic circuit ROM, or else a magnetic recording means, for example on a hard disk.

On the other hand, the information medium can be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal, which can be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means. The program according to the invention can in particular be downloaded from an Internet type network.

Alternatively, the information medium can be an integrated circuit in which the program is incorporated, the circuit being adapted to execute or to be used in the execution of the method in question.

4. Brief description of the drawings

Other characteristics and advantages of the invention will emerge more clearly on reading the following description of particular embodiments, given by way of simple illustrative and non-limiting examples, and the accompanying drawings, among which:

[Fig 1] shows a simplified view of an environment in which the invention is implemented according to one aspect of the invention.

[Fig 2] shows a logical architecture of an environment in which the invention is implemented according to another aspect of the invention.

[Fig 3] shows an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to a first embodiment of the invention.

[Fig 4] shows an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to yet a second embodiment of the invention, [Fig 5] shows an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to yet a third embodiment of the invention. [Fig 6] presents an overview of the control method according to a fourth embodiment of the invention.

[Fig 7] presents an overview of the control method according to a fifth embodiment of the invention.

[Fig 8] shows an example of the structure of a control device according to one aspect of the invention.

5. Description of the embodiments

In the remainder of the description, embodiments of the invention are presented in a communication network. This network can be implemented in a fixed or mobile infrastructure and the invention can be intended to ensure control of industrial processes, service delivery processes or any other process related to the provision of a service intended for a client or for the own needs of the company deploying it.

Reference is made first of all to [FIG. 1] which presents a simplified view of an environment in which the invention according to one aspect of the invention is implemented. In this environment, an Indus company produces an industrial good from a process requiring the contribution of a plurality of actors. The process, also called business process, is defined as a set of tasks performed by the different actors, the control of the realization of the process leading to the production of the industrial good based on the supervision of each task of the process. However, the various players do not necessarily have knowledge of the industrial good and, according to the prior art, transmit supervision data specific to their environment and not specific to monitoring the process of producing the industrial good produced by Indus. According to one aspect of the invention, the Indus company interacts with an Integ integrator responsible for monitoring, coordinating the various tasks of the process and advancing the tasks allowing the achievement of the good. In some cases, the Indus company also plays the role of the integrator. Carrying out the process also requires the contribution of at least one supplier of industrial equipment Equipt in charge of the implementation of equipment allowing the manufacture of the industrial good. At least one app business application provider is also involved in the process. These applications can correspond, for example, to servers in charge of analyzing the operating data of industrial equipment. At least one Infra infrastructure provider, for example of the Cloud type, is also likely to intervene in particular to store applications and data relating to the process. The progress of the process also requires at least one connectivity provider Connect ensuring the transmission of the various data relating to the stages of the process between the various actors intervening in the process. Like the other actors, according to the prior art, the connectivity provider ensures supervision of the connectivity service independently of the process for which it transmits data. The connectivity provider Connect ensures, for example, that the data it transmits does not suffer from packet loss, that the quality of service classes are respected for the different data flows carried, that the data for a given client are well counted and invoiced if necessary, that the commitments in terms of security for a customer are well respected but the connectivity provider Connect, according to the prior art, does not carry out checks data specific to the product's manufacturing process. In the environment of FIG. 1, according to one aspect of the invention, the connectivity provider Connect controls the data flows specific to the manufacturing process as a function of a request issued by a monitoring device of the Indus actor or even of the actor Integ depending on the case. According to other examples, a device for the supervision of the Equipt, App, Infra actors can also transmit a control request to a device of the Connect actor, for example to correlate the control information of the Connect entity with their own control of manufacturing process data. It should be noted that the Equipt, App, Infra or even Integ entities also have communications networks and can implement the control method according to the invention as the Connect actor.

In relation to [Fig 2], we present a logical architecture of an environment in which the invention is implemented according to another aspect of the invention.

