WO2018031057A1 - Device and method for managing virtualized ran - Google Patents

Abstract

Devices and methods of providing a virtualized RAN are generally described. An NFVO onboards a VNF package in a network that implements a NFVI to implement NFV and indicates the onboarding to a NM. The NM requests that an EM creates a VNF MO for a VNF and a PNF MO for a PNF. The EM requests that a VNFM instantiate the VNF before creating the VNF MO. After creation of the VNF and PNF MO, at the request of the NM, the EM associates the VNF with the PNF to form the RAN.

Description

DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MANAGING VIRTUALIZED RAN

PRIORITY CLAIM

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority to United States

Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 62/374,200, filed August 12, 2016, and entitled "MANAGING THE VIRTUALIZED RAN," which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] Embodiments pertain to radio access networks. Some embodiments relate to Network Function Virtualization (NFV) in cellular networks, including Third Generation Partnership Project Long Term Evolution (3GPP LTE) networks and LTE advanced (LTE-A) networks as well as 4^th generation (4G) networks and 5^th generation (5G) networks. Some embodiments relate to management of NFV to support network virtualization.

BACKGROUND

[0003] The use of 3 GPP LTE systems (including LTE and LTE-

Advanced systems) has increased due to both an increase in the types of devices user equipment (UEs) using network resources as well as the amount of data and bandwidth being used by various applications, such as video streaming, operating on these UEs. As a result, 3GPP LTE systems continue to develop, with the next generation wireless communication system, 5G, to improve access to information and data sharing. 5G looks to provide a unified network/system that is able to meet vastly different and sometime conflicting performance dimensions and services driven by disparate services and applications while maintaining compatibility with legacy UEs and applications.

[0004] With the vast increase in number and diversity of communication devices, the corresponding radio access network (RAN) nodes used to provide connectivity, including routers, switches, bridges, gateways, firewalls, and load balancers, has become increasingly complicated. To add complexity to the variety of services provided by the network devices, many network mfrastructures are based on vertical implementations that may be unable to scale to incorporate new or adjusted physical components to compensate for different network conditions. This has led to the development of NFV, which may provide a virtualized environment able to provide any network function or service able to be delivered on proprietary, application specific hardware as software applications called Virtual Network Functions (VNFs). The use of NFV may provide flexibility in configuring network elements, enabling dynamic network optimization and quicker adaptation of new technologies. However, RAN nodes are typically unable to be completely virtualized due to the radio and analog hardware components used for wireless communication. Management of a functional split of a RAN node to support NFV is thus of increasing interest in building next generation networks.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0005] In the figures, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numerals may describe similar components in different views. Like numerals having different Setter suffixes may represent different instances of similar components. The figures illustrate generally, by way of example, but not by way of limitation, various embodiments discussed in the present document.

[0006] FIG. 1A is a diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. IB is a simplified diagram of a next generation wireless network in accordance with some embodiments; FIG. IC is a simplified diagram of a next generation wireless network with functional split in accordance with some embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 2 illustrates components of a communication device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0008] FIG. 3 illu strates a block diagram of a communication device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 4 illustrates another block diagram of a communication device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 5 illustrates a NFV network management architecture in accordance with some embodiments. [0011 J FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of network function creation in accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0012] The following description and the drawings sufficiently illustrate specific embodiments to enable those skilled in the art to practice them.. Other embodiments may incorporate structural, logical, electrical, process, and other changes. Portions and features of some embodiments may be included in, or substituted for, those of other embodiments. Embodiments set forth in the claims encompass all available equivalents of those claims.

[0013] FIG. 1A is a diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments. In particular, FIG. 1A shows an example of a portion of an end-to-end network architecture of a 3GPP network with vari ous components of the network in accordance with some embodiments. At least some of the network devices with which the UEs 102 are connected and that provide network functionality, such as the gateways and other servers, may be provided as part of a NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) rather than using physical hardware components, as described herein. In some embodiments. As used herein, an LTE network refers to both LTE and LTE Advanced (LTE-A) networks as well as other versions of LTE networks to be developed. The network 100 may comprise a radio access network (RAN) (e.g., as depicted, the E-UTRAN or evolved universal terrestrial radio access network) 101 and core network 120 (e.g., shown as an evolved packet core (EPC)) coupled together through an S 1 interface 115. For convenience and brevity, only a portion of the core network 120, as well as the RAN 101, is shown in the example.

