TW201904349A - Controlling method, network system and controlling platform for mobile-edge computing - Google Patents

Abstract

A controlling method, a network system and a controlling platform for mobile-edge computing (MEC) are provided. The controlling method can select at least one of relay gateways in the device-to-device relay network as a mobile-edge cloudlet of the user equipment. An application service program may be performed by the mobile-edge cloudlet, so that the user equipment may receive the application service response without accessing a core network.

Description

 Control method, network system and control platform for action edge calculation  

The invention relates to a mobile edge control (MEC) control method, a network system and a control platform, and particularly to a device-to-device (D2D) relay network. Control method, network system and control platform for action edge calculation in (Relay Network).

With the popularity of mobile communications, User Equipment (UE) is equipped with networking capabilities, enabling users to access a variety of application services directly through the Internet, for example, to provide image analysis or to receive online offers. Volume and so on. However, in order to meet the needs of a large number of users, whether it is a traditional centralized or cloud server architecture, only the hardware devices can be continuously increased to improve the processing power of the core network (Core Network) and the cloud server. Therefore, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) proposed a new type of network service concept called action edge computing.

In the action edge calculation, since the application service program is executed by other electronic devices that are placed close to the location of the user device (for example, a smart phone, a smart TV, or a smart wearable device, etc.), the user does not need By connecting to the Internet through the core network, you can get the response to the application service, which greatly reduces the waiting time and latency of the service, and effectively reduces the load pressure on the core network equipment. However, no industry or inventor currently discusses how to apply the edge of action calculations in a D2D trunk network environment.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present invention provide a control method, a network system, and a control platform for action edge calculation, and in particular, a control method, a network system, and a control platform for action edge calculation applicable in a D2D relay network. .

Embodiments of the present invention provide a control method for action edge calculation, which is implemented in a network system. The network system includes a D2D trunk network, at least one user equipment, and a control platform. The control method includes the following steps. First, the control platform receives a request message from the user device, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program. Then, according to the request message of the user equipment, the control platform selects at least one relay gateway as a mobile edge cloud of the user equipment from a plurality of relay gateways in the D2D relay network (Cloudlet) ), and execute the application service program through this action edge cloud.

Another embodiment of the present invention provides a network system for calculating an action edge. The network system includes a D2D trunk network, at least one user equipment, and a control platform. The control platform receives a request message from the user device, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program. Then, according to the request message of the user equipment, the control platform selects at least one relay gateway from the plurality of relay gateways in the D2D relay network as an action edge cloud of the user equipment, and passes the action edge The cloud executes the application service program.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a control platform for action edge calculation. The control platform includes a processor, and a storage unit is configured to store a message processing module and an MEC management module. The message processing module is configured to instruct the processor to perform the following steps: receiving a request message from the at least one user device, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program. The MEC management module is configured to instruct the processor to perform the following steps: selecting at least one relay gateway as the user equipment from the plurality of relay gateways in the D2D relay network according to the request message of the user equipment An action edge cloud, and through this action edge cloud to execute the application service program.

The detailed description of the present invention and the accompanying drawings are to be understood by the claims The scope is subject to any restrictions.

S100~S150, S300~S350, S310'~S350', S400~S430, S500~S510‧‧‧ Process steps

1‧‧‧Network System

10‧‧‧D2D trunk network

20‧‧‧core network

UE_1‧‧‧User equipment

100‧‧‧Control platform

GW_1~GW_10‧‧‧Trunk gateway

CL_1‧‧‧Action Edge Cloud

1001‧‧‧ processor

1002‧‧‧ storage unit

1003‧‧‧Message Processing Module

1005‧‧‧MEC Management Module

1007‧‧‧ Dynamic Loading Module

1 is a schematic flow chart of a method for controlling action edge calculation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a schematic diagram of a network system for mobile edge calculation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a flow edge cloud of the control method of FIG. 1 in which the control platform performs at least one relay gateway as the user equipment from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network in a preferred embodiment. Schematic diagram of the process.

3B is an action edge cloud in which the control platform of FIG. 1 performs, in another preferred embodiment, selecting at least one relay gateway as a user equipment from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. Schematic diagram of the process.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flow chart of a method for controlling action edge calculation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a method for controlling action edge calculation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6A is a functional block diagram of a control platform for action edge calculation according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6B is a functional block diagram of a control platform for action edge calculation according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a signal transmission diagram when the control platform of FIG. 6B communicates with the user equipment.