The different actors intervening in the process as described in [Fig 1] also intervene in the process of [Fig 2]. The players Indus, Integ, Equipt, Infra, Connect and App are thus represented. It should be noted that the same structure can play the role of one or more actors. For example, the same structure or company can intervene as Integ and Connect for example. Each actor has at least one supervision entity. Thus, the Integ actor administers an Integ Super supervision entity, the Equipt actor manages the Eq Sup supervision entity, and correspondingly the Infra, Connect and App actors administer respectively the Infra Sup, Connect Sup and App Sup entities. . The supervisory entities of the various actors control the functioning of the mechanisms specific to the actor. Thus the entity Eq sup controls the operation of an industrial equipment EL Of course, the supervision entities are each able to control more than one device, [Fig 2] representing only one for each supervision entity. . The Infra Sup, Connect Sup and App Sup entities respectively control the operation of the Eqt Infra devices (Eq Res 1 and Eq Res 2), and the EA application equipment. It should be noted that the Connect Sup entity controls the operation of the Eq Res 1 and Eq Res 2 equipment, the Eq Res 1 device intervening in the control plan Contrl and the Eq Res 2 device intervening in the transfer plan Transf of the network communication managed by the Connect actor. Each supervision entity is also connected to a database (BdD1, BdD2, BdD3 and BdD4) to store the data resulting from the control carried out on the respective equipment items by the supervision entities. The Integ actor has a BdDi database integrating the various data resulting from the checks carried out by the Equipt, Infra, Connect, App actors. In this logical architecture, a supervision entity is likely to call on the devices of the communication network involved in the implementation of the process and transmits information identifying a process to be controlled. The requested devices configure one or more control parameters relating to the identified process and perform the control operations according to the configured parameters. Thus, for example, the network equipments Eq Res 1 and Eq Res 2 receive identifiers of the flow to be controlled, configure control parameters to control the data flows of a process, and perform the control. The Eq Resl device thus performs a control of data specific to a process in the Control control plane and the Eq Res 2 device performs a control of the data routed in the Transfer plane Transf of the Connect network for the process identified by the information. previously transmitted by the Connect Sup entity. It should be noted that an entity of supervision of an actor can transmit the identification information of the process to devices of other actors involved in the process. The Integ Sup entity can thus directly or indirectly transmit a process identifier to the devices Eq Res 1 and Eq Res 2 so that the latter carry out a control of the process identified by the transmitted identifier. Knowing that the data flows pass in the same data path, that this data path can be a network slice, a virtual private network, a leased link or any other technique making it possible to aggregate or multiplex data relating to customers or different processes, the process identifier makes it possible to control only the data specific to the process. This makes it possible to be able to use them directly or to be able to aggregate them more easily in order to transmit them for example to the Indus actor, each actor intervening in the process possibly implementing the same control process.