[0014] The core network 120 may include a mobility management entity

(MME) 122, sening gateway (serving GW) 124, and packet data, network gateway (PDN GW) 126, or other entities as defined in the next generation Core Networks. The RAN 101 may include base stations (BSs), which may be evolved node Bs (eNBs) in LTE or gNBs in 5G networks 104. The BSs 104 may be used to communicate with user equipment (UE) 102, whether next generation (5G) or earlier generations (e.g., LTE, 4G). The BSs 104 may include macro BSs 104a and low power (LP) BSs 104b. The BSs 104 and UEs 102 may employ the techniques as described herein.

[0015] The MME 122 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving GPRS Support Nodes (SGSN). The MME 122 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The serving GW 124 may terminate the interface toward the RAN 101 , and route data packets between the RAN 101 and the core network 120. In addition, the serving GW 124 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-BS handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The serving GW 124 and the MME 122 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes.

[0016] The PDN GW 126 may terminate a SGi interface toward the packet data network (PDN). The PDN GW 126 may route data packets between the EPC 120 and the external PDN, and may perform policy enforcement and charging data collection. The PDN GW 126 may also provide an anchor point for mobility devices with non-LTE access. The external PDN can be any kind of IP network, as well as an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) domain. The PDN GW 126 and the serving GW 124 may be implemented in a single physical node or separate physical nodes.

[0017] The BSs 104 (macro and micro) may terminate the air interface protocol and may be the first point of contact for a UE 102. In some embodiments, an BS 104 may fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 101 including, but not limited to, RNC (radio network controller functions) such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. In accordance with embodiments, UEs 102 may be configured to communicate orthogonal frequency division multiplexed (OFDM) communication signals with an BS 104 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with an OFDMA communication technique. The OFDM signals may comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. [0018J The SI interface 115 may be the interface that separates the RAN

101 and the EPC 120, It may be split into two parts: the S l-U, which may cany traffic data between the BSs 104 and the serving GW 124, and the S I -MME, which may be a signaling interface between the BSs 104 and the MME 122. The X2 interface may be the interface between BSs 104. The X2 interface may comprise two parts, the X2-C and X2-U. The X2-C may be the control plane interface between the BSs 104, while the X2-U may be the user plane interface between the BSs 104.

[0019] With cellular networks, LP cells 104b may be typically used to extend coverage to indoor areas where outdoor signals do not reach well, or to add network capacity in areas with dense usage. In particular, it may be desirable to enhance the coverage of a wireless communication system using cells of different sizes, macrocells, microcells, picocells, and femtocells, to boost system performance. The cells of different sizes may operate on the same frequency band, or may operate on different frequency bands with each cell operating in a different frequency band or only cells of different sizes operating on different frequency bands. As used herein, the term LP BS refers to any suitable relatively LP BS for implementing a smaller cell (smaller than a macro cell) such as a femtocell, a picoceil, or a microcell. Femtocell BSs may be typically provided by a mobile network operator to its residential or enterprise customers. A femtocell may be typically the size of a residential gateway or smaller and generally connect to a broadband line. The femtocell may connect to the mobile operator's mobile network and provide extra coverage in a range of typically 30 to 50 meters. Thus, a LP BS 104b might be a femtocell BS since it is coupled through the PDN GW 126. Similarly, a picoceil may be a wireless communication system typically covering a small area, such as in-building (offices, shopping malls, train stations, etc.), or more recently in-aircraft, A picoceil BS may generally connect through the X2 link to another BS such as a macro BS through its base station controller (BSC) functionality. Thus, LP BS may be implemented with a picoceil BS since it may be coupled to a macro BS 104a via an X2 interface. Picoceil BSs or other LP BSs LP BS 104b may incorporate some or all functionality of a macro BS LP BS 104a. In some cases, this may be referred to as an access point base station or enterprise femtocell [0020] The core network 120 may also contain a Policy and Charging

Rules Function (PCRF) (not shown) and a Home location register (HLR) (not shown). The PCRF may determine policy rales in the network core and accesses subscriber databases and other specialized functions, such as a charging system, in a centralized manner. The PCRF may aggregate information to and from the network, OSSs, and other sources, making policy decisions for each network subscriber active. The HLR is a central database that contains details of each subscriber that is authorized to use the core network 120.