In the following, the invention will be described in detail by way of illustration of various embodiments of the invention. However, the inventive concept may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the illustrative embodiments set forth herein. In addition, the same reference numerals may be used in the drawings to represent similar elements.

First, please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 at the same time. FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart diagram of a control method for calculating an action edge according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a network system for calculating an action edge according to an embodiment of the present invention. Schematic diagram. The control method of the action edge calculation of FIG. 1 can be implemented in the network system 1 of FIG. 2, but the present invention does not limit the method of FIG. 1 to only be implemented in the network system 1 of FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network system 1 includes a D2D relay network 10, at least one user equipment UE_1~UE_N (that is, N is any positive integer greater than or equal to 1), and a control platform 100. It is worth mentioning that, for convenience of the following description, the user equipments UE_1~UE_N of FIG. 2 are described by using only an example of the number 1 (that is, N is 1), but it is not intended to limit the present invention.

In addition, it should be understood that the D2D relay network 10 is composed of, for example, a plurality of relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_M (that is, M is any positive integer greater than or equal to 2). Therefore, for the same convenience of the following description, the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_M of FIG. 2 are described by using only an example of the number 10 (that is, M is 10), but it is not intended to limit the present invention. . Since the operation principle of the D2D relay network 10 is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, the details of the above-described relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 will not be further described herein.

It should be noted that, in the D2D trunk network 10, the data transmission may be performed through the relay gateways GW_1~GW_10 one after another, so the user equipment UE_1 only needs to connect to any one by using the wireless network. After the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10, the network resource access service can be performed. In addition, the distribution position, the network topology, and the data transmission direction of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 are not limited to those shown in FIG. 2.

On the other hand, the control platform 100 includes appropriate logic, circuitry, and/or coding, and the control platform 100 can communicate and share with each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in a wired or wireless manner. Therefore, in one of the applications, the control platform 100 can be, for example, disposed in any of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10.

Alternatively, in other applications, the control platform 100 can also be disposed, for example, in an electronic device (not shown) other than the D2D relay network 10. In summary, the present invention does not limit the specific implementation of the control platform 100. Therefore, those skilled in the art should be able to design according to actual needs or applications.

In detail, when the user equipment UE_1 wants to obtain an application service, the control platform 100 receives a request message (not shown) from the user equipment UE_1. The request message is used to request execution of an application service program. Then, according to the request message of the user equipment UE_1, the control platform 100 selects at least one relay gateway GW_i from the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10 (that is, i is 1 to 10) Any positive integer is used as an action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, and the application service program is executed through the action edge cloud CL_1.

It is worth noting that since the control platform 100 may select at least one of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in many different selection manners as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, in FIG. 2 The action edge cloud CL_1 formed by different selection methods will be represented by different wireframes (for example, thick wireframe, dashed box and chain frame), and hereinafter, various embodiments will be explained by The invention will be described in detail.

In summary, according to the above teachings, those of ordinary skill in the art should understand that since the action edge cloud CL_1 must be between the user equipment UE_1 and a core network 20, when the action edge cloud CL_1 can be used When the application service program for the application service is executed, the control method for the mobile edge calculation and the network system 1 of the embodiment of the present invention can obtain the relevant application service without the need to pass through the core network 20. Respond.

Further, referring to Fig. 1, for the description of the control method of the action edge calculation performed by the network system 1 of Fig. 2 in the embodiment of the present invention. First, in step S110, the control platform 100 is caused to receive a request message from the user equipment UE_1. The request message is used to request execution of an application service program.

Next, in step S130, according to the request message of the user equipment UE_1, the control platform 100 selects at least one relay gateway GW_i as the user equipment from the plurality of relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10. An action edge cloud CL_1 of UE_1. Finally, in step S150, the application service program is executed through the action edge cloud CL_1.

It should be understood that since the user equipment UE_1 has mobility characteristics, the control platform 100 must be able to determine that the user equipment UE_1 has joined the D2D relay network 10 before selecting these relays according to the received request message. At least one of the gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 serves as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1. That is to say, before step S110 of FIG. 1, step S100 may be further included.

In step S100, the relay gateways GW_1~GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10 can respectively issue a discovery message (not shown), and when any of the relay gateways is received at the user equipment UE_1 When the GW_1~GW_10 is used for the discovery message, the user equipment UE_1 returns a location message (not shown) to the control platform 100, so that the control platform 100 can determine that the user equipment UE_1 has joined the D2D relay network 10. It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the specific implementation manner when the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 respectively send out the discovery message.

