TW201717686A - RAN re-architecture for network slicing - Google Patents

Abstract

Embodiments provide a radio access network (RAN) control entity apparatus operable in a wireless communication network, the apparatus comprising radio frequency (RF) circuitry to receive at least one communication originating from a wireless network device or transmit at least one communication to a wireless network device, wherein the RAN control entity is coupled to a baseband unit (BBU) and remote radio head (RRH), and circuitry to partition a physical RAN infrastructure or C-RAN into one or more network slices, and partition the BBU and/or RRH according to a deployment scenario of the one or more network slices.

Description

Radio Access Network (RAN) re-architecture for network slicing

The embodiments described herein relate generally to the field of wireless communication systems, and more particularly to the management of radio access networks for a wireless communication system.

The implementation of the present invention can be broadly related to the field of wireless communications.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, an apparatus for a Radio Access Network (RAN) control entity operable in a wireless communication network is coupled, the RAN control entity being coupled to a baseband unit (BBU) and far From a radio head (RRH), the apparatus includes: a radio frequency (RF) circuitry that receives at least one communication originating from a wireless network device, or transmits at least one communication to a wireless network device; and circuitry Decomposing: a physical RAN infrastructure or a cloud radio access network (C-RAN) into one or more network slices; and partitioning the BBU and/or RRH according to one of the one or more network slices deployment scenarios .

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in the different drawings. In the following description, for purposes of illustration and description However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; In some instances, well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the disclosure in unnecessary detail.

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in the different drawings. In the following description, for purposes of illustration and description However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; </ RTI> <RTIgt; In some instances, well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the disclosure in unnecessary detail.

In the fourth generation of Long Term Evolution (4G-LTE) and advanced LTE/professional wireless communication networks, heterogeneity in network architecture and applications has been a trend. Examples of these trends are the development of small cell and relay networks, inter-device (D2D) communication networks (also known as proximity services), and machine type communication (MTC). Less than a cell can be considered to be any cell form that is smaller than a conventional macro eNB/base station (eg, a micro/pico/nanocell). This heterogeneity trend is even more pronounced after entering the fifth generation (5G) wireless communication network, and an improved method and equipment for controlling wireless resources is desirable. For example, because the 5G wireless communication network is expected to serve a wide variety of applications (with various traffic types and requirements), network and user equipment (with various communication and computing capabilities), and different from more traditional Voice services (such as LTE voice, VoLTE) and mobile broadband (MBB) commercial market (ie use cases), so it is desirable to control each of these use cases, thereby potentially optimizing, or at least improving, using these wireless resources .

Embodiments of the present disclosure are generally directed to a slice of a Radio Access Network (RAN) architecture of a wireless communication network. The RAN may be part of the wireless communication network implementing one or more radio access technologies (RATs) and may be resident as being resident in a user device (UE) such as a mobile phone, a smart phone, a connected knee A location between the desktop, or any remotely controlled (or simply accessible) machine, and providing a connection to the core network (CN) that serves the wireless communication network. The RAN can be implemented using a silicon (multiple) silicon chip, resident in such UEs and/or base stations, such as an enhanced Node B (eNB), a base station, or the like, which forms a cellular-based wireless communication network. /system. Examples of RAN include, but are not limited to, GRAN (a GSM radio access network); GERAN (essentially an EDGE enabled GRAN); UTRAN (a UMTS radio access network); and E-UTRAN (an LTE) Or advanced LTE/professional high speed and low latency radio access network).

The embodiments described herein discuss a general network slicing architecture in a radio access network of a wireless communication network, such as, but not limited to, a 5G wireless communication network. In particular, embodiments may include the concept of horizontal and vertical network slicing. Vertical slices can include many existing and new types of communications (which can be implemented over future wireless communication networks, including this radio access network), and slice the radio access network according to the vertical market, one of which A vertical market can contain a single/specific communication type (ie, it can be defined as a single or specific use case for the communication involved). A commercial market that can be built into a wireless communication network can also be called a vertical market. These existing types include Mobile Broadband (MBB) and Voice (VoLTE), while new communication types include new types of connectivity services and use cases such as Machine Type Communication (MTC), Personal Area Network, and Exclusive Health. Network, machine room (M2M), enhanced MBB (eMBB), critical time communication, vehicle communication (V2X) (including workshop (V2V) and vehicle and infrastructure (V2I)), and the like. A vertical market definition is not limited and will cover any existing or future logical division (ie, isolation, division, or the like) of a physical radio access network, dedicated to specific uses by wireless communication, or type of communication. . In some instances, there may be multiple physical radio access networks used, each of which is divided into logically separated radio access networks.

The proposed network slicing can be planned and highly scalable and flexible, while taking into account the availability, latency and power requirements and impact on battery life, reliability, and capacity required for each particular use case. , safety and speed.

Network slicing is seen as a technology used in key technologies to meet the diverse requirements and diverse services and applications that are expected to be supported in 5G communication networks. This is because in wireless communication technology, the challenge is increasing as the radio link hierarchy further improves spectral efficiency, so new ways to set up future wireless networks and devices that are served by those wireless networks have been discovered. To meet the increasing capacity needs. In order to achieve these goals, 5G and future generations of wireless networks, and especially wireless networks that serve servos, or wireless devices that are served by those wireless networks, are continually evolving, combining computing and communications, and building end-to-end pairs. End solution. This is a paradigm shift from the previous generations. The previous generations of technology development focused solely on single-layer communication.

If the capacity in the wireless network is to be increased, it can be sliced to achieve. This may involve slicing (i.e., logically dividing/division) traditional large, single, mobile broadband networks into multiple virtual networks for servicing vertical industries and applications in a more cost effective and resource efficient manner. Each network slice can have a different network architecture, as well as different application, control, packet and signal processing capabilities and capacity to achieve the best return on investment. Instead of deploying a new, dedicated wireless network for the vertical market, vertical slices (ie, the industry or type of service) can be added to an existing tangible wireless network at any time. Thus, vertical network slicing provides a practical means of isolating traffic from the rest of the general mobile broadband service from a vertical application perspective, thereby effectively avoiding or substantially simplifying traditional QoS engineering problems. Wireless network slicing can include slicing in both the core network and the radio access network (i.e., is an end-to-end solution).

In a wireless network of 5G and above, the capacity expansion of a network can be no longer uniform compared to previous generations. For example, the scaling factor may be higher when the wireless network is closer to a user, and lower when we move deeper into the infrastructure of the wireless network. This non-uniform scaling may be due to an augmented user experience, achieved by significantly increased sensing capabilities (and/or processing resources), available at wireless devices utilizing wireless networks. Unlike a network that is primarily used as a data pipe servo for several generations of wireless networks (as the air interface improves from end-to-end uniformity (but singularity) expansion), 5G and future generations of wireless networks can at least Partially dependent on the information network, including the diverse (heterogeneous and / or homogenous) computing, network connectivity and storage capabilities of such wireless networks and their servo/received wireless devices.

For example, the overall wireless network can continue to expand rapidly, but the computing and network connections at the edge of the network can grow even faster, so that user data traffic can be handled at the edge of the wireless network (so-called Edge of the cloud application). The user device can no longer simply be a "terminal" that terminates a communication link. Instead, it can be transformed into a new generation of mobile or fixed network nodes for a new generation of consumer devices, machines, and things. For example, a laptop computer, a smart phone, a home gateway or any other wireless network device (or a component device forming the wireless network device, or a portion thereof sold to a consumer) may become A computing and network connection device is one of the network clusters deployed around one of many devices or things. For example, it can form a personal area network (PAN). Many such mobile or fixed wireless network devices can form a new network type that can be referred to as an underlying network, 5G and above, with devices capable of communicating directly with each other or with a fixed network, and There are operations that can be offloaded to a larger form factor platform or edge cloud base station (i.e., an entity with more processing resources in this wireless network, completely or simply available at that time). This can be done to achieve optimal mobile computing and communication through a virtualized platform that includes one of the many devices across the edge cloud.

This new type of wireless network scaling can be driven by several factors. For example, since the device sensing is typically local, the processing of the sensing data may be local, and the decisions and actions according to the sensing data become local. This trend can be further amplified by the growth of wearable devices and the Internet of Things. For example, when the machine begins to play a larger role in communication than the human user, the overall communication link speed can be increased.

When an increasing number of communication links are adjacent to the user and the user device, the end-to-end definition must be discussed again. Therefore, it is proposed to provide a cloud architecture framework that can be incorporated into the data center and the edge cloud to provide local intelligence and services closer to the end user or device. For example, it can be because edge-to-cloud servers become more important for performance and information privacy and security as wireless networks and systems are deployed in enterprises, homes, offices, factories, and automobiles. These latter factors can be driven by the concern of users (and governments) for continued growth in privacy and security. In addition, the data centers that penetrate these fixed networks are growing rapidly, as many existing services can take advantage of the centralized architecture, leveraging next-generation portable and wearable devices, unmanned drones, industrial machines, autonomous vehicles, and Similar to the more appropriate servo, at the edge of the network and around the user, the communication and computing capabilities are growing rapidly.

This newly introduced network slicing concept, especially the one that provides one of the wireless network system architectures with end-to-end (E2E) vertical and horizontal network slices, can be air interface, radio access network (RAN) And the core network (CN) brought changes to achieve a wireless network system with E2E network slicing.

In short, horizontal slices are based on the processing needs of those devices over time and space/location, by sharing computing resources between devices that are servoed to the wireless network or are served by the wireless network (ie, in or on). To enhance device capabilities.

Horizontal network slicing is designed to accommodate new traffic scaling trends and enable edge cloud computing and computational offloading: computing resources in base stations and portable devices can be sliced horizontally and integrated with wearable devices The slice is formed to form a virtual computing platform through a new wireless air interface design as described herein to significantly augment the computing power of future portable and wearable devices. The horizontal slice expands the device capabilities and enhances the user experience.

In the most general terms, network slicing can be thought of as a way to logically separate, compute, and organize the computing and communication resources of a physical wireless network infrastructure into one or more logical partitions. The radio access network enables flexible implementation of multiple use cases. For example, with network slicing during operation, a physical wireless network can be cut into multiple logical radio access networks, each architected and optimized to meet a specific requirement and/or specific application/service ( That is, use case). Therefore, a network slice can be defined as self-contained according to operation and traffic flow, and can have its own network architecture, engineering mechanism and network deployment. Network slicing as proposed in this paper simplifies the establishment and operation of network slicing and allows functional wireless network infrastructure to be functionally reused and shared (ie, provide efficiency) while still being served by the wireless network. Wireless devices provide sufficient wireless network resources (communication and processing resources).

Vertical slicing is designed to support a variety of services and applications (ie, use cases/types of communications). Examples include, but are not limited to, wireless/mobile broadband (MBB) communications; extreme mobile broadband (E-MBB) communications; instant use cases such as industrial control communications, inter-machine communications (MTC/MTC1); such as the Internet of Things (IoT) ) Non-instant use cases for sensor communication, or large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M-MTC/MTC2); ultra-reliable machine-to-machine communication (U-MTC); for example, cache edge, communication edge cloud; workshop (V2V) Communication; vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication; vehicle-to-anything communication (V2X). That is, the disclosure relates to providing network slicing based on any easily definable/distinguishable communication type that can be implemented over a wireless network. Vertical network slicing enables resource sharing in services and applications, and avoids or simplifies a traditional QoS engineering problem.