[0021] FIG. IB is a simplified diagram of a next generation wireless network in accordance with some embodiments. The wireless network may be similar to that shown in FIG. 1 A but may contain virtual components as well as physical components, and thus is not limited to the functionality provided by a single vendor. The wireless network may contain, among other elements not shown, a RAN 101, a core network 120 and the internet 130 that connects the core network 120 with other core networks 120. In some embodiments, the RAN 101 and core network 120 may be a next generation (5G) 3GPP RAN and 5G core network, respectively. The RAN 101 may include an upper layer of a gNB (also referred to as a new radio (NR.) base station (BS) (ULNRBS)) 108A and multiple lower layers of different gNBs (NR BS (LLNRBS)) 106. The LLNRBSs 106 can be connected to the ULNRBS 108A via a Z interface. The Z interface can be open or proprietary. If the Z interface is proprietary, then the ULNRBS 108A and the LLNRBS 106 may be provided by the same vendor. The LLNRBS 106 can be connected by a Y interface, which may be equivalent to the LTE X2 interface. As above, the ULNRBS 108A may be connected to the core network 120 through the S I interface.

[0022] FIG. 1C is a simplified diagram of a next generation wireless network with functional split in accordance with some embodiments. The wireless network may be similar to that shown in FIGS. 1A and IB, except that network slicing by a single LLNRBS 106. This is to say that as shown, multiple ULNRBS 108A, 108B are connected to the LLNRBS 106, The functional split of the next generation RAN 101 (which in this case may be a single base station 104) may divide a base station into 9 functional blocks - Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Media Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical layer (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF). 8 options may be created to assign the 9 functional blocks into a central unit (ULNRBS) and a distributed unit (LLNRBS). The options are shown in Table 1 , below. Any of the options shown may be standardized in the 5G standard.

Table 1

[0023] The above table shows that the RRC functional block may remain in the centralized ULNRBS 108A, while the RF functional block may remain in the distributed unit LLNRBS 106 in all 8 options. The RF functionality, however, uses physical components for transmission of signals to the UEs in the network. Thus, as the RF functionality is limited to the LLNRBS 106, the LLNRBS 106 is unable to take advantage of virtualization; only the ULNRBS 108A is able to be virtualized. Table 1 shows options in which only the RRC is virtualized to all functionality other than RF is able to be virtualized in the

ULNRBS 108A. If a ULNRBS 108A implements a function shared by multiple LLNRBS 106, then the ULNRBS 108A can be connected to multiple LLNRBS 106. [0024J In some embodiments, the functionality split may be static within the architecture, for example, due to the physical components within the base station. In other embodiments, the functionality split may not be fixed, in which case one or more of the RAN network functions (e.g. PDCP and RLC) may be moved between the central unit ULNRBS 108A and the distributed unit(s) LLNRBS 106. For example, a base station may choose to implement option 3, while another base station may choose to implement option 5.

[0025J A NR architecture with the flexibility to split and move functions between central and distributed units may allow scalable, cost effective solutions to be produced. The split architecture may also permit coordination for performance features, load management, real-time performance optimization, and enable NFV/SDN . A configurable functional splits may also enable adaptation to various use cases, such as variable latency on transport of communications through the network. In some embodiments, when a flexible function split between the central and distributed units is used, a Configuration Management (CM) may be used to configure the ULNRBS and LLNRBS, as described in more detail below. The CM may then be queried by the core network to learn which option is used in the functional split.

[0026] As shown in FIG. 1C, the LLNRBS 106 may be connected to multiple ULNRBS 108A, 108B that are designed to support various use cases. At least some of these use cases are described in 3GPP TR 38.801. In one scenario, the LLNRBS 106 may support functions such as the PHY and RF functions that are shared by multiple ULNRBS 108A, I08B (options 1-7 in Table 1). This scenario may be used for network slicing, as the technique may be used to allow a network slice to implement a subset of all other upper layer functions for an ULNRBS 108A, I08B, while another network slice may implement other upper layer functions or even additional new functions specific to the particular network slice. For example, network slicing may be used to slice among 4G and 5G network operations, for Internet of Things (IoT) UEs and normal UEs (such as cell phones), high and low mobility and/or latency UEs, etc... depending on the network operations associated with the different UEs. Each ULNRBS 108A, 108B may employ a different option provided in Table 1. Thus, a ULNRBS may be created and specifically tailored for a given service. In addition to RAN network functions, such as PDCP, RRC, etc, the virtualized architecture for the base station may support application network functions running in the ULNRBS. Examples of such network functions includes Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) and cloud-based implementations.