In addition, in one of the applications, the location information reported by the user equipment UE_1 may be first transmitted to the relay gateway of the transmitted discovery message (for example, the relay gateway GW_3), and then through the middle. The gateway is transmitted to the control platform 100. Or, in other applications, when the user equipment UE_1 receives multiple discovery messages from multiple relay gateways, the location information reported by the user equipment UE_1 is first transmitted to the transmitted signal strength. The best discovery message relay gateway is passed to the control platform 100 via this relay gateway.

In general, the present invention does not limit the specific implementation manner when the user equipment UE_1 reports the location information to the control platform 100. Therefore, those skilled in the art should be able to perform related designs according to actual needs or applications. According to the teachings of the above, one of ordinary skill in the art should understand that one of the purposes of the execution of step S100 is that in order to enable the positioning of the user equipment UE_1, the details thereof are not Repeat more details.

Next, at least one of these relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 will be selected for the control platform 100 in FIG. 2 to be further described as details of the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1. That is, the present invention further provides an embodiment relating to step S130. Please refer to FIG. 3A. FIG. 3A is a diagram of the control method of FIG. 1 . In a preferred embodiment, the control platform performs at least one relay gateway from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. Schematic diagram of the action edge cloud of the user device.

First, in step S300, the control platform 100 determines whether the application service program requested by the request message of the user equipment UE_1 exists in the D2D relay network 10, and when the application service program determines that it exists in the D2D relay network. In the case of the road 10, step S310 is performed. In step S310, the control platform 100 selects at least one relay gateway GW_i as the user equipment according to a service capability (not shown) of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10. UE_1's action edge cloud CL_1.

Similarly, when the application service program determines that it does not exist in the D2D relay network 10, step S330 is performed, and in step S330, the control platform 100 controls the middle of the D2D relay network 10. At least one of the gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 accesses the application service program through the core network 20, and returns to step S300 to re-execute.

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the specific implementation of service capabilities. In an embodiment, the so-called "service capability of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10" may mean that a bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10, each a CPU remaining usage rate of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 or a node distance value between each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW 10 and the user equipment UE _1, or any combination thereof, but the present invention does not This is a limitation. For example, please refer to Table 1 below.

It is assumed that in the case of the so-called "service capability of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10", only the bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 is indicated, and therefore, when the control platform 100 determines When the application service program exists in the D2D trunk network 10, the control platform 100 filters the relay gateways according to the remaining bandwidth usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in Table 1. At least one of GW_1~GW_10 acts as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1.

For example, in one of the applications, the control platform 100 can filter out the relay gateway GW_3 whose bandwidth remaining usage must be higher than a first threshold (for example, 70%) as the user equipment UE_1. The action edge cloud CL_1 is shown in the thick solid box of Figure 2.

Or, it is assumed that the so-called "service capability of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10" indicates only the remaining CPU usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10, and therefore, when controlling When the platform 100 determines that the application service program exists in the D2D trunk network 10, the control platform 100 filters the relay gates according to the remaining CPU usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in Table 1. At least one of the routers GW_1 GW GW_10 serves as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1.

For example, in one of the applications, the control platform 100 can filter out the relay gateways GW_6, GW_7, and GW_8 whose CPU residual usage is higher than a second threshold (for example, 60%). The action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1 is as shown by the dashed box in FIG. In summary, the specific implementations selected as the action edge cloud CL_1 are merely examples, which are not intended to limit the present invention.

Further, further, when the relay gateway as the action edge cloud CL_1 includes two or more, the embodiment of FIG. 3A may proceed to step S350, and in step S350, the control platform 100 is based on The service capabilities of each of these relay gateways in the edge cloud CL_1 are assigned to each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1 to execute different proportions of application service programs.

For example, suppose that the so-called "service capability of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10" is only indicated as the remaining CPU usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10, and when the control platform When the relay gateways GW_6, GW_7, and GW_8 have been selected as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, the control platform 100 according to the CPU remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_6, GW_7, and GW_8, Each of these trunk gateways GW_6, GW_7, and GW_8 is assigned to execute different proportions of application service programs.

In one of these applications, the relay gateway GW_6 can be dispatched to execute 40% of this application (for example, 40%) {[36/(36+29+25)]*100%}), the relay gateway GW_7 is dispatched to execute 32% of this application service program (for example, 32%) {[29/36+29+25)]*100%}), and the relay gateway GW_8 is dispatched to execute 28% of this application service program (for example, 28%) {[25/(36+29+25)]*100%}).