At the same time, horizontal network slicing is intended to extend the capabilities of devices in wireless networks, especially mobile devices that may have limited local resources available to them, and enhance the user experience. Horizontal network slices span a range that exceeds the physical boundaries of the hardware platform. Horizontal network slicing enables network nodes and devices to share resources, ie, highly capable network nodes/devices can then share their resources (ie, compute, communicate, store) to enable smaller networks Road nodes/devices enhance their capabilities. A simple example would be to use a network base station and/or a smart phone mobile device to supplement the processing and communication capabilities of a wearable device. One of the final results of a horizontal network slice may be to provide a next-generation network (eg, mobile) underlying network cluster where the mobile terminal becomes a mobile network link node. Horizontal slicing provides the sharing of air resources between wireless network nodes. The wireless network air interface used can be one of the integrated sections of the horizontal slice and an enabler.

Vertical network slices and horizontal network slices can form separate slices. The end-to-end traffic in a vertical slice can be moved between the core network and the terminal device. The end-to-end traffic in a horizontal slice can be localized and moved between the client and the host of a mobile edge computing service.

In vertical slices, each of the network nodes can perform similar functions in different slices. One of the dynamic slices of a vertical slice can mainly fall into the resource division. However, in horizontal slices, new functions can be established at a network node while supporting a slice. For example, a portable device can use different functions to support different types of wearable devices. The dynamic aspect of the horizontal slice can therefore fall into the network function and resource partitioning.

Figure 1 shows a first view of the general concept of vertical and horizontal network slices. There is shown a complete wireless network 100 comprising a plurality of vertical slices 110 to 140, each of which has a different (or at least separated) vertical market, ie a use case. In the illustrated example, vertical slice #1 110 servo action broadband communication, vertical slice #2 120 servo shop communication, vertical slice #3 130 servo safety communication, and vertical slice #4 140 servo industrial control communication. These are merely illustrative use cases, and the use cases that can be served by a tangible wireless network in accordance with the present disclosure are virtually unlimited.

The wireless network 100 includes a core network layer portion 150 (e.g., multiple servers/control entities/control portions having eNode-B, etc.), a radio access network layer portion 160 (e.g., including multiple bases) Station, e-Node B, etc.), a device layer portion 170 (including portable devices such as UEs, vehicles, monitoring devices, industrial devices, etc.), and a person/dressing layer portion 180 (including, for example, wearable devices, Such as smart watches, health monitors, GoogleTM glasses / MicrosoftTM holographic lens devices and the like). This wearable portion may only cover some use cases, as it is only shown in vertical slices #1 and #2 in the example of FIG.

In this vertical domain, physical computing/storage/radio processing resources (such as servers and base stations 150/160) in the network infrastructure, as well as physical radio resources (based on time, frequency and space) are used by use cases ( That is, the communication type) is sliced to form an end-to-end vertical slice. In the horizontal domain, physical resources (depending on operations, storage, radio) in adjacent layers of this network hierarchy are sliced to form horizontal slices. In the illustrated example, a first horizontal network slice 190 operates between the RAN 160 and device 170 layers, and a second horizontal network slice 195 operates between the device 170 and the wearer 180 layer. Any given device that is or is typically served by wireless network 100, and particularly RAN 160 (and below), can operate on multiple network slices, either (or both) types. For example, a smart phone can operate in one of the vertical slices on the Mobile Broadband (MBB) service, one of the vertical slices on the health care service, and one of the horizontal slices that support the wearable device.

In the implementation of network slicing in the RAN (including the air interface used in this RAN), in addition to meeting 5G requirements (eg, data rate, latency, number of connections, etc.), these RAN/air interfaces are used to implement Further desirable features of network slicing and generally 5G may also include flexibility (i.e., support for flexible radio resource allocation between slices); scalability (i.e., easily expanded with new new slices); Efficiency (for example, efficient use of radio and energy resources).

Horizontal slices may include layers that slice the network hierarchy, for example, network connectivity capabilities and operations (ie, processing resources). This can be done across any number of vertical slices that are servoed by the network 100, for example, from all vertical markets down to anything within one or more vertical slices. This is shown as two exemplary horizontal slices of different widths in Figure 1 - Horizontal slice #1 190 is limited to a single vertical slice, while horizontal slice #2 covers two vertical slices. Examples of network layers/layers may include, but are not limited to, a macro network layer, a micro/small cell network layer, an inter-device communication layer, and the like. Other network layers can also be involved.

2 shows a second view 200 of a portion of the wireless network 100 of FIG. In particular, Figure 2 shows an example of a particular slice RAN architecture in which slices can span multiple levels of traditional wireless network architecture. For example, depending on factors such as traffic type, traffic load, QoS requirements, etc., the RAN architecture of each slice can be dynamically combined. In a first example, slice #1 210 can only operate at the macro cell level. Slice #2 220 operates only at the small cell level. Finally, slice #3 230 operates on both the macro and small cell levels. In another example, one slice (e.g., slice #1 210) can operate on a small cell, while another slice (e.g., slice #3 230) can end up operating on some of these small cells.

Expanding the operation/starting a slice can be referenced as a network slice open, and the end operation/stop slice can be referenced as a network slice close. This particular slice RAN architecture may require specific slice control plane/user plane operations, slice start/close operations, and access control and load balancing slice processing, as will be discussed in more detail below.

It includes horizontal slicing of network/device computing and communication resources to achieve computational offloading. Examples include a base station using one of its computing resources to slice a user device to perform an operation, or a user device (eg, a smart phone) using one of its computing resources to slice one or more associated wearable devices for operation .

Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to any particular form of slicing along a vertical (market) or horizontal (network level/layer) direction.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a management entity that can operate across a control plane (C-plane) and/or a user plane (U-plane), which can provide a management plane entity for coordinating different slices to operate, which can be horizontal Or a slice of vertical (or multiple / combined, or partial, several). This managed entity can use a flat management architecture or a hierarchical management architecture.

The radio access network is sliced for this radio access network to slice according to a predetermined vertical market of the network, or a horizontal network layer (or multiple/partial layers). This can be seen as a logically separated form between the radio resources provided by the radio access network or used. The logical partitioning of such wireless resources may allow for the definition, management, and/or (approximately or specifically) of the resources to be provided separately. This segmentation allows different slices to have the ability to or cannot tolerate each other. Equally, in some embodiments, one or more slices may be specifically provided with the ability to manage another slice or slices for operation.

In some embodiments, the network function can be completely offloaded to a network slice, and the slice can operate in a discrete mode, such as a discrete millimeter wave (mmWave) small cell network, and an out-of-range D2D. network. A mmWave small cell is a cell that uses millimeter-sized radio waves (ie, high frequency, such as 60 GHz).

In some embodiments, the network function(s) can be offloaded to a slice, and the slice can operate in a non-discrete mode, such as operating in an anchor-support architecture, with one anchor- The support architecture can include an anchor cell that provides a control plane and a mobile anchor for maintaining connectivity. In an embodiment, the anchor cell can be a cell having a broad coverage, such as a macrocell. The anchor-support architecture may further include an amplifier cell to provide user plane data offload. In one embodiment, the amplifier cell can be a small cell and can be deployed under the coverage of an anchor cell. From a device standpoint, the control plane can be decoupled from the user plane, i.e., the control plane can be maintained at the anchor cell while the data plane is maintained at the amplifier cell.

In some exemplary embodiments, such horizontal slices and vertical slices may be considered as a junction (ie, where the vertical access and horizontal slices share radio access network functions/resources), as illustrated by diagram 300 of FIG. . Thus, Figure 3 illustrates, in accordance with an embodiment of an alternative (or additional) of the embodiment of Figure 1, showing how a radio access network (RAN) can be sliced into horizontal and vertical slices, where The slices are all independent in terms of traffic flow and operation. The diagram 300 of Figure 1 has a network hierarchy 302 (i.e., the network layer involved/used) along the y-axis and has radio resources 304 along the x-axis (i.e., indicating the use of separate radio resources such as frequency, time slot, etc. ). In the example of Figure 1, the vertical slice shown contains four vertical slices 306. However, any number of different markets/use cases can be involved. The four vertical markets/use cases selected for these vertical slices are Mobile Broadband (MBB) 110, One Vehicle Type Communication (V2X) 120, First Machine Type Communication (MTC-1) 130, and a second. Machine Type Communication (MTC-2) 140, labeled Slice #1 to Slice #4. These are just illustrative options in the use cases that can be served.

Horizontal slices are also shown in Figure 3, which in this example also includes four horizontal slices 308. The four horizontal slices shown are a macro network layer 210, a micro network layer 220, an inter-device network layer 230, and a personal area network (PAN) (e.g., wearable) network layer 240. According to an example, each horizontal slice contains a portion of a plurality of vertical slices. Equally, each vertical slice contains a portion of each horizontal slice. Such separated portions may be referred to as a slice portion when they are spaced apart in both horizontal and vertical directions. Thus, in the example of FIG. 1, MBB vertical slice 110 includes four slice portions: macro network layer portion 112; micro network layer portion 114; D2D network layer portion 116; and PAN network layer portion 118. Similarly, V2X vertical slice 120 includes four slice portions: macro network layer portion 122; micro network layer portion 124; D2D network layer portion 126; and PAN network layer portion 128. Meanwhile, the MTC-1 vertical slice 130 includes four slice portions: a macro network layer portion 132; a micro network layer portion 134; a D2D network layer portion 136; and a PAN network layer portion 138, and the MTC-2 vertical Slice 140 includes four slice portions: macro network layer portion 142; micro network layer portion 144; D2D network layer portion 146; and PAN network layer portion 148.

An example of this architecture is a wearable health sensor in a person's local area network that can belong to a dedicated health network. This personal area network layer can then represent a horizontal network slice. A healthy network running under the coverage of this personal area network can belong to a vertical network slice. In the same token, each horizontal network slice can contain multiple vertical network slices. Each vertical network slice can have multiple horizontal network slices. Another example is a macro cell (ie, a macro eNB) that communicates several different use case communications. Similarly, for each vertical slice, for example, a portion of a plurality of horizontal slices may be included in a V2X network, and there may be V2I and V2V layers. In another example, a mobile broadband (MBB) vertical slice includes portions in each of the macro, micro, and inter-device layers, as shown. Thus, embodiments provide a way to logically score wireless resources provided and/or used by the radio access network based on both the use case (vertical mode) and the network layer (horizontal mode).

Communication and computing have been mutually reinforcing when pushing information boundaries and computing technologies. On the network side, operations have been used to facilitate communication by moving operations and storage to the edge. With edge cloud and edge operations, communication changes between source and destination are short, improving communication efficiency in the network and reducing the amount of information. The edge cloud has different optimal deployments from the computing solution. As a general rule, the smaller the capacity of the end device and/or the higher the density of the device, the closer the cloud and computing are to the edge of the network.

As the device moves forward, as the device is smaller in size from the portable device to the wearable device, and the user's expectations for computing continue to increase, we expect further communication to help deliver the user experience. For example, such network nodes are cut out from their computing resources to facilitate operations at the portable device, and such portable devices are cut out from their computing resources to facilitate the wearable device. Operation. In this way, the network is able to slice horizontally. These cut-out computing resources and the air interface at both ends form an integral part of the services required for delivery.