[0027] Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 2 illustrates components of a UE in accordance with some embodiments. At least some of the components shown m ay be used in the UE 102 (or eNB 104) shown in FIG. 1, although referred to herein merely as being UE-based for

convenience. The UE 200 and other components may be configured to use the synchronization signals as described herein. The UE 200 may be one of the UEs 102 shown in FIG. 1 and may be a stationary, non-mobile device or may be a mobile device. In some embodiments, the UE 200 may include application circuitry 202, baseband circuitry 204, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 206, front- end module (FEM) circuitry 208 and one or more antennas 210, coupled together at least as shown. At least some of the baseband circuitry 204, RF circuitry 206, and FEM circuitry 208 may form a transceiver. In some embodiments, other network elements, such as the eNB may contain some or all of the components shown in FIG. 2. Other of the network elements, such as the MME, may contain an interface, such as the SI interface, to communicate with the eNB over a wired connection regarding the UE. Thus, as shown in FIGS. IB and IC, one or more of the base stations in the RAN 101 may thus be implemented by both physical and virtual network components.

[0028] The application or processing circuitry 202 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 202 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi- core processors. The processors) may include any combination of general- purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory /storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to ran on the system.

[0029] The baseband circuitry 204 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 204 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from, a receive signal, path of the RF circuitry 206 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 206. Baseband processing circuity 204 may interface with the application circuitry 202 for generation, and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 206. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 204 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 204a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 204b, fourtli generation (4G) baseband processor 204c, and/or other baseband processor(s) 204d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 5G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 204 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 204a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 206. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation,

encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include FFT, preceding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 204 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0030] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 204 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRA ) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 204e of the baseband circuitry 204 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and'or RRC layers. As described above, at least some of these layers, such as the RL C, PHY and MAC layers may be divided into high and low layers in next generation (5G) systems. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 204f. The audio DSP(s) 204f may be include elements for compression/ decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or ail of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 204 and the application circuitry- 202 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0031 J In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 204 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 204 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 204 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. In some embodiments, the device can be configured to operate in accordance with communication standards or other protocols or standards, including Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 wireless technology (WiMax), IEEE 802.11 wireless technology (WiFi) including IEEE 802.1 1 ad, which operates in the 60 GHz millimeter wave spectrum, various other wireless technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN), universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS), UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN), or other 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc. technologies either already developed or to be developed.

[0032] RF circuitry 206 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 206 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 206 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 208 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 204. RF circuitry 206 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 204 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 208 for transmission.

[0033] In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 206 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 206 may include mixer circuitry 206a, amplifier circuitry 206b and filter circuitry 206c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 206 may include filter circuitry 206c and mixer circuitry 206a. RF circuitry 206 may also include synthesizer circuitry 2()6d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 208 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 206d. The amplifier circuitry 206b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 206c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 204 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. [00341 In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 206d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 208. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 204 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 206c. The filter circuitry 206c may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[00351 In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 206a of the transmit sign al path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downcon version and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 206a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 206a may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 206a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 206a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0036] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog base band signals, although the scope of the 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, the RF circuitry 206 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 204 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 206.

[0037] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0038] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 206d may be a fractional -N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+l synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 206d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0039] The synthesizer circuitry 206d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 206a of the RF circuitry 206 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 206d may be a fractional N/N+l synthesizer.

[0040J In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator ( CO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 204 or the applications processor 202 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a lookup table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 202.

[0041] Synthesizer circuitry 206d of the RF circuitry 206 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+ l (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, 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 the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0042] In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 206d may be configured to generate a earner frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the earner frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (flo). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 206 may include an IQ/polar converter,

[0043] FEM circuitry 208 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 210, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 206 for further processing. FEM circuitry 208 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 206 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 2 0.

[0044] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 208 may include a

TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 206). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 208 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 206), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 210.