In relation to [FIG. 3], an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to a first embodiment of the invention is presented. In this embodiment, three industry business processes PMI, PM2, PM3 are controlled. By way of example, the three processes are respectively a PMI process for ordering a product, a process PM2 for manufacturing a product and a process PM3 for transporting the product manufactured within a factory. These three processes PMI, PM2, PM3 require data exchanges between different equipment, different teams and different business applications. Thus, the PMI process requires data exchanges between an industrial order-taking equipment Eli and an order management business application AMI, this Eli equipment and this AMI business application exchanging a Flux 21 data flow on a network segment S2 of the transfer plan Transf of a communication network. The Flux 22 and Flux 23 data flows respectively exchanged between the Eli and EI2 equipment and the business application AM2 on the S2 network section of the Transfer plan Transf of the communication network, and the Flux 11 and Flux 12 data flows transmitted by the equipment Eli and EI2 on a section of the network SI of the control plane Contrl of the communication network are specific to the business process PM2. The data streams Stream 31 and Stream 32 transmitted by the equipment Eli and E12 on a slice S3 of the transfer plan Transf of the communication network to the business application AM3 relate to the business process PM3. Data flows can equally well be exchanged between business applications or physical or virtualized equipment. In this embodiment, the transfer plan Transf comprises 2 network slices S2 and S3 established between the network devices ET1 and ET2 while the control plane Contrl includes a network slice S 1 implemented from the devices EC1 and EC2. The data flows transmitted in these network slices are specific to distinct processes and it is therefore necessary to set up the control method to ensure control of the data flows associated with the respective processes. For example, the configuration of a control parameter of a data flow, such as a quality of service field of the flow, a number of packets transmitted for a flow or a duration of the control carried out is implemented from information identifying the flow to be controlled. This information, transmitted by a supervision entity not shown in [Fig. 3], corresponds to the number of the stream, for example Stream 11, Stream 12 ..., or even to input attributes (Eli, E12, E21, E22, E23, E31, E32) and / or output ( S11, S12, S21, S22, S23, S31, S32) of the data streams. Thus, the Flux 11 data stream can be identified by Flux 11, Ell-Sll or even by these identifiers to which is added a slice identifier (Flux 11, SI), (Flux 11, Ell-Sll, SI) depending on whether the data flow is rising (by a terminal to a server) or downstream (from a server to a terminal) within the Connect connectivity infrastructure. An identifier of a device conveying the data of the flow (EC1, EC2 ...) and the type of plan (Control, Transfer) can also be used to identify the flow or be added to the parameters defined previously. The identifier of Stream 11 may for example include a data item among the following data in addition to the identifier Stream 11 (Eli, E12, SI, Contrl, EC1, EC2). An identifier of the supervision entity (such as For example Integ Sup or Connect Sup according to [Fig. 2]) transmitting the information on the identifier of the flow to be controlled can also be added to the Flow identifier (Flow 11) for identification purposes. In this embodiment, the shared data path is a network slice.

In relation to [Fig 4], we present an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to a second embodiment of the invention. This embodiment relates to a process of a banking service requiring high availability. The communication network is composed of a mobile communication network RM and an optical type communication network RO, the two networks being intended to ensure high availability of the banking service. Each RM and RO network has a control plan, named Contrl RM and Contrl RO, respectively, and a transfer plan, Transf RM and Transf RO. The data flows specific to the banking service, transported from the EB1 banking equipment to the AMI business application, take different data paths, each path being a shared path. The Flux 11 control flow is routed in the shared path between the devices EC1 and EC2 and corresponding to an SI network slice of the Contrl RM control network of the RM mobile network, the Flux 21 transfer data stream is routed in a slice of network S2, between the devices ET1 and ET2, of the transfer network Transf RM of the mobile network RM. The flow 31 and Flow 41 of control and transfer data of the optical network RO are respectively routed in the VPN3 (in English Virtual Private Network) built between the network devices EC3 and EC4, and VPN4 built between the devices ET3 and ET4 of the RO optical network. The flows of the same process can be routed in separate or common shared paths. In [Fig 4] different data streams Stream 11, Stream 21, Stream 31, Stream 41 are routed in separate shared paths of different types since they are network slices for Stream 11 and Stream 21 whereas they are VPNs for Stream 31 and Stream 41. The different streams can be identified in accordance with the possibilities specified in the description of [Fig 3]. In [Fig 4], a single process is shown but the shared data paths (S1, S2, VPN3 and VPN4) can each include a plurality of flows of the same process and / or of separate processes. For each stream (Stream 11, Stream 21, Stream 31, Stream 41) in the process, a control parameter is configured. This may be a piece of data from a flow to be controlled, for example making it possible to count the packets of the flow, a period during which the flow control is executed. The control can thus be carried out for a limited period to resolve a specific problem.

The control parameter can include a frequency of the control operation when it is a question, for example, of taking an indicator several times in a period of time. It may also be a method of calculating control data, for example collecting instantaneous values or average values. The parameter of control can also include synchronization data, such as a clock, making it possible for example to synchronize the control information received from separate streams of a process as is the case for Streams Stream 11, Stream 21, Stream 31 and Stream 41 and to be able to interpret the various control data obtained at a given instant during the execution of the control on the various flows of the process.