In this way, the above method is like balancing the computational workload of each of these relay gateways GW_6, GW_7, and GW_8, thereby more effectively reducing the overall execution time of the application service program. In summary, the specific implementation of each of the above-mentioned relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1 to execute different proportions of application service programs is also merely an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention.

On the other hand, the present invention also does not limit the specific implementation manner when the control platform 100 obtains the service capabilities (ie, Table 1) of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW 10 , so that those having ordinary knowledge in the technical field should Design can be based on actual needs or applications. However, it should be noted that, as described in the foregoing, since the data transmission is performed through the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 one after another in the D2D relay network 10, each of the tables 1 The node distance value between the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 and the user equipment UE_1 may be represented by a value in a decreasing manner instead of a conventional distance unit value.

For example, as shown in FIG. 2, since the distance between the relay gateway GW_3 and the user equipment UE_1 is the closest, the relay gateway GW_3 does not need to pass through other relay gateways, and can directly To transfer data to the user equipment UE_1, the node distance value between the two can be represented by the value "0".

Similarly, since the relay gateway GW_2 (or the relay gateway GW_4) needs to pass the relay gateway GW_3 again, the data can be transmitted to the user equipment UE_1, so the node distance value between the two, The value "-1" can be used for representation, and so on. Finally, the node distance value between the relay gateway GW_10 and the user equipment UE_1 is represented by the value "-7". It should be noted that the specific implementation manners of the foregoing node distance values are merely examples, which are not intended to limit the present invention.

On the other hand, if the so-called "service capability of each relay gateway GW_1~GW_10" is considered, it can also refer to the weighted combination of the parameters in Table 1, please refer to FIG. 3B together, and FIG. 3B is The control platform in the control method of FIG. 1 performs, under another preferred embodiment, a process of selecting at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. schematic diagram. The process steps in FIG. 3B are the same as those in FIG. 3A, and the details are not described here.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3B, when the control platform 100 determines that the application service program exists in the D2D relay network 10, step S310' is performed. In step S310', the control platform 100 selects at least one relay gateway GW_i according to a capability evaluation value (not shown) of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10. The action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1.

Specifically, the control platform 100 may formulate a weighting equation according to at least two of the CPU remaining usage rate, the bandwidth remaining usage rate, and the node distance value of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in Table 1, and The capability evaluation value of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10 is calculated by this weighting equation. For example, this weighting equation can be expressed as: A*Wa+B*Wb+C*Wc=W Equation 1

Wherein, W is a capability evaluation value of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10, and A is a CPU remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10, and B is each The bandwidth remaining usage rate of the gateways GW_1~GW_10, and C is the node distance value between each of the relay gateways GW_1~GW_10 and the user equipment UE_1, and Wa, Wb, and Wc are respectively used by the CPU. Rate weight, one bandwidth remaining usage weight, and one node distance value weight.

It should be noted that the specific implementation manner of the foregoing weight equation is merely an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention. It should be understood that since the control platform 100 can formulate a weight equation according to at least two of the CPU remaining usage rate, the bandwidth remaining usage rate, and the node distance value of each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW 10 , the weight equation It may also be expressed as A*Wa+B*Wb=W, A*Wa+C*Wc=W or B*Wb+C*Wc=W, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

In an embodiment, assuming that Wa, Wb, and Wc are 2, 1, and 1, respectively, the capability evaluation value of each of the relay gateways GW_1 to GW_10 calculated by the control platform 100 through the weighting equation is calculated. , can refer to the following table 2.

It should be noted that the specific implementation manners of the foregoing weights Wa, Wb, and Wc are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Therefore, in one of the applications, the control platform 100 can filter the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 whose capability evaluation values are higher than a third threshold (for example, 150) as the user equipment UE_1. The action edge cloud CL_1 is shown in the chain box of Figure 2.

In other words, in step S310', for each of the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10, the control platform 100 will determine the relay gateway GW_k (also That is, whether the capability evaluation value of k is a positive integer of 1 to 10 is greater than or equal to a capability threshold (ie, a third threshold), and when it is judged that the capability evaluation value of the relay gateway GW_k is greater than or equal to this When the capability threshold is exceeded, the control platform 100 selects this relay gateway GW_k as the relay gateway in the action edge cloud CL_1.

In summary, the specific implementations selected above as the action edge cloud CL_1 are also merely examples, and are not intended to limit the present invention. Similarly, it should be understood that when the relay gateway as the action edge cloud CL_1 contains more than two (for example, the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 in the chain frame of FIG. 2), The embodiment of 3B may proceed to step S350', and in step S350', the control platform 100 assigns a capability evaluation value according to each of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 in the action edge cloud CL_1. Each of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 in the action edge cloud CL_1 executes different proportions of application service programs.