4 shows an example of a more detailed horizontal slice in a tangible wireless network architecture, in accordance with an embodiment. The traditional 3G/4G architecture is shown on the left hand side (but only starting from the RAN). This includes a base station portion 410 including an upstream/core network side communication function 412, a base station computing function 414 (i.e., processing resources available in the base station, or entities that are closely coupled), and a downstream/wireless/ The device side communication function 416 (for communication with the base station or the device served by the base station, for example, in the case of a preamble or the like). A portable portion 420 (e.g., a user equipment, or a similar device) is also shown that includes a similar combination of upstream and downstream communication resources and local processing resources. In this case, the upstream communication link is a typical cellular wireless communication link 422 (e.g., OFDM/CDMA/LTE type link) and such as a 5G radio access technology (RAT) (e.g., OFDM/CDMA/ One of the LTE-type links) downstream communication link 426, one of the next-generation communication links such as a 5G PAN RAT (to be established), or a contemporary or next-generation other PAN wireless communication technology, such as Bluetooth, Zigbee or similar. In between is the local computing function 424, that is, the processing resources of the local portable device. Finally, in the present example, there is a wearable portion 430 that typically only has a single upstream communication link 432 and a limited local processing resource function 434.

The right hand side of Figure 4 shows one of the newly proposed horizontal network slicing concepts, in particular, how the processing resources of higher and lower entities in the network can be "combined" using the communication and processing resources capabilities of the participating entities. , that is, sharing with each other. The basic functions are similar and are therefore represented as items 410' to 434', respectively, and operate in a similar manner. However, there is now the concept of horizontal slicing, in which case the horizontal slices #1 190 and #2 195 of Figure 1 are shown in more detail. In this basic example, the wearable device 430' can utilize the processing resource 424' of the portable device 420' by sharing the processing data (e.g., the data to be processed and the integrated processing data) using the communication function. Similarly, portable device 420' can process resource 414' using base station 410'.

A portion of the network slicing concept will be described in more detail below in accordance with the present disclosure. In some instances, these functions may be provided as new network functions (NFs), which may be virtualized in some situations, for example, by using Network Function Virtualization (NFV). These NFs and NFVs can have slice specificity or operate on multiple/all slices. Both of the proposed wireless networks are integrated (e.g., including a core network), but in particular, the RAN will now have slice perceptibility by utilizing slice recognition for new implementations.

In the traditional RAN infrastructure, a centralized processing of the cloud-based RAN (Cloud (C)-RAN) infrastructure has been proposed. In C-RAN, unlike traditional cellular systems, one of the baseband processing units (BBUs) performs most of the fundamental frequency processing, while the remote radio head (RRH) performs radio signal transmission and reception. . This C-RAN architecture can improve energy efficiency by merging energy-consuming hardware devices in a BBU/BBU pool. This C-RAN architecture can also be achieved by making centralized network management and network upgrades easier, reducing both CAPEX and OPEX for a network. In addition, this C-RAN architecture can be used to implement advanced coordinated multipoint (CoMP) communications and interference management schemes such as Advanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (eICIC).

FIG. 5 illustrates a typical C-RAN architecture 500. The RRHs 502, 504, and 506 can transmit and receive wireless signals from devices with wireless capabilities, such as user equipment (UE). The RRHs 502, 504, and 506 can communicate with a BBU/BBU pool 514 via the forward links 516, 518, and 520, respectively. The preamble is a connection between the new network architecture of one of the centralized baseband controllers and the remote discrete radio head at the cellular station. A Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) may be the type of interface for connecting RRHs 502, 504, and 506 to BBU/BBU pool 514 via forward links 516, 518, and 520. The BBU/BBU pool 514 can communicate with a core network 522. In one example, a communication from one of the core devices 522 to RRH 502 (or RRH 504 or RRH 506) that covers one of the wireless devices 524 can be sent from the core network 522 to the BBU/BBU pool 514. The BBU/BBU pool 514 can then send this communication to the RRH 502 (or RRH 504 or RRH 506) via the forward link 516 (or via the forward link 518 or the forward link 520, respectively). This communication can then be sent from the RRH 502 (or RRH 504 or RRH 506) to the wireless device 524 via a radio signal. This is typically referred to as downlink communication.

In another example, communication by one of the wireless devices 524 to the core network is referred to as an uplink communication, which may be transmitted from the wireless device 524 via a radio signal and received by the RRH 502 (or RRH 504 or RRH 506). The RRH 502 (or RRH 504 or RRH 506) may send this communication to the BBU/BBU pool 514 via the forward link 516 (or via the forward link 518 or the forward link 520, respectively). The BBU/BBU pool 514 can then send this communication to the core network 522, where this communication can point to its intended destination.

6 illustrates an example of a CPRI-based C-RAN architecture 600 in which a BBU/BBU pool 602 is connected to an RRH 604 via a forward link 606. The RRH 604 can include an analog front end (AFE) 608, a digital analog converter (DAC) 610, and an analog to digital converter (ADC) 612. The AFE 608 may be operatively coupled to a plurality of antennas 628. Additionally, as shown in selection 614, RRH 604 can include at least two modules for CPRI processing: a compression and framing module 616 and a decompression and framing module 618. The BBU/BBU pool 602 can include a processing module 620 that handles a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Media Access Control (MAC) layer, and an entity ( Processing of the PHY) layer. As shown in option 622, the BBU/BBU pool 602 can also include at least two modules for CPRI processing: a compression and framing module 624 and a decompression and framing module 626.

In one example, a downlink signal can be sent from the layer processing module 620 of the BBU/BBU pool 602 to the compression and framing module 624 of the BBU/BBU pool 602. The compression and framing module 624 can perform time domain compression and framing operations on the signal and transmit the signal to the decompression and framing module 618 of the RRH 604 via the preamble link 606 using the CPRI protocol. The decompression and framing module 618 can decompress and frame the operation on this signal and send this signal to the DAC 610. This DAC can convert this signal into an analog signal and send such a ratio signal to AFE 608. This AFE can transmit such a ratio signal to a plurality of antennas 628. A plurality of antennas 628 can wirelessly transmit such ratio signals to a destination device (e.g., a UE).

In another example, when performing an uplink communication, a plurality of antennas 628 can receive a radio signal and transmit the signal to AFE 608. The AFE 608 can transmit this signal to the ADC 612. The ADC 612 can digitize this signal using phase (I) and quadrature (Q) samples and send this digitized signal to the compression and framing module 616. The compression and framing module 616 can perform time domain compression and framing operations on the signal and forward the signal to the decompression and framing module of the BBU/BBU pool 602 via the preamble link 606 using the CPRI protocol. 626. The decompression and framing module 626 can perform decompression and framing operations on the signal and send the signal to the layer processing module 620. The layer processing module 620 can perform higher layer fundamental processing on this signal.

While this C-RAN paradigm mitigates many of the problems associated with traditional RAN paradigms, the existing C-RAN architecture still introduces some new challenges. In particular, since the existing C-RAN model requires the use of a CPRI interface to connect an RRH to a BBU/BBU pool, the transfer rate requirement for the forward link used in the C-RAN architecture is still problematic because of the pre-transmission interface. The expected transfer rate (ie, the forward rate) will be significantly higher than the data transfer rate through this radio interface.

For example, consider a Long Term Evolution (LTE) uplink (UL) system with a 10 megahertz (MHz) bandwidth, two receive antennas at one RRH, and a 15.36 MHz sampling frequency. If a 15-bit representation I/Q phase digital sample is used, the I/Q data rate is 921.6 megabits per second (Mbps). Considering the CPRI basic frame extra load for a header byte per 15-bit data and the 10/8 line coding rate, the physical line rate becomes 1.2288 billion bits per second (Gbps). In addition, the overall CPRI physical line rate increases linearly with the number of antennas, and the system bandwidth quickly exceeds 10 Gbps when using carrier aggregation. These factors therefore result in a fairly high forward rate requirement for actual deployment.

Other issues also affect the existing C-RAN architecture. For example, the sampling rate of CPRI is the same as the sampling rate of LTE, and is independent of user load or user activity within a cell; as a result, there is no statistical average gain. In addition, most of the CPRI data rate requirements are driven by I/Q user plane data samples. An LTE signal is inherently redundant due to the use of guard bands. For example, in a 10 MHz LTE system, only 600 of the 1024 available subcarriers are used for data; the other subcarriers are zeroed out as guard bands. However, while time domain I/Q samples have a redundant signal structure, a complex nonlinear solution is still needed to take advantage of this redundancy in order to achieve a higher compression factor. In addition, the compression scheme before the operation on the time domain I/Q samples cannot utilize the signal quantization noise ratio (SQNR) used by different modulation and coding schemes, or the user scheduling side information (for example, user activity, subcarriers) Occupancy), because once a signal is split in the time domain, this information is largely lost. For at least these reasons, the compression performance in the existing C-RAN architecture is relatively poor.

An alternative flexible C-RAN architecture framework is presented in accordance with the systems and methods of the present disclosure that operates in a radio access network that implements network slicing.

The Radio Access Network (RAN) re-architecture has been addressed for Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) and Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fourth Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE). The main motivation for re-architecting the radio access network is to reduce the pre-transmission rate requirements while maintaining efficiency based on the CRAN technology premise. Various radio access network re-architecture options have been proposed, including a simple split physical layer (PHY) option (fast Fourier transform (FFT) function only to the front end), multiple input multiple output (MIMO) processing to move to the front end Advanced split PHY option (for large-scale MIMO applications where the number of antenna elements is much larger than the number of data streams) and a remote PHY option (where the overall PHY function is moved to the front end). Other proposals include compression techniques based on the PHY split option to further reduce the forward rate.

The aforementioned proposal is a symmetric option in which the same functional partitioning is applied to both the downlink (DL) and the uplink (UL). An asymmetric option is based on coordinated multi-point (CoMP) observations, where joint reception in UL brings more benefits than joint transmission in DL. This asymmetric re-architecture implements joint reception in the UL, but only techniques such as Coordinated Scheduling/Coordinated Beamforming (CS/CB) in the DL provide suitable joint reception in the DL.

In the fifth generation (5G) LTE era, there are new requirements for the re-architecture of radio access networks. New network slicing technologies for basic new 5G radio access technology (RAT), or several different RATs, can be used to support diverse applications and very different requirements. These can be the vertical market for the above-described drive (vertical) network slicing concept. For example, Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) provides high bandwidth and a high date rate that can be leveraged by advanced MIMO transmissions such as beam aggregation and cell-free operation. On the other hand, mission-critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications can be subject to very low latency, which can be provided by a low latency frame structure. An example of a low-latency frame structure is a self-contained sub-frame structure that enables almost immediate acknowledgement/denial (ACK/NACK) feedback, fast hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission, and natural expansion. To the band transmission without franchise or sharing. However, the different applications and different techniques described above create conflicting requirements for the radio access network re-architecture (and its options) using C-RAN.

Mission-critical services are continuing to be developed for use on LTE and future wireless networks. For example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has a standard group set to develop these service types (SA6 - Mission Critical) application). A mission critical service may include a mission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT) service, and one instance of a mission-critical IoT service may be a shop floor (V2V) communication, or a vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, for example, Automated driving vehicles, automated emergency response services, and the like can be tolerated or implemented. Mission-critical, based on its nature, is a service that can be prioritized compared to normal telecommunications services, such as support for police or fire brigade, including priority information and/or calls for emergency and immediate threats (eg MCPTT calls), delivery of instant telemetry or control messages that enable automated control (especially related to fast moving vehicles) and the like. The exemplary MCPTT service can be used for public safety applications and also for general commercial applications such as utility companies and railways. Other mission-critical services can include emergency services, uninterrupted enterprise services, and more. Services with mission-critical attributes can also be large-scale (that is, a very large number of such users are being served, or are being served by a wireless network), such as V2V or V2I. A "very large amount" can range from hundreds to millions or more, and can also be defined by the number of base stations or the like. Alternatively or additionally, a very large number may include a high percentage of one of the available (processing/operational, or wireless) resources at or in a wireless network. Non-mission-critical services can also be large-scale (such as smart meters, a form of machine type communication). Dictionary types such as "mission critical" and "large scale" can be defined for users, system designers, and/or standards (eg, 3GPP), and their definitions can change over time. This disclosure is intended to cover all current and future definitions of such terms as found in the relevant current or new standard (e.g., 3GPP standards).