[0045] In some embodiments, the UE 200 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/or input/output (I/O) interface as described in more detail below. In some embodiments, the UE 200 described herein may be part of a portable wireless communication device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a laptop or portable computer with wireless communication capability, a web tablet, a wireless telephone, a smartphone, a wireless headset, a pager, an instant messaging device, a digital camera, an access point, a television, a medical device (e.g., a heart rate monitor, a blood pressure monitor, etc.), or other device that may receive and/or transmit information wireiessly. In some embodiments, the UE 200 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. For example, the UE 200 may include one or more of a keyboard, a keypad, a touchpad, a display, a sensor, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, one or more antennas, a graphics processor, an application processor, a speaker, a microphone, and other I/O components. Hie display may be an LCD or LED screen including a touch screen. The sensor may include a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

[0046] The antennas 210 may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) embodiments, the antennas 210 may be effectively- separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

[0047] Although the UE 200 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements may be combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including digital signal processors (DSPs), and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more microprocessors, DSPs, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), radio-frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) and combination s of various hardware and logic circuity for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements.

Θ048] Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware and software. Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein. A computer-readable storage device may include any non -transitory mechanism for storing information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, a computer-readable storage device may include readonly memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash-memory devices, and other storage devices and media. Some embodiments may include one or more processors and may be configured with instructions stored on a computer-readable storage device. Θ049] FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a communication device in accordance with some embodiments. The device may be a UE or eNB, for example, such as the UE 102 or eNB 104 shown in FIG. 1 that may be configured to track the UE as described herein. The physical layer circuitry 302 may perform various encoding and decoding functions that may include formation of baseband signals for transmission and decoding of received signals. The communication device 300 may also include medium access control layer (MAC) circuitry 304 for controlling access to the wireless medium. The communication device 300 may also include processing circuitry 306, such as one or more single-core or multi-core processors, and memory 308 arranged to perform the operations described herein. The physical layer circuitry 302, MAC circuitry 304 and processing circuitry 306 may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks compatible with one or more radio technologies. The radio control functions may include signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. For example, similar to the device shown in FIG. 2, in some embodiments, communication may be enabled with one or more of a WMAN, a VVLAN, and a WPAN. In some embodiments, the communication device 300 can be configured to operate in accordance with 3GPP standards or other protocols or standards, including WiMax, WiFi, WiGig, GSM, EDGE, GERAN, UMTS, UTRAN, or other 3G, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc. technologies either already developed or to be developed. The communication device 300 may include transceiver circuitry 312 to enable communication with other external devices wirelessiy and interfaces 314 to enable wired communication with other external devices. As another example, the transceiver circuitry 312 may perform various transmission and reception functions such as conversion of signals between a baseband range and a Radio Frequency (RF) range.

[0050] The antennas 301 may comprise one or more directional or omnidirectional antennas, including, for example, dipole antennas, monopole antennas, patch antennas, loop antennas, microstrip antennas or other types of antennas suitable for transmission of RF signals. In some MIMO embodiments, the antennas 301 may be effectively separated to take advantage of spatial diversity and the different channel characteristics that may result.

[0051] Although the communication device 300 is illustrated as having several separate functional elements, one or more of the functional elements maybe combined and may be implemented by combinations of software-configured elements, such as processing elements including DSPs, and/or other hardware elements. For example, some elements may comprise one or more

microprocessors, DSPs, FPGAs, ASICs, RFICs and combinations of various hardware and logic circuitry for performing at least the functions described herein. In some embodiments, the functional elements may refer to one or more processes operating on one or more processing elements. Embodiments may be implemented in one or a combination of hardware, firmware and software.

Embodiments may also be implemented as instructions stored on a computer- readable storage device, which may be read and executed by at least one processor to perform the operations described herein.

[0052] FIG. 4 illustrates another block diagram of a communication device in accordance with some embodiments. In alternative embodiments, the communication device 400 may operate as a standalone device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to oilier communication devices. In a networked deployment, the communication device 400 may operate in the capacity of a server communication device, a client communication device, or both in server- client network environments. In an example, the communication device 400 may act as a peer communication device in peer-to-peer (P2P) (or other distributed) network environment. The communication de vice 400 may be a UE, eNB, PC, a tablet PC, a STB, a PDA, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any communication device capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that communication device. Further, while only a single communication device is illustrated, the term "communication device" shall also be taken to include any collection of communication devices that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, such as cloud computing, software as a sen/ice (SaaS), other computer cluster configurations.