For example, the relay gateway GW_3 can be dispatched to execute 35% of this application service program (for example, 35%) {[166/(166+158+154]*100%}), the relay gateway GW_6 is assigned to execute 33% of this application service program (for example, 33%) {[158/(166+158+154)]*100%}), and the relay gateway GW_8 is dispatched to execute 32% of this application service program (for example, 32%) {[154/(166+158+154]*100%}). In summary, the specific implementation manner of each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1 to execute different proportions of application service programs is also merely an example, and is not intended to limit the present invention.

Furthermore, although in the embodiment of FIGS. 3A and 3B, the control platform 100 can select a suitable relay gateway as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, the control platform 100 cannot guarantee the user. The application service program requested by the device UE_1 must exist among the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1. Therefore, please refer to FIG. 4. FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart diagram of a method for controlling motion edge calculation according to another embodiment of the present invention. The control method of FIG. 4 can be similarly executed in the network system 1 of FIG. 2, so please refer to FIG. 2 for understanding. In addition, the same steps in FIG. 4 as those in FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and thus the details thereof will not be described in detail.

In the embodiment of FIG. 4, step S150 may further include steps S400 to S430. First, in step S400, the control platform 100 determines whether the application service program exists in the action edge cloud CL_1. When the control platform 100 determines that the application service program exists in the action edge cloud CL_1, step S410 is performed. In step S410, the control platform 100 notifies the user equipment UE_1 of the host location of at least one of the relay edge gateways CL_1.

Similarly, when the control platform 100 determines that the application service program does not exist in the action edge cloud CL_1, step S430 is performed, and in step S430, the control platform 100 loads the application service program into the action edge cloud CL_1. At least one relay gateway, and then returns to step S400 to re-execute.

For example, assuming that the control platform 100 has selected the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, when proceeding to step S400 of FIG. 4, the control platform 100 It is judged whether or not the application service program exists among these relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8. If the application service program does not exist in the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6 and GW_8, the control platform 100 loads the application service program into at least the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6 and GW_8. One of them, and step S400 is re-executed.

It should be noted that the present invention does not limit the specific implementation manner when the application platform of the control platform 100 is loaded into at least one of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8. In light of the above teachings, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the control platform 100 can determine that the application service program must exist in the D2D trunk network 10 before proceeding to step S400 of FIG. Medium (that is, as shown in step S300 of FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B).

Therefore, even if the application service program does not exist in the trunk gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 from the beginning, the application service program may still exist in the relay gateways GW_1~GW_2, GW_4~ Among GW_5, GW_7 and GW_9~GW_10. Therefore, in step S430, the control platform 100 can directly load the application service program from the relay gateways GW_1~GW_2, GW_4~GW_5, GW_7, and GW_9~GW_10 to the relay gates without going through the core network 20. At least one of the GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8.

Finally, in step S410, the control platform 100 notifies the user equipment UE_1 of the host location of at least one of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 in the action edge cloud CL_1. By performing this step, the user equipment UE_1 can know which is the relay gateway responsible for communication. That is to say, one of the purposes of the step S410 is that, in order to establish a relationship between the trunk gateways GW_3, GW_6 and GW_8 and the user equipment UE_1, the details of the details are No more details.

For example, since the distance between the relay gateway GW_3 in the action edge cloud CL_1 and the user equipment UE_1 is the closest, the control platform 100 can select the host that will relay the gateway GW_3 in step S410. The location is notified to the user equipment UE_1. It should be noted that the above specific implementations are merely examples, which are not intended to limit the present invention.

On the other hand, it is considered that the control platform 100 can further allocate each relay gateway to perform different proportions of applications according to the service capability (or capability evaluation value) of each relay gateway in the action edge cloud CL_1. Service program. Therefore, when such a design is also extended to the present invention, please refer to FIG. 5 together. FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart diagram of a control method for the calculation of the action edge according to another embodiment of the present invention. The control method of FIG. 5 can be similarly executed in the network system 1 of FIG. 2, so please refer to FIG. 2 for understanding. In addition, the same steps in FIG. 5 as those in FIG. 4 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and thus the details thereof will not be described in detail.

In the embodiment of FIG. 5, step S410 may further include steps S500 to S510. In step S500, the control platform 100 further determines whether the application service exists in each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1, and determines that the application services are all present in the action edge cloud CL_1. The control method of Fig. 5 proceeds to step S410 only when it is in each of the relay gateways.