The illustrative embodiments provide a flexible radio access network re-architecture framework for one of network slicing/services. The illustrative embodiments may be based on a software-defined RAN (soft RAN) concept in which each RAN function may be virtualized. For example, in a soft RAN architecture, each network service used or available for use by a wireless network can be designated as a software application running on a more general hardware platform (see, for example, Figure 9 or 12). Shown below, as explained below). This general purpose hardware platform can be provided using commodity hardware such as data servers, network switches, general purpose radio frequency (RF) circuitry, and the like. Therefore, in a soft RAN, the wireless network operator/owner can simply specify a suitable data plane and control plane processing mechanism to facilitate the deployment of any (new) service of the wireless network. This can even be done using a higher level language. This approach, for example, reduces time to market and deployment costs by reducing hardware replacement and/or setting costs. This reduction in time and cost, in turn, enhances the ability of the wireless RAN-based wireless network implementation in this paper to develop and evolve new and revolutionary new technologies. This so-called agile development process can be used to maximize the return on investment of network operators.

A soft RAN operating system (OS) can be deployed to manage all the complexities behind implementing and deploying this (etc.) network service across common/commodity hardware. The general purpose/commodity hardware may be located in the central office and/or at the remote cell site, and may be deployed in one of the deployment profiles used on any given wireless network implementing the network slice aware C-RAN provided by the disclosed flexible RAN. And set.

In situations where some of the RAN functions cannot be virtualized, the (multiple) proprietary hardware accelerators may or may be used instead.

The illustrative embodiments provide a flexible radio access network re-architecture framework for one of network slicing/services. The framework of such exemplary embodiments may use base station (e.g., an evolved nodeB (eNB)) scheduling information and may be dynamic based on different network slices/services to be supported by (re-architected/reconfigurable) RAN Perform a radio access network re-architecture.

The previous radio access network re-architecture using C-RAN discussed above does not know the network slicing, and mainly considers the forward data rate and delay trade-off. However, the flexible radio access network re-architecture of the exemplary embodiment is for forward transmission bandwidth (BW) and delay, network profiles for any particular service/slice used, quality of service (QoS), where each node is located. Computational considerations and/or capabilities, and the like, support different 5G services (ie use cases/vertical markets, such as vertical network slices), and technologies or architectures (eg, computational slices, such as horizontal network slices).

The exemplary embodiment provides a 5G air interface that supports different network services by implementing flexible selection waveforms (eg, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)/Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)/etc.) and numerology. Flexible and multiplex processing. For example, a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) can use a narrower subcarrier spacing, or even a coded multiple-input (CDMA) waveform for a time/frequency grid, while a mobile broadband service can use a band. One of the larger subcarrier spacings is an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform. In other words, when a wireless communication service is deployed to a first group (for example, a large number of devices with specific latency requirements) in a communication parameter type, the second group with one of the second communication parameter types (for example) Not so large, but more information is needed. Devices have very different needs, and this can be difficult to mediate in a single homogeneous network. Thus, the present disclosure provides network slicing, for example, in C-RAN, thereby providing means for providing different sets of ideas for different communication parameters/performances. For example, according to an embodiment, a base station (e.g., an eNB) may be aware of different network services or slices used on the same single physical radio access network when scheduling (e.g., radio separated by logical blocks) Different resources for accessing the network.

Different services may also require different 5G technologies, such as Radio Access Technology (RAT). For example, mobile broadband services may require high throughput, so large-scale MIMO/beam aggregation techniques are expected to be very useful for meeting this high throughput requirement. However, for mission-critical services, peak output may not be necessarily high, but delay requirements may be very strict. Similarly, in some implementations, the 5G RAT(s) used (or one of them) can be designed for wide area network (WAN) communication, while in other implementations, this can be The 5G RAT (or one of them) is designed for personal area network (PAN) communication. These latter RATs may be replacements (or replacements) for Bluetooth, Zigbee, or similar communications.

Thus, the flexible radio access network re-architecture of these exemplary embodiments can support different 5G services and technologies. Similarly, the Forwarding Bandwidth (BW) is considered to be the primary decision point for 4G radio access network re-architecture work, and can be used to drive key decisions for better radio access network architecture options including the concept of network slicing. .

Figure 7 shows an overall procedure 700 for flexible radio access network re-architecture in accordance with a first example. This procedure can operate on a per-transmission time interval (TTI) basis based on the operating frequency (also considered to be operationally simplistic), for example every 1 ms. However, the disclosure is not limited to any particular operating frequency/rate. During each time period, a frequency resource 710 for the network slice for different operations (or soon to be operational - for example, when a slice is about to be turned on) is determined. The frequency resource can be a time slot or frequency (see Figure 3), or a numerology or similar. The disclosed procedure can then determine which operational form or type of operation is available in the RAN/C-RAN, i.e., which type of radio access network architecture is being used. A radio access network architecture, as used herein, can be thought of as a wireless network, and in particular any particular technology, technology, implementation details, operational improvements or types of any form of the RAN. The architecture is typically introduced, maintained, and updated in a standard file to facilitate the use of separate wireless networking technologies.

A first exemplary option may use Joint Transport (JT) CoMP and/or Joint Receive (JR) CoMP, possibly also with beam aggregation 720, serving the wireless device(s) served by the network slice/RAN. This can be used, for example, when providing a high throughput mobile broadband (MBB) service in a dense environment. At the same time, beam aggregation and JT/JR are particularly useful in the mmWave band for high throughput and robust links. In some examples, the packet preamble may provide for packetization prior to use of a partitioned physical layer (PHY) arrangement 750, where, for example, the split PHY processing (SPP) architecture is a C-RAN arrangement that splits the wireless Base station (BS) functionality between channel coding/decoding and wireless modulation/demodulation, and the ability to provide CoMP joint transmission and reception schemes.

A second exemplary option may use a large number (i.e., many) of wired services to be served by the network slice/RAN wireless device(s), such as may be used in an IoT deployment. This can be used, for example, when the device is used on a large scale for data collection/reporting, such as smart grid/electric meters, and other (large scale) inter-machine type communications.

In this case, different predecessor architectures 760 may be provided, for example, depending on the data rate (or required) used for each of the large-scale/IoT deployments used. Other decision factors may influence the choice of the predecessor architecture, such as latent time, or the like. Examples of different predecessor architectures that may be deployed may include any of the following: a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), or a CPRI-like architecture (eg, CPRI compression and Ethernet CPRI), a remote PHY, or Layer 2 (L2) / Layer 3 (L3) partition type architecture, and/or, for example, a split physical layer (PHY) / Medium Access Control Layer (MAC) in a Remote Radio Head (RRH) .

A third exemplary option may be to use a mission critical type service standard 740 (which may also include a large number of connections, such as for V2X) to service the wireless device(s) served by the network slice/RAN, for example, Where such devices are used in critical time (eg, V2X), or critical delivery (eg, emergency services) use cases, or the like.

In this situation, different predecessor architectures 770 may be provided, for example, depending on the particular needs of the mission critical type of service type. For example, a Layer 2 (L2) / Layer 3 (L3) partition type architecture 770 can be used (for example, to include a PHY/MAC split in the RRH as above).

The interface and packet format between the baseband unit (BBU) and the remote radio head (RRH) may be proprietary or standardized in 3GPP.

8 shows a second, more detailed/specific, exemplary overall procedure 800 for a flexible radio access network re-architecture, particularly for use in an exemplary packetized arrangement. This example is based on Figure 7, and is based on determining the frequency of network slicing based on the complexity of each TTI period, and has three options.

A first exemplary option 820 is used to use corresponding resource blocks (RBs) for beam aggregation, and/or JT/JR CoMP, in which case the program uses the advanced CPRI technique 850 for any of the following Condition (or required): high bandwidth, low latency, or dark fiber preavailability (eg, if there is some spare fiber capacity for the RRH (currently dark, non-bright). At least before this point in time, this is in the additional frequency Widely useful, may be relevant, but does not support JT/JR), or the program uses quantization of I/Q samples, for example, depending on the compression scheme used on the RAT, for example, to provide any of the following One: a certain amount of bandwidth (such as low, medium, high), low-latency pre-transmission, or the like. Other methods such as fixed uniform quantization, nonlinear quantization, and the like are also possible. One of the specific criteria used typically specifies this quantification scheme, for example, to accommodate many vendors.

A second exemplary option 830 may be a large-scale (i.e., many) device using a large number of connection services, such as may be used in an IoT deployment. In this case, similar to the above, different preamble architectures 870 may be provided, but this time, for example, depending on the preamble bandwidth and delay parameters. Other decision factors may influence the choice of the predecessor architecture, such as latent time, or the like. Examples of different preamble architectures that may be deployed may include any of the following: a Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI), or a CPRI-like type architecture (eg, CPRI compression and Ethernet CPRI), a remote PHY, or Layer 2 (L2) / Layer 3 (L3) partition type architecture (for example, to include PHY/MAC split in RRH). Various possible RAN split types have a corresponding data encapsulation format.

A third exemplary option 840 can be used for extreme delay sensitive data based devices, in which case a self-contained sub-frame format can be used. In this exemplary scenario, a Media Access Control (MAC) Protocol Data Unit (PDU), MAC PDU may be used as the base architecture 880. In some instances, the program can include the presence or absence of cell operations.

The term "circuitry" as used herein may mean, be part of, or include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, exclusive, or group), And/or memory (shared, exclusive, or group) that performs one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry can be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functionality associated with the circuitry can be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuitry can include logic that is at least partially operable in hardware. The means (served by a RAN or network slice) and the words UE are used interchangeably herein.

The embodiments described herein can be implemented in a system using any suitably assembled hardware and/or software. FIG. 9 shows an illustrative component of an electronic device 900 for an embodiment. In an embodiment, electronic device 900 may be, may be implemented, may be incorporated, or otherwise may be part of a User Equipment (UE), an evolved NodeB (eNB), or another network component (eg, Corresponding to a network virtualization device and/or a network component of a software-defined network device). In some embodiments, electronic device 900 can include application circuitry 910, baseband circuitry 920, radio frequency (RF) circuitry 930, front end module (FEM) circuitry 940, and one coupled together at least as shown. Or multiple antennas 950.

Application circuitry 910 can include one or more application processors. For example, application circuitry 910 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general purpose processors and proprietary processors (graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled to a memory/storage and/or may include a memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to allow for various applications and/or Or the operating system is running on this system.

The baseband circuitry 920 can include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 920 can include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process the received baseband signals from one of the RF circuitry 930 and transmit the signalpath to one of the RF circuitry 930. The baseband signal is generated. The baseband processing circuitry 920 can interface with the application circuitry 910 for generating and processing such baseband signals and for controlling the operation of the RF circuitry 930. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 920 can include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 921, a third generation (3G) baseband processor 922, and a fourth generation (4G) baseband. Processor 923, and/or other baseband processor(s) 924(s) of existing generations, developments, or future generations (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 920 (e.g., one or more of the baseband processors 921-924) can handle various radio control functions that allow communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 930. Such radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency offset, and the like. In some embodiments, the modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 920 can include Fast Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, the encoding/decoding circuitry of baseband circuitry 920 may include convolution, tail code cancellation convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or low density parity check (LDPC) encoders/ Decoder function. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functions are not limited to these examples, and other suitable functions may be included in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 920 can include an element of a protocol stack, such as, for example, an element of an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN) protocol, including, for example, a physical (PHY), media storage. Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), and/or Radio Resource Control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 925 of the baseband circuitry 920 can be configured to operate elements of this protocol stack for PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and/or RRC communications. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry can include one or more audio digital signal processors (DSPs) 926. The audio DSP(s) 926 may be or may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation, and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments.