In connection with [Fig 5], we present an architecture of a communication network in which the invention is implemented according to a third embodiment of the invention.

This embodiment is part of a wholesale offer, for example of the Wholesale type, from a communication network operator to a service provider deploying processes for his needs and / or himself offering services to customers, likely to be generated by processes, on the basis of the wholesale offer contracted with the operator.

The network operator routes the provider's transfer data in a WHS2 slot, comprising the ET1 and ET2 devices, of the Transf. The provider's control data is routed in a slot WHS 1 of the control plane Contrl of the communication network, comprising the devices EC1 and EC2. The ET1, ET2, EC1 and EC2 devices contribute to the implementation of at least one network slice and more than two devices can be considered for a given network slice. A second service provider contracting a wholesale offer from the same operator would see its data routed in two sections, not shown on [Lig 5], distinct from the WHS1 and WHS2 sections. The service provider implements 3 processes from the same Eli industrial equipment, each of the processes generating data flows to the respective business applications AMI, AM2, AM3. Each data flow is routed in the transfer plane Transf in a network slice of the WHS2 slice. Thus, the Llux 21 of PMI process data exchanged between the equipment Eli and the business application AMI is routed on a network slice S21 of the network slice WHS2. In an identical manner, the Stream 22 and the Stream 23 of data are routed on the slots S22 and S23 of the slot WHS2. The flow 11 of the control plane Contrl of the process PM2 is routed to the slot WHS1. In this embodiment, the data flows are associated with network slices, themselves included in a network slice, forming a hierarchy of network slices. The data flows of a process are in fact associated with network slices established within a network slice forming a shared data path. Depending on the processes and the number of actors involved in the implementation in these processes, a number greater than two levels of network slices may be considered. This hierarchy can be implemented using other sharing techniques, such as VPNs or leased lines and it is also possible to envisage a mixed architecture comprising a hierarchy of shared data paths based on different technologies (slice network in a VPN for example).

In relation to [Fig 6], we present an overview of the control method according to a fourth embodiment of the invention implemented in a communication network 10.

During a step 300, a customer 100, for example of an industrial type, requests from a process management device 101 the control of a business process involving different equipment, or even different actors and generating data exchange between industrial equipment and / or computer applications. This request of the management device 101 is optional and the client 100 can directly request the supervision device 102 if he knows the device 102 in charge of controlling the process.

During a step 301, the management device 101 identifies the supervision device to be contacted for process control to be carried out. This identification is for example carried out on the basis of a process identifier, and / or a description of the process, and / or an association table of processes and supervision devices. During a step 302, the management entity 101 sends to the supervision entity 102 identified during step 301, a request to check the data relating to the flow of the process to be controlled. In the event that several actors are involved in the process, entity 101 can identify and request several supervision entities. The exchanges between the entity 101 and the entity 102 can be carried out by an HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) or SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) type protocol or even by a specific protocol. During step 302, the entity 101 can also indicate to the entity 102 the frequency of collection of control data data, the rate of availability of the devices of the connectivity infrastructure or of the applications specific to the process, as well as other information suitable for determining the type of control and the parameters of this control. During a step 303, the supervision entity 102 determines the devices to be called upon to carry out a control of the process data in accordance with the request received from the management entity 101 or from the client 100. To determine the equipment items, the supervision entity 102 can use a table associating the processes with the data flows. For example, entity 102 maintains a table associating processes with network slice identifiers and possibly with shared path identifiers, such as a network slice identifier, of VPNs. The entity 102 can also hold a table associating the processes and the devices conveying the data of the processes and it can also associate a type of process (IoT (in English "Internet Of Things"), Streaming, Best Effort ...) with identifiers of devices involved in transporting data from these types of processes. For example, when a new process is implemented by a client, the latter indicates to the operator in charge of the supervision device 102, the types of flows generated by the process and their characteristics (quality of service, throughput, criticality, location of the equipment and applications generating the flow data, etc.) and the operator in charge of routing the data assigns one or more data paths in which (or which) the data of the process flows will be routed in depending on the characteristics of these flows. From this identification of the path (or paths), the operator identifies the devices of the path (or paths) involved in the routing of the data of the flow (or paths). The identification information of the data flow to be controlled comprises a process identifier generating the data of the flow, and optionally at least one identifier among:

- an identifier of the shared data path, such as the network slice or VPN identifier,

- an identifier of the device carrying out the check, such as the identifier 105 or 106,

an identifier of the supervision entity such as the identifier 102 of the supervision entity. During step 304, the supervision entity 102 transmits to the devices 105 and 106 identified during step 303 information identifying a flow to be controlled. The identification information includes the identifiers described above.

According to an alternative, the supervision entity 102 also transmits flow control parameters to the devices 105 and 106. The purpose of these parameters is to qualify the check and to define the parameters of the flow to be configured by the devices 105 and 106 in order to carry out the check. The flow control parameters transmitted to devices 105 and 106 may be different depending on the role played by the device in the routing of data. For example, if device 105 is involved in routing control flows and device 106 is involved in routing transfer data, the control parameters may be different. The control parameters as described in [Fig 3] can thus be transmitted, according to one example, by the supervision entity 102 to the devices 105 and 106 during step 304.

During step 305, the devices 105 and 106 configure one or more parameters for controlling the flow of data generated by the process to be controlled. The control parameter to be configured may have been transmitted by the supervision entity 102 during step 304 or else it may be configuration parameters determined by the devices 105 and 106 as a function in particular of the data of the process to be controlled. . For example, from the identifiers of the flow to be controlled, the devices 105 and 106 can determine the control parameters to be configured. For example, if these are critical process flows, devices can configure a packet loss rate calculation. If this is a real-time data stream, the devices will be able to configure regular monitoring of packet QoS parameters. If these are confidential processes, devices will be able to configure a check of the packet integrity parameters of the data stream. In the case of encrypted data flow, an application-type device will be able to access the data while a communications network router will not necessarily have the keys to decrypt the encrypted data flow. The devices 105 and 106 can therefore configure separate control parameters, but however, it may be necessary to synchronize these controls by configuring for example a common clock identifying the moment when the controls must be carried out by the two devices 105 and 106.

In step 306, devices 105 and 106 perform data flow control according to the control parameter configured in step 305. In the case where a process includes multiple data flows, each flow can be controlled with control parameters specific to the process flow. The control parameters, according to one example, are therefore specific to the data flow and / or to the device in charge of the flow control in addition to being specific to the process.

According to one example, the control operation executed during step 306 comprises an operation of correlation of a control carried out on a second flow with a result resulting from the control on the flow to be controlled. For example, the device 105 can route data originating from a plurality of flows of the same process or of distinct processes. The transmission of data from one stream may influence the transmission of data from another stream or a problem detected on two separate streams may make it possible to identify a problem on the device 105 for example. In particular, if all the data streams carried by the device 105 experience a degradation of quality of service or a loss of packets, then this may indicate a problem with the device. 105. The possibility of correlating, comparing or aggregating control results makes it easier to identify a problem.

According to an alternative, during step 307, the device 106 of the data path transmits to the device 105 a message comprising information taken into account by the device 106 to configure a control parameter. This condition may correspond to a result of a check that the device 106 performed on the data flow during a previous check or during the check performed. For example, if device 106 detects packet loss, it can indicate this information for device 105 to configure the packet loss control parameter as well. It can also be synchronization data so that the checks by the devices 105 and 106 are carried out at the same times. According to one example, this information is transmitted by the entity 106 via the supervision entity 102 to respond to the situation where the devices of the data path do not know each other or cannot exchange data directly.

According to another alternative, during step 308, the device 105 reconfigures one or more data flow control parameters. This reconfiguration, according to one example, is consecutive to the information received during step 307 and / or it results from the control operation carried out autonomously by the device 105. Thus, if the device 105 detects an abnormal variation of a quality of service parameter, it can reconfigure control parameters, for example to control other fields of the protocol used to transmit the data of the process flow.