Similarly, when it is determined that the application services are not all present in each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1, the control method of FIG. 5 proceeds to step S510, and in step S510, the control platform 100 The application service is loaded into each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud CL_1, and after the completion of step S510, the control method of FIG. 5 proceeds to step S410. Therefore, in the practice of step S500 and step S510, the embodiment can ensure that each relay gateway in the action edge cloud CL_1 can be used to dispatch an application service program, thereby reducing the application service program. Overall execution time.

Finally, to further illustrate the control platform 100 described above, the present invention further provides an embodiment of its control platform 100. Please refer to FIG. 6A. FIG. 6A is a functional block diagram of a control platform for action edge calculation according to an embodiment of the present invention. However, the following control platform 100 is merely an implementation of one of the following, and is not intended to limit the present invention.

Specifically, the control platform 100 includes a processor 1001 and a storage unit 1002. The storage unit 1002 is configured to have a message processing module 1003 and an MEC management module 1005. In general, the message processing module 1003 and the MEC management module 1005 may be implemented by pure software, that is, a code, or implemented by software and hardware circuits. In general, the present invention is not limited thereto. In addition, the above components may be integrated or separately, and the invention is not limited thereto.

In this embodiment, the message processing module 1003 can include appropriate program instructions for instructing the processor 1001 to cause the processor 1001 to receive a request message from at least one user device, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application. Service program. In addition, the MEC management module 1005 can also include appropriate program instructions for instructing the processor 1001 to cause the processor 1001 to use a plurality of relay gates in a D2D relay network according to the request message of the user equipment. The router selects at least one relay gateway as an action edge cloud of the user equipment, and executes an application service program through the action edge cloud.

More specifically, the MEC management module 1005 described in this example is used to instruct the processor 1001 such that the processor 1001 selects at least one relay gateway from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. In the process of the action edge cloud of the user equipment, the embodiment shown in FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B may be performed. Therefore, please refer to FIG. 3A or FIG. 3B for easy understanding, and thus details thereof will not be described in detail herein. It should be noted that, in an embodiment, the so-called "service capability of each relay gateway" may refer to a bandwidth remaining usage rate of each relay gateway, each of which A CPU residual usage rate of the gateway or a node distance value between each of the relay gateways and the user equipment is any combination of the above, but the invention is not limited thereto.

Therefore, if the so-called "service capability of each relay gateway" is referred to as a weighted combination of the above parameters, the MEC management module 1005 is used to instruct the processor 1001 so that the processor 1001 is A CPU weighted usage rate, bandwidth remaining usage rate, and distance value of a relay gateway are used to formulate a weighting equation, and the weight equation is used to calculate the capability of each relay gateway in the D2D relay network. The values are evaluated, and at least one of the relay gateways is selected as the edge cloud of the action of the user equipment based on the capability evaluation value of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network.

Similarly, it should be understood that when the relay gateway as the action edge cloud includes more than two, the MEC management module 1005 can be further used to instruct the processor 1001 such that the processor 1001 is based on the edge of the action. The service capabilities (or capability evaluation values) of each of these trunk gateways in the cloud are assigned to each of these trunk gateways to perform different proportions of application service programs. The detailed step procedure is as described in the foregoing embodiment, and thus no further description is provided herein.

On the other hand, please refer to FIG. 6B, which is a functional block diagram of a control platform for action edge calculation according to another embodiment of the present invention. The components in FIG. 6B that are the same as those in FIG. 6A are denoted by the same reference numerals, and thus the details thereof will not be described in detail.

Compared with the functional block diagram of FIG. 6A, the storage unit 1002 of FIG. 6B further stores a dynamic loading module 1007. The dynamic loading module 1007 can also include appropriate program instructions, and when it is determined that the application service program does not exist in the mobile edge cloud, the dynamic loading module 1007 is used to instruct the processor 1001 to make the processor 1001 loads the application service program into at least one relay gateway in the edge cloud of the action.

Or, when it is further determined that the application service is not present in each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud, the dynamic loading module 1007 is configured to instruct the processor 1001 to load the application service. So far, every relay gateway in the edge cloud of action. Next, the MEC management module 1005 instructs the processor 1001 to cause the processor 1001 to notify the user equipment of the host location of the at least one relay gateway in the action edge cloud. The detailed step procedure is also described in the foregoing embodiment, and thus no further description is provided herein.