The baseband circuitry 920 can further include a memory/storage 927. The memory/storage 927 can be used to load and store data and/or instructions for operation by the processor of the baseband circuitry 920. The memory/storage for an embodiment may include any combination of suitable electrical memory and/or non-electrical memory. The memory/storage 927 can include any combination of various memory/storage levels including, but not limited to, read only memory (ROM) with embedded software instructions (eg, firmware), random access memory (eg dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), cache memory, buffers, etc. The memory/storage 927 can be shared with various processors or specific processors.

In some embodiments, the components of the baseband circuitry can be suitably combined in a single wafer, in a single wafer set, or on the same circuit board. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 920 and the application circuitry 910 can be implemented together, such as, for example, on a system (SOC) on a wafer.

In some embodiments, baseband circuitry 920 can be used to communicate with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 920 can support an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN), a wireless local area network ( WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN) for communication. Embodiments in which baseband circuitry 920 is configured to support radio communications over more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multimode baseband circuitry.

The RF circuitry 930 allows communication with the wireless network using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, RF circuitry 930 can include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 930 can include a receive signal path that can include circuitry for downconverting RF signals received from FEM circuitry 940 and providing baseband signals to baseband circuitry 920. RF circuitry 930 can also include a transmit signal path that can include circuitry for upconverting the baseband signal provided by baseband circuitry 920 and providing RF output signals to FEM circuitry 940 for transmission. .

In some embodiments, RF circuitry 930 can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of RF circuitry 930 may include mixer circuitry 931, amplifier circuitry 932, and filter circuitry 933. The transmit signal path of RF circuitry 930 may include filter circuitry 933 and mixer circuitry 931. RF circuitry 930 may also include synthesizer circuitry 934 for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 931 of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit circuitry 931 of the receive signal path can be configured to downconvert the RF signal received from the FEM circuitry 940 based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 934. Amplifier circuitry 932 can be configured to amplify the downconverted signals, and filter circuitry 933 can be configured to remove unwanted signals from the downconverted signals to produce an output basis. One of the frequency signals is a low pass filter (LPF) or a band pass filter (BPF). The baseband circuitry 920 can be provided with an output baseband signal for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero frequency baseband signals, but this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 931 that receives the signal path can include a passive mixer, although the scope of such embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit circuitry 931 of the transmit signal path can be configured to upconvert the input baseband signal to generate the FEM circuitry based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 932. RF output signal for 940. These baseband signals may be provided by baseband circuitry 920 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 933. Filter circuitry 933 may include a low pass filter (LPF), although the scope of such embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 931 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 931 of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged to be used for orthogonality, respectively. Down conversion and / or up conversion. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 931 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 931 of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection ( For example, Hartley image exclusion). In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 931 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 931 can be arranged for direct down conversion and/or direct conversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuit 931 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuit 931 of the transmit signal path can be configured for superheterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of such embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, RF circuitry 930 can include analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) and digital analog converter (DAC) circuitry, and baseband circuitry 920 can include a means for communicating with RF circuitry 930. The digital baseband interface.

In some dual mode embodiments, a separate wireless IC for processing signals may be provided for each spectrum, although the scope of such embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 934 may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of such embodiments is not limited in this respect as there may be other suitable types. Frequency synthesizer. For example, synthesizer circuitry 934 can be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer that includes a phase-locked loop with one of the frequency dividers.

Synthesizer circuitry 934 can be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by mixer circuitry 931 of RF circuitry 930 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 934 can be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, the frequency input can be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), but this is not a requirement. The divider control input can be provided by the baseband circuitry 920 or the application processor 910, depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) can be determined via a lookup table based on a channel indicated by application processor 910.

The synthesizer circuitry 934 of the RF circuitry 930 can include a divider, a delay locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer, and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider can be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator can be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD can be configured to divide the input signal by N or N+1 (eg, based on a carry output) to provide a fractional allocation ratio. In some exemplary embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascades, adjustable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump, and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements can be configured to divide a VCO period into Nd equal phase packets, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through this delay line is one VCO period.

In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 934 can be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency can be a multiple of the carrier frequency (eg, twice the carrier frequency) Four times this carrier frequency), and can be used in conjunction with an orthogonal generator and divider circuitry for generating a plurality of signals having a plurality of different phases from each other at the carrier frequency. In some embodiments, this output frequency can be an LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, RF circuitry 930 can include an IQ/polarity converter.

FEM circuitry 940 can include a receive signal path that can include being configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 950, amplify such received signals, and provide RF circuitry 930 These amplified versions have circuitry that has received signals for further processing. The FEM circuitry 940 can also include a transmit signal path that can include circuitry configured to amplify the transmit signals provided by the RF circuitry 930 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 950. system.

In some embodiments, FEM circuitry 940 can include a TX/RX switch for switching between a transmit mode and a receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry can include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry can include a low noise amplifier (LNA) for amplifying the received RF signal and providing the amplified received RF signal as an output (e.g., to RF circuitry 930). The transmit signal path of FEM circuitry 940 can include a power amplifier (PA) for amplifying the input RF signal (as provided by RF circuitry 930), and one or more of the RF signals for generating (eg, A filter for subsequent transmission by one or more of one or more antennas 950.

In various embodiments, network interface controller (NIC) circuitry 960 can include one or more transmit and receive (TX/RX) signal paths that can be coupled to one or more via network interface circuitry 965. Data packet network. In some embodiments, NIC circuitry 960 can be coupled to such data packet networks via a plurality of network interface circuitry 965. NIC circuitry 960 can support one or more data link layer standards, such as Ethernet, fiber, token ring, asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), and/or any other suitable data link layer standard . In some embodiments, each network element to which the electronic device 900 can be connected (eg, a base station, a network controller, a radio access network (RAN) device, an S-GW, an SDN switch, an MME, The P-GW, and the like, may include an identical or similar network interface circuitry 965. Furthermore, NIC circuitry 960 can include, or be associated with, processing circuitry, such as one or more single-core or multi-core processors and/or logic circuitry, for providing for use with such NIC circuitry. One or more data key layer standards implement communication processing techniques.

In some embodiments, electronic device 900 can include additional components such as, for example, a memory/storage, a display, a camera, a sensor, and/or an input/output (I/O) interface.

In embodiments where the electronic device 900 is implemented, implemented, incorporated, or otherwise part of a radio access network (RAN), the NIC circuitry 960 can be used to differentiate network resources into one or more slices. Wherein the one or more slices each correspond to a service to be provided by a radio access network (RAN); and the network interface circuitry 965 can provide the one or more according to one of the corresponding services to be provided Slice one of the network resources of the slice.

In an embodiment where the electronic device 900 is implemented, implemented, incorporated, or otherwise part of an evolved nodeB (eNB), the network interface circuitry 965 can be used to receive a network that is divided into one or more slices. A resource segment group, wherein the one or more slices each correspond to a service to be provided by a radio access network (RAN). The baseband circuitry 920 can allocate network resources of one of the one or more slices according to the network resource segment group.

In some embodiments, the electronic device of FIG. 9 can be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, and/or methods, or portions thereof, as described herein. FIG. 10 illustrates a first exemplary method of this process. For example, the process can include a divided baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio head (RRH) function 1010 for implementing network slicing according to different deployment scenarios 1020. Figure 11 shows a second exemplary method. For example, the process can include dividing network resource 1110 into one or more slices. Each of the one or more slices may correspond to a service to be provided by a Radio Access Network (RAN). The process can include providing 1120 network resources of one of the one or more slices according to a corresponding service to be provided. Both of these instantiation methods dynamically (re)assemble the RAN architecture used on the RAN or C-RAN based on the need for the RAN and/or the network slice to operate the RAN at any given point in time.

Figure 12 illustrates a block diagram of components that are capable of reading instructions from a machine readable or computer readable medium (e.g., a machine readable storage medium) and performing the methods discussed herein, in accordance with some demonstrative embodiments. Any one or more of them. In particular, FIG. 12 shows a schematic diagram of a hardware resource 1200 that includes one or more processors (or processor cores) 1210, one or more memories/storages that are communicatively coupled to each other via a bus 1240. Apparatus 1220, and one or more communication resources 1230.

A processor 1210 (eg, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set operation (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set operation (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), such as a baseband processor A digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination of the above may, for example, include a processor 1212 And a processor 1214. The memory/storage device 1220 can include a primary memory, a disk storage, or any suitable combination of the above.

Communication resource 1230 can include an interconnection and/or network interface component, or other suitable device, for communicating with one or more peripheral devices 1204 and/or one or more databases 1206 via a network 1208. For example, communication resource 1230 can include wired communication components (eg, for coupling via a universal serial bus (USB)), cellular communication components, near field communication (NFC) components, BluetoothR components (eg, BluetoothR low energy) ), Wi-FiR components, and other communication components.

The instructions 1250 can include software, a program, an application, a small application, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any processor 1210 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 1250 may reside, in whole or in part, in at least one of: a processor 1210 (eg, a cache memory of the processor), a memory/storage device 1220, or any suitable combination of the above. Moreover, any portion of the instructions 1250 can be transferred from the peripheral device 1204 and/or the database 1206 to any of the hardware resources 1200. Thus, the memory, memory/storage device 1220, peripheral device 1204, and database 1206 of the processor 1210 are examples of computer readable and machine readable media. Instance

Example 1 may include a method of implementing network slicing for baseband unit (BBU) and remote radio head (RRH) functional partitioning in different deployment scenarios.

Example 2 may include a method as in Example 1 or some other examples herein, wherein an evolved nodeB (eNB) will perform the BBU and RRH functional partitioning with schedule information for each network slice. The eNB is just one example of a base station.

Example 3 may include a method as in Example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB is scheduled for use in an advanced multi-input multiple-output (MIMO) scheme and a medium/high-bandwidth (BW) preamble of mobile broadband services/ Time resources for performing a general public radio interface (CPRI) and/or advanced CPRI or physical layer (PHY) partitioning BBU and RRH functional partitioning.

Example 4 can include a method as in Example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB will schedule frequency/time resources for low latency services, such as mission critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications and/or devices. Perform Layer 2 (L2) / Layer 3 (L3) BBU and RRH function partitioning.

Example 5 can include a method as in Example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB performs a type of CPRI, PHY partitioning on frequency/time resources scheduled for large scale machine type communication (MTC) services or mobile broadband services. , remote PHY, or L2/L3 split BBU and RRH function split.

Example 6 may include a method as in Example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB performs pre-transportation of each network slice using scheduling information.

Example 7 can include a method as in Example 6 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB is scheduled to support the frequency/time of advanced MIMO schemes such as coordinated multi-point coordination (CoMP), beam aggregation, cell-free operation, and the like The resource is defined as a packet-like packetization defined for the CPRI-like or PHY-segmented BBU and RRH partitions.