According to another alternative, the devices 105 and 106 transmit, during a step 309, a result of the check carried out on the data flow in accordance with the configured control parameters. This result can allow the supervision entity 102 to determine a new control to be operated on the same data flow or on a separate flow of the process and also to inform the management entity 101 and possibly the client 100 of the control results. obtained. In the case of a periodic check, the supervision entity 102 can save the results obtained in order to assess the progress of the routing of the data of the flow of a process in a shared path of the communication network.

In relation to [FIG. 7], an outline of the control method according to a fifth embodiment of the invention in a communication network 10 is presented. The architecture of the communication network in which this embodiment is implemented is that presented in [Fig 3].

Two industrial equipment El 1 and El 2 are connected to the control plane and to the transfer plane of a mobile communication network.

The control plan is made up of 2 network devices EC1 and EC2; the transfer plan is made up of 2 network devices ET1 and ET2.

The Tranf transfer planes and Contrl control plans are interfaced to allow in particular the configuration of the transfer plan by the control plan. This “Interface_CT” interface typically corresponds to the 3GPP N4 interface for the “Service-based Architecture” of the 5GC core network (in English “5G Core”). Data flow is created according to the nature of a business process (associated with the business application). There are therefore flows relating to the control plane and flows relating to the transfer plan. Typically, for the supervision of events relating to the attachment of industrial equipment to the network or to its mobility, at least one flow will be created at the level of the control plane. Thus, the flows (of the transfer plan and of the control plan) are determined from the nature of the business process (associated with the business application) and by considering industrial equipment involved in this business process. For each flow (of the transfer plane and of the control plane), there is then a unique input attribute and a unique output attribute.

According to this example, as presented in [Fig 3],

- for the control plane: for each industrial equipment that initiates communication with the control plane, at least one flow is created to which are associated a single input attribute and a single output attribute at the level of the supervision entity of the connectivity provider. In the present case, we make the assumptions that the control plan: i) is common for the industrial equipment (Eli and EI2) of the customer's industrial tool ii) is implemented via a single IS unit. For this SI tranche, there is a creation

- the Fluxl 1 flow and the 2 identifiers Eli and SI 1 as input and output attributes for Eli industrial equipment,

- the Fluxl2 flow and the 2 identifiers E12 and S 12 as input and output attributes for industrial equipment EI2.

The Fluxl 1 and Fluxl2 flows participate in the business process PM2 relating to loT data exchanges. Flows 11 and 12 then make it possible to provide information on the state of attachment to the network for industrial equipment Eli and EI2 during the supervision of the business process PM2. For the transfer plan, Eli industrial equipment participates in 3 business processes PMI, PM2 and PM3. Connectivity to the transfer plane is via 2 slices of the communications network (or “slices” in English) S2 and S3 to differentiate the nature of the data transferred via the mobile communications network. The S2 slot is used for loT data exchanges between industrial equipment and business applications AMI, AM2, AM3. The S3 slice is used to manage software updates for each industrial equipment. Typically, the S3 slice will require more bandwidth than the S2 slice, the S2 slice will have more continuous traffic than the S3 network slice. The flows of the transfer plan are determined from the nature of the business process (associated with the business application) and by considering the industrial equipment involved in this business process. For each flow in the transfer plan, then there is a unique input attribute and a unique output attribute.

Although the business processes PMI and PM2 may have similar requirements vis-à-vis the properties of the transfer plan (traffic volume, level of connectivity speed or latency, level of connectivity availability ...), their differentiation, via the implementation of different flows, allows a different configuration of the control parameters which will have to be reported by the network device for each business process.

In this embodiment, it is considered that the business process loT PMI of the business application AMI is more critical than the business process loT PM2 of the business application AM2. In this case, the ET1 and ET2 network devices will be configured so that:

- Flow 21 performance metrics (such as the number of packets transferred via the S2 slot are transmitted every 10 minutes to the supervision entity (not shown in [Fig 3] and may be the Connect Sup entity described in the [Fig 2]),

- the performance metrics of flows 22 and 23 (such as the number of packets transferred via the S2 slot are transmitted every 30 minutes to the supervision entity. Thus, the configured control parameter is the frequency of performance metrics feedback and will be determined according to the needs of the business process to be supervised.