In addition, another drawing will be used to further explain how the control platform 100 provided by the above embodiment communicates with the user equipment. Please refer to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a signal transmission diagram when the control platform of FIG. 6B communicates with the user equipment. It should be noted that the embodiment of FIG. 7 can be similarly executed in the network system 1 of FIG. 2, so please refer to FIG. 2 for understanding. The components in FIG. 7 that are the same as those in FIG. 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and thus the details thereof will not be described in detail.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 7, it is assumed that when the user equipment UE_1 receives the discovery message from the relay gateway GW_3, the user equipment UE_1 will report its location information to the control platform 100, so that the control platform 100 can determine the user. The device UE_1 has been added to the D2D trunk network 10. Then, when the user equipment UE_1 wants to obtain an application service, the user equipment UE_1 transmits a request message, and after the control platform 100 receives the request message from the user equipment UE_1, the MEC management module 1005 of the control platform 100 The processor 1001 is instructed, so that the processor 1001 selects at least one relay gateway GW_i from the relay gateways GW_1 GW GW_10 in the D2D relay network 10 as the user equipment UE_1 according to the request message of the user equipment UE_1. Action edge cloud CL_1.

For convenience of the following description, the present embodiment is described with only the example in which the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 are selected as the action edge cloud CL_1 of the user equipment UE_1, but it is not intended to limit the present invention. In addition, in order to facilitate the following description, the embodiment is described by using an example in which each of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 is configured to execute different proportions of application service programs, but it is not used. Limit the invention.

Therefore, when the MEC management module 1005 instructs the processor 1001 to determine that the application services are not present in each of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8, the dynamic loading module 1007 is used to indicate The processor 1001 causes the processor 1001 to load an application service into each of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8. Next, the MEC management module 1005 instructs the processor 1001 to cause the processor 1001 to notify the user equipment UE_1 of the host location of at least one of the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8.

Since the distance between the relay gateway GW_3 and the user equipment UE_1 in the action edge cloud CL_1 is the closest, the present embodiment only first informs the user equipment UE_1 of the host location of the relay gateway GW_3. The examples are for illustrative purposes, but are not intended to limit the invention.

Next, the user equipment UE_1 requests to execute the application service program by retransmitting the request message to the relay gateway GW_3 according to the received host location of the relay gateway GW_3. Therefore, the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 in the action edge cloud CL_1 start to execute the application service program according to the assigned ratio.

It is to be noted that, for convenience of the following description, the embodiment of FIG. 7 is described by way of example in which the relay gateway GW_3 executes an application service program. Finally, when the relay gateways GW_3, GW_6, and GW_8 have executed the application service program, the related response of the application service is again transmitted back to the relay gateway GW_3 in the action edge cloud CL_1. User equipment UE_1.

In summary, the control method, the network system, and the control platform for the action edge calculation provided by the embodiment of the present invention can eliminate the need for the user equipment to connect to the Internet through the core network, and can obtain the relevant response to the service. This greatly reduces the waiting and delay time of the service, and effectively reduces the load pressure on the core network equipment.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

Claims (20)