Example 8 can include a method as in Example 6 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB performs L2 on the frequency/time resource scheduled for extreme delay sensitive applications such as mission critical IoT applications or mission critical IoT devices. /L3 BBU and RRH partitioning to define the previous packetization procedure.

Example 9 can include a method as in Example 6 or some other example herein, wherein the eNB performs CPRI-like, based on pre-transmission BW and delay, for the frequency/time resource scheduled for large-scale IoT and mobile broadband services. PHY splitting, remote PHY, L2/L3 splitting, etc. before packetization.

Example 10 can include a method comprising: dividing a network resource into one or more slices, wherein the one or more slices each correspond to a service to be provided by a radio access network (RAN); And providing one of the one or more slices of the network resource according to one of the corresponding services to be provided.

Example 11 can include a method as in Example 10 or some other example herein, wherein the distinguishing includes defining a first slice of the one or more slices associated with a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) application and/or an IoT device And defining a second slice of the one or more slices associated with the mobile broadband service, and wherein the providing includes a narrower allocation of a desired time/frequency grid associated with the service associated with the first slice A subcarrier spacing or a code division multiple access (CDMA) waveform, and an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform are allocated at a larger subcarrier spacing for services associated with the second slice.

Example 12 can include a method as in Example 11 or some other example herein, wherein the providing includes allocating a network resource for a high throughput requirement for a service associated with the second slice, and pairing with the first slice The slice associated service allocates low latency resources.

Example 13 can include the method of example 10 or some other example herein, further comprising determining a frequency resource for each of the one or more slices for a transmission time interval (TTI); determining to associate with the TTI Whether one of the services is one of the services with a large-scale connection; and when determining that the service associated with the TTI is one of the services with a large-scale connection and is based on a forward rate, select a radio access network Road (RAN) segmentation. Example 14 can include a method as in Example 10 or some other example herein, wherein the RAN partitioning includes a general public radio interface (CPRI), PHY partitioning, remote PHY, or L2/L3 partitioning of frequency/time resources, The baseband unit (BBU) and the remote radio head (RRH) function split one of them.

Example 15 may include the method of example 13 or some other example herein, further comprising determining whether the service associated with the TTI is a service beam aggregation; and when the service associated with the TTI is a usage beam When the services are aggregated, a split PHY architecture is used to packetize the preamble packets.

Example 16 can include a method as in Example 15 or some other example herein, further comprising: determining whether the service associated with the TTI is a mission critical service; and when the service associated with the TTI is a key This L2/L3 split is used for mission service.

Example 17 can include a method as in Example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the selecting includes determining that the service associated with the TTI is a service with a large-scale connection and is based on a forward bandwidth (BW) And the forward RAN delay, the RAN split is selected, and wherein each RAN split includes a corresponding data encapsulation format.

Example 18 may include a method as in Example 17 or some other example herein, further comprising: determining whether the service associated with the TTI is a service beam aggregation; using a corresponding resource block (RB) for the beam aggregation Selecting an advanced CPRI RAN partition when the preamble includes a high BW and low latency; and selecting an I/Q quantization and/or compression scheme RAN partition when the preamble includes a medium BW and a low latency .

Example 19 can include the method of example 17 or some other example herein, further comprising: determining whether the service associated with the TTI is a delay sensitive service; and selecting a media access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) prequel.

Example 20 can include an apparatus including: a network interface controller (NIC) circuitry to differentiate network resources into one or more slices, wherein the one or more slices each correspond to a radio to be used One of the services provided by the access network (RAN); and a network interface circuitry for providing network resources of one or more slices of the one or more slices according to a corresponding service to be provided.

Example 21 can include an apparatus as in Example 20 or some other example herein, wherein to distinguish network resources, the NIC circuitry is used to define the one associated with a large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) application and/or IoT device Or a first slice of one of the plurality of slices, and a second slice of the one or more slices associated with the mobile broadband service, and wherein the network interface circuitry is used to provide the network resources Allocating a narrow subcarrier spacing or a coded multiple access (CDMA) waveform to a desired time/frequency grid associated with the first slice, and for services associated with the second slice A larger subcarrier spacing is assigned an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) waveform.

Example 22 may include an apparatus as in Example 21 or some other example herein, wherein the network interface circuitry is configured to allocate a service associated with the second slice for high throughput in order to provide such network resources Requires network resources and allocates low latency resources to services associated with the first slice.

Example 23 can include apparatus as in Example 20 or some other example herein, wherein the NIC circuitry is configured to determine a frequency resource for each of the one or more slices for a transmission time interval (TTI); Whether the service associated with the TTI is one of the services with a large-scale connection; and when it is determined that the service associated with the TTI is one of the services with a large-scale connection and is based on a forward rate, select one Radio Access Network (RAN) segmentation.

Example 24 can include apparatus as in Example 20 or some other example herein, wherein the RAN partitioning includes a general public radio interface (CPRI), PHY partitioning, remote PHY, or L2/L3 partitioning of frequency/time resources, The baseband unit (BBU) and the remote radio head (RRH) function split one of them.

Example 25 can include apparatus as in Example 23 or some other example herein, the NIC circuitry being configured to determine whether the service associated with the TTI is a service beam aggregation; and when the service associated with the TTI is When a service using beam aggregation is used, a split PHY architecture is used for packetization of the preamble packet.

Example 26 can include apparatus as in Example 25 or some other example herein, the NIC circuitry being operative to determine whether the service associated with the TTI is a mission critical service; and when the service associated with the TTI is This L2/L3 split is used for a mission critical service.

Example 27 can include an apparatus as in Example 24 or some other example herein, wherein the NIC circuitry is operative to determine that the service associated with the TTI is a service with a large-scale connection and is based on a The forward RAN bandwidth (BW) and the forward transmission delay are selected for the RAN partition, and wherein each RAN partition includes a corresponding data packetization format.

Example 28 can include apparatus as in Example 27 or some other example herein, the NIC circuitry being configured to determine whether the service associated with the TTI is a service beam aggregation; using a corresponding resource block (RB) for the Beam merging; selecting an advanced CPRI RAN partition when the preamble includes a high BW and low latency; and selecting an I/Q quantization and/or compression scheme when the preamble includes a medium BW and a low latency RAN split.

Example 29 can include apparatus as in Example 27 or some other example herein, the NIC circuitry being configured to determine whether the service associated with the TTI is a delay sensitive service; and selecting a Media Access Control (MAC) protocol Data Unit (PDU) prequel.

Example 30 can include apparatus as in Examples 20-29, or some other examples herein, wherein the services are provided by the RAN, and the equipment is implemented in an electronic device associated with the RAN, and The network resource allocations of Examples 20 through 29 are provided to one or more evolved nodeBs (eNBs) via the network interface circuitry.

The example 31 may include an apparatus including: a network interface circuit system for receiving a network resource segment group divided into one or more slices, wherein the one or more slices respectively correspond to a radio to be stored A service provided by a network (RAN); and a baseband circuit system for allocating network resources of one or more slices of the one or more slices according to the network resource segment group.

Example 32 may include equipment as in Example 31 or some other example herein, where the equipment is implemented in an evolved nodeB (eNB).

Example 33 may include an apparatus as in Example 31 or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus is for use in a device such as a User Equipment (UE) that is served by the wireless network.

Example 34 can include a radio access network (RAN) control entity device operable in a wireless communication network, the apparatus including: for receiving at least one communication originating from a wireless network device, or transmitting At least one radio frequency (RF) circuitry communicating to a wireless network device; wherein the RAN control entity is coupled to a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio head (RRH); further comprising circuitry for : Divide an entity RAN infrastructure or C-RAN into one or more network slices; and partition the BBU and/or RRH according to one of the one or more network slices deployment scenarios.

Example 35 may include an apparatus as in Example 34 or some other example herein, wherein the circuitry is further used to use the physical radio access network, or the one or more networks operating on the C-RAN, or to be operated The scheduling information of each of the road slices is divided according to one of the one or more network slices, and the BBU and/or the RRH are divided.

Example 36 can include apparatus as in Examples 34-36 or some other examples herein, wherein the circuitry is further configured to use any one or more of the following, deploying a context based on one of the one or more network slices, BBU and/or RRH partitioning: a general-purpose public radio interface (CPRI)/advanced CPRI technique; one physical layer (PHY) partitioning technique across the BBU and RRH.

Example 37 can include apparatus as in Examples 34-37 or some other examples herein, wherein the circuitry is used to divide the BBU and/or RRH to divide wireless network resources of the wireless network, wherein the wireless networks Resources include frequency/time resources and/or physical resource blocks (PRBs).

Example 38 may include apparatus as in Examples 34-37 or some other examples herein, wherein the wireless network resources are partitioned according to a vertical slice or a horizontal slice.

Example 39 can include apparatus as in Examples 34-38 or some other examples herein, wherein a vertical slice is an active broadband service using an advanced multiple input multiple output (MIMO) scheme and a medium to high frequency wide forward.

Example 40 may include apparatus as in Examples 34-39 or some other examples herein, wherein the circuitry is to partition the BBU and/or RRH based on parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice.

Example 41 can include apparatus as in Examples 39-40 or some other examples herein, wherein the parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice include any one or more of the following: a data rate; a data bandwidth; Servo device; a latent time; a mission criticality; a delay; a quality of service (QoS); or a service network profile.

Example 42 may include apparatus as in Examples 39-40 or some other examples herein, wherein the circuitry is further operative to determine or implement pre-transportation with schedule information for or belonging to each network slice.

Example 43 may include an apparatus as in Example 42 or some other example herein, wherein further used to determine or implement a prior packetization procedure defined by any of the following: a general public radio interface (CPRI)/advanced CPRI technique; A physical layer (PHY) segmentation technique across the BBU and RRH.

Example 44 may include an apparatus as in Example 43 or some other example herein, wherein the circuitry is further used to determine or implement a pre-packaging procedure defined by one of the frequency/time resource schedules supporting an advanced MIMO technique, wherein Techniques may include any one or more of CoMP, beam pooling, or cell-free operation.

Example 45 may include an apparatus as in Example 43, or some other example herein, wherein the circuitry is further used to determine or implement a pre-packaging procedure defined by one of the following frequency/time resource schedules or techniques: A mission criticality, delay or bandwidth.

Example 46 may include equipment as in Example 45 or some other example herein, where mission criticality applies to a delay sensitive application.

Example 47 can include equipment as in Example 45 or some other example herein, wherein the equipment includes a base station.

Example 48 may include an apparatus as in Example 47 or some other example herein, wherein the base station includes an enhanced Node B (eNB).

Example 49 may include apparatus as in Examples 34-48 or some other examples herein, wherein a vertical network slice includes any one or more of the following: an entity radio access network base for one or a dedicated single communication type One logical partition of a structure; one of a physical radio access network infrastructure dedicated to or used by a particular communication use case; a logical partition of one of the physical radio access network infrastructures having Self-contained operation and traffic flow independent of operation and traffic flow on any other logical partition of the physical radio access network infrastructure; and one of the horizontal network slices containing at least one device operating in the RAN A logical partition of one of the computing resources, wherein the at least one device comprises a base station, a controller, or a device that is servoed by the RAN.

Example 50 can include a user equipment for use with one of Radio Access Network (RAN) control entity equipment operable in a wireless communication network, the apparatus including: for control by the RAN control entity Receiving radio frequency (RF) circuitry originating from at least one communication of a wireless network device or transmitting at least one communication to a wireless network device under the RAN control entity; wherein the RAN control entity comprises as in Examples 34-49 Or some other example of equipment in this article.