The control parameters associated with the various business process flows including the nature of the interfaces used for the execution of control operations are presented in connection with the steps in [Fig 7]. Only the steps requesting the supervision entity or a device of the communication network in charge of carrying out the control are detailed with the exception of the initial step 300.

Step 300: The client entity 100 transmits to a management entity 101 the list of business processes to be supervised and the overall performance expected for each business process. The following data is thus transmitted:

{Business Process: PMI; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; frequency of reporting performance metrics to the monitoring tool: 10 minutes} {Business Process: PM2; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 30 minutes}

{Business Process: PM3; packet loss rate: 0%; performance monitoring frequency: at the end of each full transfer}

Step 302: sending, to the supervision entity 102, the identifiers of the devices in charge of control, the list of industrial equipment and the expected performance by business process. Sending of the following data:

{Business Process: PMI; Industrial equipment: Eli; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 10 minutes} {Business Process: PM2; Industrial equipment: Eli, EI2; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 30 minutes} {Business Process: PM3; Industrial equipment: Eli, EI2; packet loss rate: 0%; performance monitoring frequency: at the end of each complete transfer} Step 304: sending to the devices 105 representing ET1 and 106 representing ET2 identification information of the flows to be controlled and control parameters relating to the performance metrics that must be executed then transmitted by the device for each flow.

At this step, the manager sends the control parameters for the expected performance metrics to each device of the communication network involved in the data transmission of the flow to be controlled for which it is supervised.

For the control plane, there is transmission of the Flux 11 and Flux 12 flow identifiers and of control parameters to the EC1 and EC2 equipment for the management of the Fluxl 1 and Fluxl2 flows. The devices EC1 and EC2 are not shown in [Fig 7]. For the transfer plan, the flow identifiers and control parameters are transmitted to the 105 ET1 and 106 ET2 devices for the management of the Flux21, Flux22, Flux23, Flux31 and Flux32 flows.

The following 3 examples relate to the flows Flux21, Flux22 and Flux23 for device 105 ET1 of the transfer network Transf. Identical data is transmitted to device 106. It should be noted that it is proposed to use: i) the streaming interface to supervise the flows requiring frequent feedback of performance metrics by the network device concerned and ii) l 'file transfer interface in the opposite case, namely to supervise flows that do not require frequent reporting.

The following information is thus transmitted during step 304 to the device 105 ET1: {Network Equipment: ET1; Flux: Flux21, Input attribute: E21; Output attribute: S21; Industrial equipment: Eli; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 10 minutes; value: instantaneous values; interface: streaming interface}

{Network Equipment: ET1; Flux: Flux22, Input attribute: E22; Output attribute: S22; Industrial equipment: Eli; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 30 minutes; value: averaged values; interface: file transfer}

{Network Equipment: ET1; Flux: Flux23, Input attribute: E23; Output attribute: S23; Industrial equipment: EI2; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 30 minutes; value: averaged values; interface: file transfer}

As soon as an industrial equipment item E1 connects to the communication network and communicates with one of the fields of business applications of a business process, then the supervision entity informs, in particular in the database of its technical area, the attributes of input and output of the stream with respectively: the IP address allocated to the industrial equipment and the IP address used by the business application to communicate with this industrial equipment.

Steps 305 to 309 are analogous to the identical steps of [Fig 6].

Step 310: the supervision entity 102 detects a problem with the data flow of the PMlet business process; performance monitoring must now be configured at 10 seconds (and no longer 10 minutes).

- Step 311: notification by the supervision entity 102 to the 105 ET1 and 106 ET2 devices concerned, of the identified business process and requiring coordinated supervision.