[00S3J Examples, as described herein, may include, or may operate on, logic or a number of components, modules, or mechanisms. Modules are tangible entities (e.g., hardware) capable of performing specified operations and may be configured or arranged in a certain manner. In an example, circuits may be arranged (e.g., internally or with respect to external entities such as other circuits) in a specified manner as a module. In an example, the whole or part of one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone, client or server computer system) or one or more hardware processors may be configured by firmware or software (e.g., instructions, an application portion, or an application) as a module that operates to perform specified operations. In an example, the software may reside on a communication device readable medium. In an example, the software, when executed by the underlying hardware of the module, causes the hardware to perform the specified operations.

Θ054] Accordingly, the term "module" is understood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that is physically constructed, specifically configured (e.g., hardwired), or temporarily (e.g., transitorily) configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a specified manner or to perform part or all of any operation described herein. Considering examples in which modules are temporarily configured, each of the modules need not be instantiated at any one moment in time. For example, where the modules comprise a general-purpose hardware processor configured using software, the general-purpose hardware processor may be configured as respective different modules at different times. Software may accordingly configure a hardware processor, for example, to constitute a particular module at one instance of time and to constitute a different module at a different instance of time. [00S5J Communication device (e.g., computer system) 400 may include a hardware processor 402 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a hardware processor core, or any combination thereof), a main memory 404 and a static memory 406, some or all of which may communicate with each other via an interlink (e.g., bus) 408. The

communication device 400 may further include a display unit 410, an alphanumeric input device 4 2 (e.g., a keyboard), and a user interface (UI) navigation device 414 (e.g., a mouse). In an example, the display unit 410, input device 412 and UI navigation device 414 may be a touch screen display. The communication device 400 may additionally include a storage device (e.g., drive unit) 416, a signal generation device 418 (e.g., a speaker), a network interface device 420, and one or more sensors 421, such as a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, compass, accelerometer, or other sensor. The communication device 400 may include an output controller 428, such as a serial (e.g., universal serial bus (USB), parallel, or other wired or wireless (e.g., infrared (IR), near field communication (NFC), etc.) connection to communicate or control one or more peripheral devices (e.g., a printer, card reader, etc.).

[0056] The storage device 416 may include a communication device readable medium 422 on which is stored one or more sets of data structures or instructions 424 (e.g., software) embodying or utilized by any one or more of the techniques or functions described herein. The instructions 424 may also reside, completely or at least partially, within the main memory 404, within static memory 406, or within the hardware processor 402 during execution thereof by the communication device 400. In an example, one or any combination of the hardware processor 402, the main memory 404, the static memory 406, or the storage device 416 may constitute communication device readable media.

[0057] While the communication device readable medium 422 is illustrated as a single medium, the term "communication device readable medium" may include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers) configured to store the one or more instructions 424. [00S8J The term "communication device readable medium" may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by the communication device 400 and that cause the communication device 400 to perform any one or more of the techniques of the present disclosure, or that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying data structures used by or associated with such instructions. Non-limiting communication device readable medium examples may include solid-state memories, and optical and magnetic media. Specific examples of communication device readable media may include: non-volatile memory, such as semiconductor memory devices (e.g., Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM)) and flash memory devices: magnetic disks, such as internal hard disks and removable disks:

magneto-optical disks; Random Access Memory (RAM); and CD-ROM and DVD-RDM disks. In some examples, communication device readable media may include non-transitory communication device readable media. In some examples, communication device readable media may include communication device readable media that is not a transitory propagating signal.

[0059] The instructions 424 may further be transmitted or received over a communications network 426 using a transmission medium via the network interface device 420 utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.). Example communication networks may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks). Plain Old Telephone (POTS) networks, and wireless data networks (e.g., Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.1 1 family of standards known as Wi-Fi®, IEEE 802.16 family of standards known as WiMax®), IEEE 802.15.4 family of standards, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) family of standards, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ( UMTS) family of standards, peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, among others. In an example, the network interface device 420 may include one or more physical jacks (e.g., Ethernet, coaxial, or phone jacks) or one or more antennas to connect to the communications network 426. In an example, the network interface device 420 may include a plurality of antennas to wirelessly communicate using at least one of single-input multiple-output (SIMO), MIMO, or multiple-input single-output (MISO) techniques. In some examples, the network interface device 420 may wirelessly communicate using Multiple User MIMO techniques. The term "transm ssion medium" shall be taken to include any intangible medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying instructions for execution by the communication device 400, and includes digital or analog communications signals or other intangible medium to facilitate communication of such software.