The example 51 can include one or more computer readable media containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to be in a wireless communication network Performing one or more elements of a method in (RAN), the method comprising: dividing an entity RAN infrastructure or C-RAN into one or more network slices; and according to one of the one or more network slices The deployment scenario divides the BBU and/or RRH.

Example 52 may include a method as in Example 51 or some other example herein, wherein the method further comprises using the physical radio access network, or the one or more network slices operating on the C-RAN, or to be operated The scheduling information of each of the BBUs and/or RRHs is divided according to one of the one or more network slices.

Example 53 can include a method as in Examples 51-52 or some other examples herein, wherein the method further includes using any one or more of the following, deploying the context based on one of the one or more network slices, the BBU and / or RRH partition: a general public radio interface (CPRI) / CPRI advanced technology; one physical layer (PHY) segmentation technology across the BBU and RRH.

Example 54 may include methods as in Examples 51-53 or some other examples herein, wherein the method further includes dividing the BBU and/or RRH to divide wireless network resources of the wireless network, wherein the wireless network resources Includes frequency/time resources and/or physical resource blocks (PRBs).

Example 55 can include methods as in Examples 51-54 or some other examples herein, wherein the wireless network resources are partitioned according to a vertical slice or a horizontal slice.

Example 56 may include methods as in Examples 51-55 or some other examples herein, wherein a vertical slice is an active broadband service using an advanced multiple input multiple output (MIMO) scheme and a medium to high frequency wide forward.

Example 57 can include methods as in Examples 51-56 or some other examples herein, the method further comprising partitioning the BBU and/or RRH according to parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice.

Example 58 can include methods as in Examples 51-57 or some other examples herein, wherein the parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice include any one or more of the following: a data rate; a data bandwidth; Servo device; a latent time; a mission criticality; a delay; a quality of service (QoS); or a service network profile.

Example 59 can include methods as in Examples 51-58 or some other examples herein, wherein the method further includes determining or implementing pre-transportation with schedule information for or belonging to each network slice.

Example 60 can include a method as in Example 59 or some other example herein, wherein the method further comprises determining or implementing one of the following pre-packetization procedures defined by one of: a general public radio interface (CPRI) / advanced CPRI Technology; and a physical layer (PHY) segmentation technique across the BBU and RRH.

The example 61 can include a method as in example 60 or some other example herein, wherein the method further includes determining or implementing a pre-packaging procedure defined by one of the frequency/time resource schedules supporting an advanced MIMO technique, wherein the technique can Includes any one or more of CoMP, beam pooling, or cell-free operation.

The instance 62 can include a method as in Example 60 or some other example herein, wherein the method further includes determining or implementing the forward packetization procedure defined by one of the following one of frequency/time resource schedules or techniques: Mission criticality, latency or bandwidth.

Example 63 can include a method as in Example 62 or some other example herein, wherein the mission criticality is applicable to a delay sensitive application.

Example 64 can include a method as in example 62 or some other example herein, wherein the method, or at least a portion thereof, is in a cloud radio access network (C-RAN), a RAN control entity, a base station, The device served by the RAN, a UE, a BBU or an RRH is executed.

Example 65 can include a method as in Examples 51-64 or some other examples herein, wherein a vertical network slice includes any one or more of the following: an entity radio access network base for one or a dedicated single communication type One logical partition of a structure; one of a physical radio access network infrastructure dedicated to or used by a particular communication use case; a logical partition of one of the physical radio access network infrastructures having Self-contained operation and traffic flow independent of operation and traffic flow on any other logical partition of the physical radio access network infrastructure; and one of the horizontal network slices containing at least one device operating in the RAN A logical partition of one of the computing resources, wherein the at least one device comprises a base station, a controller, or a device that is servoed by the RAN.

Example 67 can include one or more computer readable media containing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform any of Examples 1 through 19, 51 through 64 Any one or more of the methods described or associated therewith, or any other method or process described herein, or any one or more of Examples 20 to 50 or 66, or herein Any other device described provides the functionality of the equipment.

Example 66 can include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, means, and/or circuitry for performing one or a method associated with any one of Examples 1 through 19, 51 through 64, or One or more elements of any other method or process.

Example 67 can comprise a method, technique, or process as described or related in any one of Examples 1 to 19, 51 to 64, or a portion or part thereof.

Example 68 can include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors including instructions and one or more computer readable media, the instructions being executed by the one or more processors Or a plurality of processors performing the method, technique, or process as described or related in any one of Examples 1 to 19, 51 to 64, or a portion thereof, or any one or more of Examples 20 to 50 or 66 Or any other device described herein provides the functionality of the device or device.

Example 69 can include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example 70 can include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Example 71 can include an apparatus for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Exemplary use cases/types of communication may include: wireless/mobile broadband (MBB) communication; extreme mobile broadband (E-MBB) communication; instant use cases such as industrial control communication, machine-to-machine communication (MTC/MTC1); Non-instant use cases for Internet of Things (IoT) sensor communication, or large-scale machine-to-machine communication (M-MTC/MTC2); ultra-reliable machine-to-machine communication (U-MTC); for example, cache edge, communication edge cloud Workshop (V2V) communication; vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication; vehicle-to-anything communication (V2X). That is, the disclosure relates to providing network slicing based on any easily definable/distinguishable communication type that can be implemented over a wireless network.

In some examples, this Radio Access Network (RAN) Control Entity is distributed over a portion of this RAN. In some examples, such RAN portions are base stations (e.g., eNBs) of the RAN, and in other instances, this (etc.) portion of the RAN may be a UE, or any other wireless network/ A device that the RAN is servoing, or forming part of (or servoing on), for example, a Mobility Management Engine (MME), a Baseband Unit (BBU), a Remote Radio Head (RRH), and the like. In some examples, if the entity distributes the RAN control entity, the RAN control entity can co-locate with the macro BS and manage only the slice portion under the coverage of the macro BS. In some examples, if the RAN control entity is in a central location, the RAN control entity can manage a slice portion of the plurality of BSs across the coverage of the RAN control entity. The RAN control entity may include at least a portion of the control RAN or device allocation, which may include resources according to one of the one or more horizontal or vertical slices, such as being in/or available, or available in one of the wireless networks The computing resources of the device.

As described herein, if an instance or request contains an RF circuitry, for example, to form a larger entity within the wireless network, such as a base station, it is also intended to cover that this is not included. This or an alternate embodiment of the RF circuitry, for example, is used (or provided) in a physical distribution in accordance with the present disclosure. For example, it may be applicable when the entity forms part of a cloud radio access network, wherein the radio parts (eg, RRH) are not at least a significant portion of the control function (entity, module, etc.) Set / in the same entity, such as BBU. Thus, no embodiment is intended to be limited to having only the message sent to or received from one of the RF portions of the wireless network. For example, some implementations may be part of the preamble capability, which may be a connection from a centralized, or other centralized baseband function (eg, BBU) to a radio front end (eg, RRH).

Any reference to a computer program product or computer readable medium as used herein may include references to both temporary (eg, physical media) and non-transitory (eg, signals or their data structures).

The various examples disclosed herein may provide a number of advantages, such as, but not limited to, for a servo-enabled device, for any given amount of core network and/or RAN resources (eg, computing, radio, etc.) (more) Complete coverage; less control overhead between transmission points and less extra load for communication; providing improved coverage while reducing control communication between network nodes (including transmission points); a more efficient (overall, or Essentially) wireless networks, for example, which allow a given amount of (eg, a single) physical radio access network infrastructure to be used by multiple use cases, thereby resulting in less hardware/infrastructure than others Ways to use (for example, twice or more hardware, for example, to provide a separate physical radio access network infrastructure for each use case); for across the RAN, and within each RAN slice The maintenance/maintenance of radio access network performance, efficiency, reliability, service and service quality has improved substantially for all devices in operation.

This, or the opening, activation or logical division of a network slice, or the like, as described herein, may be equal to each other and equal to the terms used interchangeably. Similarly, a network slice is closed, stopped, or logically terminated, or the like may all be equal to each other, and are equivalent to the terms used interchangeably. A network slice can also be referenced as a logically separated (division, partition, etc.) radio network access, or as a logically separated (division, partition, etc.) radio network access portion. A device that is or is to be served by the physical radio access network infrastructure, or a network slice may include a UE, and any and all other device forms that can accept the servo may also be interchanged with reference to one of the UEs herein. A device can be referenced as a wireless network device. However, when a wireless network device is used herein, it can also refer to a servo entity, such as a base station, an MME, a BBU, an RRH, etc., depending on the background of use. In terms of operation, in accordance with the network slicing disclosed herein, an access point may be similar to a base station in terms of use or deployment.

Specific examples, as described herein, have been used to explain the methods and functions disclosed herein (and functional units that perform those functions), however, the disclosure is not so limited. For example, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to any particular example, for example, if one of the specific vertical markets disclosed is related to a schema, this is merely an example and may be replaced by any vertical market; A particular portion of a slice is associated with a pattern and may be replaced by any portion of a slice; if a RAN has been revealed as having a size, type or number of slices associated with a pattern (horizontal or vertical) Any size, type or number of slices can be used instead; if a slice or slice portion has been revealed to have a certain size, type or quantity associated with a graphic (this level or this vertical), any size can be used The slice or slice of the type, quantity, or number is replaced. Similarly, in the foregoing, only if the slices have been numbered from 1, other numbering schemes may be implemented, for example, the number may be replaced from 0, so that slice #1 may be slice #0, and the like. Therefore, such specific numbers are not limiting, unlike an exemplary difference (due to the numbering) between the slices by means of the display slices, or an exemplary relationship between the numbered sliced parts (the numbering of the sub-sections of the same numbered slice) ).

The term "circuitry" as used herein may mean, be part of, or include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, exclusive, or group), And/or memory (shared, exclusive, or group) that executes one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware or software components, including One or more virtual machines. In some embodiments, the circuitry can be implemented in one or more software or firmware modules, or the functionality associated with the circuitry can be implemented by one or more software or firmware modules. In some embodiments, the circuitry can include logic that is at least partially operable in hardware. In some embodiments, this processing/execution may be distributed rather than centralized processing/execution.

Any reference to a (RAN) architecture, as used herein, may include any form of a particular process, technology, or technology that may be defined or considered to be a wireless network (or similar network link system entity). Anything, implementation details, operational improvements or types of anything, especially in this RAN. Architectures are typically introduced, maintained, and updated in standard documents to facilitate the use of separate wireless network technologies, such as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, and the like.

It will be appreciated that any of the methods disclosed herein (or corresponding equipment, programs, data carriers, etc.) can be implemented by a host or client, depending on the particular implementation (ie, this document The method/equipment disclosed is a form of communication, and as such, can be performed by any "view", that is, corresponding to each other. Furthermore, it will be understood that the terms "receive" and "transfer" include "input" and "output" and are not limited to one of the RF backgrounds for transmitting and receiving radio waves. Thus, for example, a wafer or other device or component for implementing an embodiment can produce data for output to another wafer, device or component, or have input as input from another wafer, device or component. Information, and this output or input may mean "transfer" and "receive" in the form of gerunds, that is, "in transit" and "receiving", and in the "in transit" of an RF background. And "receiving".

Any statement used in the form of "at least one of A, B or C" and the statement "at least one of A, B and C" are used in this specification to use the conjunction "or" and "one" The meaning of the conjunction "and", such that the statement contains any and all combinations of A, B, C and several permutations, that is, A, B alone, C alone, A and B in any order, any order A With C, any order of B and C, and any order of A, B, C. There may be more or less than three features used in such statements.