The implementation of the PMI business process indeed involves the 105 ET1 and 106 ET2 devices at the network level. The supervision entity 102 then sends the 2 control parameter reconfiguration commands for the Flux21 flow of the PMl process to the 105 ET1 and 106 ET2 devices, respectively:

{Network Equipment: ET1; Flux: Flux21, Input attribute: E21; Industrial equipment: Eli; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 10 seconds; value: instantaneous values; interface: streaming interface}

{Network Equipment: ET2; Flux: Flux21; Output attribute: S21; Industrial equipment: Eli; volume of packets to be transferred: 2 Mbits / hour; performance monitoring frequency: 10 seconds; value: instantaneous values; interface: streaming interface}

Steps 312 to 314 correspond to steps 305, 306, 309 described above with the control parameters modified in step 310.

In relation to [Fig 8], an example of the structure of a control device according to one aspect of the invention is presented.

The control device 105 implements the control method, various embodiments of which have just been described.

Such a device 105 can be implemented in an entity of a communications infrastructure, in a virtualized infrastructure or in an infrastructure based on physical equipment. For example, the device can be implemented in an entity of the network equipment type such as a router or an application server. For example, the device 105 comprises a processing unit 430, equipped for example with an mR microprocessor, and controlled by a computer program 410, stored in a memory 420 and implementing the determination method according to the invention. On initialization, the code instructions of the computer program 410 are for example loaded into a RAM memory, before being executed by the processor of the processing unit 430.

Such a device 400 comprises: a receiver 403, able to receive from a supervision entity identification information Ident of the flow to be controlled, - a configuration module 401 able to configure a flow control parameter, said parameter relating to the process corresponding to the information received, a controller 402, able to execute an operation for controlling the data flow as a function of the configured parameter.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path, comprising a plurality of flows, of a communication network, said method being implemented in a device of said path and comprising the reception from a supervision entity of information identifying the flow to be controlled, the configuration of at least one flow control parameter, said parameter relating to the process corresponding to the information received, the performing a data flow control operation based on at least one configured parameter.

2. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the shared data path corresponds to a network slice.

3. The control method, according to claim 1, wherein the flow identification information comprises a process identifier, and optionally at least one identifier from an identifier of the shared data path, an identifier of the device, an identifier of the device. supervision entity.

4. The control method according to claim 1, where G at least one flow control parameter is obtained from the supervision entity prior to the configuration of said parameter by the device.

5. The control method, according to claim 1, where G at least one flow control parameter comprises at least one parameter among: a field of data of the flow, a period during which the flow control is executed, a frequency. corresponding to the number of iterations of the control operation per unit of time, a method of calculating the control data, the type of interface used to perform the control operation, a data of synchronization of control operations

6. The control method according to claim 1, further comprising the transmission to the supervision entity of a result of the control operation executed.

7. The control method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving from another device the data path of a message comprising information taken into account by the device to configure the control parameter.

8. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the control operation comprises an operation of correlating a result of a control carried out on a second data flow with a result from the control on the data flow.

9. The control method according to claim 8, wherein the second data stream is routed in a control plane of the communication network and the data stream is routed in the transfer plane of the communication network.

10. The control method according to claim 1, wherein the data stream is transmitted in a network slot established in the shared data path.

11. A method of controlling a data flow further comprising a reconfiguration of at least one parameter following the execution of the data flow control operation.

12. Device for controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path, comprising a plurality of flows of a communication network, implemented in a device of said path and comprising a receiver, able to receive, from a supervision entity, information identifying the flow to be controlled, - a configuration module able to configure a flow control parameter, said parameter relating to the process corresponding to the information received, a controller, capable of executing a data flow control operation as a function of the configured parameter.

13. System for controlling a flow of data associated with a process and routed in a shared data path comprising a plurality of flows, of a communication network, the system comprising:

- a control device according to claim 12,

- a supervision entity capable of transmitting to the control device information identifying the flow to be controlled

14. A computer program comprising instructions for implementing the control method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, when the program is executed by a processor.

15. A recording medium readable by a control device according to claim 12, on which the program according to claim 14 is recorded.