 A Mobile-Edge Computing (MEC) control method is implemented in a network system including a Device-to-Device (D2D) relay network (Relay Network) At least one user equipment (User Equipment, UE) and a control platform, the control method includes: causing the control platform to receive a request message from the user equipment, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program; The request message of the user equipment, the control platform selects at least one relay gateway from a plurality of relay gateways in the D2D relay network as an action edge cloud of the user equipment (Cloudlet) ) and execute the application service program through the action edge cloud.    The control method of claim 1, further comprising: causing the relay gateways in the D2D relay network to respectively issue a Discovery Message, and when the user equipment receives the The discovery message of one of the relay gateways causes the user equipment to report a location message to the control platform.    The control method of claim 1, wherein the control platform selects the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network The step of: determining whether the application service program exists in the D2D relay network; and when determining that the application service program exists in the D2D relay network, the control platform is based on the D2D relay network A service capability of each of the relay gateways selects the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment.    The control method of claim 3, wherein the control platform controls the relay gateways in the D2D relay network when it is determined that the application service program does not exist in the D2D relay network At least one of the core service network (Core Network) accesses the application service program, and re-executes the step of determining whether the application service program exists in the D2D relay network.    The control method of claim 3, wherein the service capability of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network is represented as a CPU remaining for each of the relay gateways Usage rate, a bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the trunk gateways, or a node distance value between each of the relay gateways and the user equipment.    The control method of claim 5, wherein the control platform is based on at least two of the CPU remaining usage rate, the bandwidth remaining usage rate, and the node distance value of each of the relay gateways. Determining a weighting equation, and calculating, by the weighting equation, a capability evaluation value of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network, and according to each of the relays in the D2D relay network The capability evaluation value of the gateway selects the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment.    The control method of claim 6, wherein the weighting equation is expressed as A*Wa+B*Wb+C*Wc=W, where W is each of the relays in the D2D relay network The capability evaluation value of the gateway, A is the CPU remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways, and B is the bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the relay gateways, and C is each The node distance value between the relay gateway and the user equipment, and Wa, Wb and Wc are respectively a CPU remaining usage weight, a bandwidth remaining usage weight, and a node distance value weight.    The control method of claim 6, wherein when the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud includes two or more, the control platform is based on each of the action edge clouds. The capability evaluation value of the gateway is performed to dispatch each of the relay gateways in the action edge cloud to execute different proportions of the application service program.    The control method of claim 4, wherein before the step of executing the application service program through the action edge cloud, the method further comprises: causing the control platform to determine whether the application service program exists in the action edge cloud; And when it is determined that the application service program exists in the action edge cloud, the control platform notifies the user equipment of the host location of the at least one relay gateway in the action edge cloud.    The control method of claim 9, wherein the control platform loads the application service program into the at least one of the action edge clouds when it is determined that the application service program does not exist in the action edge cloud Relay gateway.    An action edge computing network system, comprising: a D2D relay network; at least one user equipment; and a control platform receiving a request message from the user equipment, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program According to the request message of the user equipment, the control platform selects at least one relay gateway from a plurality of relay gateways in the D2D relay network as an action edge cloud of the user equipment, and transmits the The action edge cloud executes the application service program.    The network system of claim 11, wherein the control platform selects the at least one relay gateway from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network as the action edge of the user equipment The step of the cloud includes: determining whether the application service program exists in the D2D relay network; and when determining that the application service program exists in the D2D relay network, the control platform is according to the D2D relay network A service capability of each of the relay gateways selects the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment.    The network system of claim 12, wherein the service capability of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network is represented as a CPU of each of the relay gateways Remaining usage rate, a bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the trunk gateways, or a node distance value between each of the trunk gateways and the user equipment.    The network system of claim 12, wherein the control platform determines whether the application service program exists in the action edge cloud before executing the application service program through the action edge cloud, when determining the application service When the program exists in the action edge cloud, the control platform notifies the user equipment of the host location of the at least one relay gateway in the action edge cloud.    A control platform for action edge computing, comprising: a processor; and a storage unit configured to store a message processing module and an MEC management module; wherein the message processing module is configured to indicate that the processor receives a request message from the at least one user equipment, wherein the request message is used to request execution of an application service program, the MEC management module is configured to indicate the processor, according to the request message of the user equipment, from a D2D The plurality of relay gateways in the network select at least one relay gateway as an action edge cloud of the user equipment, and execute the application service program through the action edge cloud.    The control platform of claim 15, wherein the MEC management module is configured to instruct the processor to select the at least one relay gateway from the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. The step of the action edge cloud of the user equipment includes: determining whether the application service program exists in the D2D relay network; and when determining that the application service program exists in the D2D relay network, the MEC management The module is configured to instruct the processor to select the at least one relay gateway as the action edge cloud of the user equipment according to a service capability of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network. .    The control platform of claim 16, wherein when determining that the application service program does not exist in the D2D relay network, the MEC management module is configured to instruct the processor to control the D2D relay network. At least one of the relay gateways accesses the application service program through a core network, and re-executes the step of determining whether the application service program exists in the D2D relay network.    The control platform of claim 16, wherein the service capability of each of the relay gateways in the D2D relay network is represented as a CPU remaining for each of the relay gateways. Usage rate, a bandwidth remaining usage rate of each of the trunk gateways, or a node distance value between each of the relay gateways and the user equipment.    The control platform of claim 17, wherein the MEC management module is further configured to instruct the processor to determine whether the application service program exists on the edge of the action before executing the application service program through the action edge cloud. In the cloud, when it is determined that the application service program exists in the action edge cloud, the MEC management module is configured to instruct the processor to notify the host location of the at least one relay gateway in the action edge cloud. Give the user device.    The control platform of claim 19, wherein the storage unit is further configured to have a dynamic loading module, and when the application server is determined not to exist in the action edge cloud, the dynamic loading module Then, the processor is instructed to load the application service program into the at least one relay gateway in the action edge cloud.