In a request item, any reference symbol placed between parentheses shall not be considered a restriction request. The word "included" does not exclude the existence of other elements or steps other than those listed in a claim. Furthermore, the terms "a" or its variants are used herein to define one or more than one. Similarly, the use of preambles such as "at least one" and "one or more" should not be construed as an implied claim that any other claim element of the indefinite article "a" The request is limited to an invention containing only one such component, even if the same request includes a preposition such as "one or more" or "at least one", and an indefinite article such as "a" or its variants. . Terms such as "first" and "second" are used to arbitrarily distinguish between the elements recited in such terms unless otherwise stated. Therefore, these terms are not necessarily intended to indicate the temporal relationship or other prioritization of such elements. The only fact that some measurements are contained in mutually different claims is not to indicate that one of these combinations cannot be used to generate an interest.

The foregoing embodiments and examples, and the features of the following claims may be in accordance with any suitable arrangement, unless otherwise explicitly stated as incompatible, or physically, or otherwise preventing the combination of such embodiments, examples, or claims. The structure is integrated, especially for the features that make it work. This is not limited to any given benefit, but can be caused by an "after the fact" benefit. That is, the combination of features is not limited to the form, particularly the form(s), the form(s) of the embodiment(s), or the dependency(s) of the request(s). In addition, this also applies to terms such as "in one embodiment", "according to an embodiment" and the like, which are only in the form of a genre, and for all other examples of the same or similar words, It is considered that the following features are limited to another embodiment. That is, reference to one of the "a", "an" or "an" embodiment may be a reference to any one or more, and/or all of the disclosed embodiments, or combinations thereof. Similarly, references to the "this" embodiment are not limited to the embodiments immediately preceding.

In the foregoing, the reference to "layer" may refer to one of the predefined (or definable) portions of one of the basic structures, and the reference to the "layer" may be the network infrastructure, or a portion thereof. / Reference to one of the network protocol layers in operation. A vertical slice may be referenced as or relating to a vertical market segment when used herein. Any of the machine-executable instructions, or operationally readable media, may be practiced as described herein, and thus may be used in conjunction with the terms of the methods, or as synonyms.

The above description of one or more embodiments is provided by way of illustration and description, and is not intended to be Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings, or may be made in the practice of various embodiments of the invention.

100‧‧‧Wireless network
110~140, 306‧‧‧ vertical slices
112, 122, 132, 142‧‧‧Maces of the network layer
114, 124, 134, 144‧‧‧Micro network layer
116, 126, 136, 146‧‧‧D2D network layer part
118, 128, 138, 148‧‧‧PAN network layer
150‧‧‧ core network layer part
160‧‧‧ Radio access network layer
170‧‧‧Device layer
180‧‧‧Personal/Wearing Layers
190‧‧‧First horizontal network slice
195‧‧‧Second horizontal network slice
200‧‧‧ second view
210‧‧‧Slice #1
211‧‧‧Slice #2
220‧‧‧Micro network layer
230‧‧‧Slice #3
240‧‧‧personal area network layer
300‧‧‧ illustration
302‧‧‧Network class
304‧‧‧ Radio resources
410‧‧‧Base station section
410'‧‧‧Base Station
412‧‧‧Upstream/core network side communication function
414‧‧‧Base station computing function
414', 424' ‧ ‧ processing resources
416‧‧‧Downstream/wireless/device side communication function
420‧‧‧ portable part
420'‧‧‧ portable device
422‧‧‧Typical cellular wireless communication link
424‧‧‧Local calculation function
426‧‧‧ downstream communication link
430‧‧‧Wearing part
430'‧‧‧Wearing device
432‧‧‧ upstream communication link
434‧‧‧ Limited local processing resource function
434'‧‧‧Project
500‧‧‧C-RAN architecture
502~506, 604‧‧‧RRH
514‧‧‧BBU/BBU pool
516~520‧‧‧ forward link
522‧‧‧core network
524‧‧‧Wireless devices
600‧‧‧CPRI-based C-RAN architecture
602‧‧‧BBU/BBU pool
606‧‧‧Previous link
608‧‧‧ analog front end
610‧‧‧Digital Analog Converter
612‧‧‧ Analog Digital Converter
614, 622‧‧‧Select
616, 624‧‧‧Compression and framing module
618, 626‧ ‧ decompression and framing module
620‧‧‧ layer processing module
628, 950‧‧‧ antenna
700, 800‧‧‧ procedures
710~770, 850~870, 1010~1020, 1110~1120‧‧‧ steps
820~840‧‧‧ illustrative options
900‧‧‧Electronic devices
910‧‧‧Application Circuit System
920‧‧‧Base frequency circuit system
921‧‧‧RF (RF) circuitry
922‧‧‧ third generation (3G) baseband processor
923‧‧‧ fourth generation (4G) baseband processor
924‧‧‧Baseband processor
925‧‧‧ central processing unit
926‧‧‧Audio digital signal processor
927‧‧‧Memory/storage
930‧‧‧RF Circuit System
931‧‧‧Mixer circuit system
932‧‧‧Amplifier Circuit System
933‧‧‧Filter circuit system
934‧‧‧Synthesizer circuit system
940‧‧‧ Front End Module (FEM) circuitry
960‧‧‧Network Interface Controller (NIC) circuitry
965‧‧‧Network Interface Circuit System
1200‧‧‧ hardware resources
1204‧‧‧ Peripheral devices
1206‧‧‧Database
1208‧‧‧Network
1210‧‧‧ processor
1212‧‧‧ processor
1214‧‧‧ processor
1220‧‧‧Memory/storage device
1230‧‧‧Communication resources
1240‧‧ ‧ busbar
Order of 1250‧‧

The aspects, features, and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention will be apparent from A first view; FIG. 2 shows a second view of a portion of the wireless network of FIG. 1. FIG. 3 illustrates an alternative embodiment (or additional) of the embodiment shown in FIG. The method cuts a radio access network (RAN) into horizontal and vertical slices; FIG. 4 shows an example of a more detailed horizontal slice in a tangible wireless network architecture according to an example; FIG. 5 shows a first illustration according to an example. Sexual Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture; Figure 6 shows a second exemplary C-RAN architecture according to an example; Figure 7 shows one of the re-architectures for flexible radio access networks according to an example An exemplary program; FIG. 8 shows a second exemplary procedure for a flexible radio access network re-architecture according to an example; FIG. 9 shows an exemplary illustration of an electronic device (eg, UE or base station) according to an example. FIG. 10 illustrates a first exemplary method of radio access network re-architecture according to an example; FIG. 11 illustrates a second exemplary method of radio access network re-architecture according to an example; FIG. A schematic diagram showing one of the hardware resources.

700‧‧‧Program

710~770‧‧‧Steps

Claims (25)

An apparatus operable in a radio access network (RAN) control entity in a wireless communication network, the RAN control entity being coupled to a baseband unit (BBU) and a remote radio head (RRH), the apparatus comprising Radio frequency (RF) circuitry for receiving at least one communication originating from a wireless network device or transmitting at least one communication to a wireless network device; and circuitry for: placing a physical RAN infrastructure or cloud radio The access network (C-RAN) is divided into one or more network slices; and the BBU and/or RRH are partitioned according to one of the one or more network slices deployment scenarios. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to use each of the one or more network slices operating on the physical radio access network, or C-RAN, or to be operated Information, the BBU and/or the RRH are divided according to one of the one or more network slices deployment scenarios. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is further configured to use any one or more of the following to partition the BBU and/or RRH according to one of the one or more network slices deployment scenarios: a generic public radio interface (CPRI)/advanced CPRI technology; and a physical layer (PHY) segmentation technique across the BBU and RRH. The equipment of claim 1, wherein the circuitry is used to divide the BBU and/or RRH to divide wireless network resources of the wireless network, wherein the wireless network resources include frequency/time resources and/or physical resources. Block (PRB). The equipment of claim 1, wherein the wireless network resources are divided according to a vertical slice or a horizontal slice. For the equipment of claim 1, one of the vertical slices is an active broadband service using an advanced multiple input multiple output (MIMO) scheme and a medium to high frequency forward transmission. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the circuitry is for dividing the BBU and/or RRH based on parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the parameters of the vertical or horizontal network slice include any one or more of the following: a data rate; a data bandwidth; a number of to-be-served devices; a latency; a mission criticality; A delay; a quality of service (QoS); or a network profile of a service. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the circuitry further determines or implements pre-transportation using schedule information for or belonging to each network slice. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the circuitry is further used to determine or implement a packetization procedure defined by any of the following: a generic public radio interface (CPRI)/advanced CPRI technique; and a cross-BBU with Physical layer (PHY) segmentation technology of RRH. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further for determining or implementing a pre-packetization procedure defined by one of frequency/time resource schedules supporting an advanced MIMO technique, wherein the technique may include multi-point coordination (CoMP) ), beam collection or no cell operation of any one or more of them. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the circuitry is further used to determine or implement a packetization procedure defined by a frequency/time resource schedule or technique supporting one of: one of mission criticality, delay, or frequency width. The equipment of claim 12, wherein the mission criticality is applicable to a delay sensitive application. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the equipment comprises a base station. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the base station comprises an enhanced Node B (eNB). An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, wherein the vertical network slice comprises any one or more of the following: one of a physical radio access network infrastructure for one or a dedicated single communication type; for or by a specific A logical partition of one of the physical radio access network infrastructures dedicated to the communication use case communication; one of the physical radio access network infrastructure logical partitions, with the physical access network infrastructure in the entity a self-contained operation and traffic flow independent of operation and traffic flow on any other logical partition; and a logical partition in which one horizontal network slice contains at least one computing resource of a device operating in the RAN, wherein the at least one A device includes a base station, a controller, or a device that is servoed by the RAN. A basic frequency unit (BBU) and remote radio head (RRH) functional partitioning equipment, including means for implementing network slicing in different deployment scenarios. For the equipment of claim 17, one of the evolved nodeBs (eNBs) will use the schedule information of each network slice to perform the BBU and RRH function division. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the eNB performs a general public radio interface for frequency/time resources scheduled for active broadband services with advanced multiple input multiple output (MIMO) schemes and medium/high bandwidth (BW) preambles ( CPRI) and/or advanced CPRI or physical layer (PHY) split BBU and RRH functional partitioning. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the eNB is to perform Layer 2 (L2)/first on frequency/time resources scheduled for low latency services, such as mission critical Internet of Things (IoT) applications and/or devices. Layer 3 (L3) BBU and RRH function partitioning. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the eNB performs a type of CPRI, PHY split, remote PHY, or L2/L3 for frequency/time resources scheduled for large-scale machine type communication (MTC) services or mobile broadband services. Split the BBU and RRH function split. The equipment of claim 17, wherein the eNB uses the schedule information of each network slice to perform pre-packetization. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the eNB performs CPRI or PHY-based segmentation on the frequency/time resources scheduled to support advanced MIMO schemes such as coordinated multi-point coordination (CoMP), beam aggregation, cell-free operation, and the like. The BBU and RRH divisions are defined before the packetization procedure. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the eNB prioritizes the frequency/time resources scheduled for extreme delay sensitive applications, such as mission critical IoT applications or mission critical IoT devices, prior to L2/L3 BBU and RRH partitioning Pass the package program. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the eNB performs channel-like CPRI, PHY splitting, remote PHY, L2/ on the frequency/time resource scheduled for large-scale IoT and mobile broadband services based on the preamble BW and delay. Before the L3 split, etc., the packetization procedure is passed.