006Θ] The network and components shown in FIGS. 1-4 may be implemented in hardware or software or a combination thereof. In particular, as discussed above, the network may be wholly or partially implemented using network virtual ization. Network virtualization has started to be used in various types of network elements in the core networks, which are running servers in the data centers. Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) are software implementations of network functions such as the MME, HLR, SGW, PGW or PCRF, or higher or lower layer functions. VNFs can be deployed on a Network Function Virtualization (NFV) infrastructure (NFVI), which may include both hardware and software components of the network environment. NFV may thus virtualize separate network node functions into connected blocks that create

communication sen/ices and exhibit public land mobile network (PLMN)-system behavior. Unlike conventional network hardware layouts in which a server may- ran a single instance of an operating system on physical hardware resources (e.g., CPU, RAM), the network operator may deploy VNFs on the NFVI to provide enhanced flexibility for network resource utilization, among others. This may allow actual resources may be dynamically allocated, updated, and deallocated based on the functionality desired. To this end, the hardware may- support virtual machines (VMs) having multiple operating systems and individualized amounts and types of virtualized resources.

[0061] The NFVI may, as other equipment, have a life cycle that includes creation, modification and deletion. NFV life cycle management may enable operators to instantiate or terminate VNFs on the fly according to demand. This may accordingly provide a great deal of flexibility in modification of the network to scale network capacity. In legacy 3GPP systems, an

Integration Reference Point (IRP) may be used as a standard for an Operations Support Systems (OSS) client (referred to as an I P Manager) to refer and access IRP Agents in various instantiations, such as an Element Manager (EM) or Network Manager (NM). The IRP Manager may manage the networks via CM functions - Create, Delete, and Modify operations. The CM functions may enable the IRP Manager to create, delete, or modify' an Information Object Class (IOC) representing various behaviors or functions of the network elements. However, there is no native command in the IRP to enable the NM to instantiate or terminate a VNF. Instead, legacy create, delete or modify functions may be reused to respectively instantiate, terminate or update the VNF in order to support VNF lifecycle management functions. The legacy Network Resource Model (NRM) already defmed in the 3GPP standard may be reused to minimize the impact to legacy systems, and may also be used in the NFV work item.

[0062] FIG. 5 illustrates a NFV network management architecture in accordance with some embodiments. The 3GPP NFV network management architecture 500 shown in FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of the manner in which a flexible split between VNF and physical components can be obtained and NVF life cycle management can be supported by the 3GPP management system. As illustrated, the NFV network management architecture 500 may include a number of elements (each of which may contain physical and/or virtualized components), including a Network Virtualization Function

Infrastructure (NVFI) 510, Network Elements (NEs) 590, NRs 594, VNFs 520, a Domain Manager (DM) 530, an Element Manager (EM) 532, a Network Manager (NM) 542, and a NFV Management and Orchestration (NFV-MANO) 580, The NFV-MANO 580 may comprise a Virtualized Infrastructure Manager (VIM) 540, a VNF Manager (VNFM) 550, and a Network Function

Virtualization Orchestrator (NFVO) 560. The NM 542 may be contained in an Operations Support System/Business Support System (OSS/BSS) 520, with the DM 530 and NM 542 forming the 3GPP management system 514. [0063J The NFV network management architecture 500 may be implemented by, for example, a data center comprising one or more servers in the cloud. The NFV network management architecture 500, in some embodiments, may include one or more physical devices and/or one or more applications hosted on a distributed computing platform, a cloud computing platform, a centralized hardw are system, a server, a computing device, and/or an external network-to-network interface device, among others, in some cases, the virtualized resource performance measurement may include, for example, latency, j itter, bandwidth, packet loss, nodal connectivity, compute, network, and/or storage resources, accounting, fault and/or security measurements. The elements of the NFV network management architecture 500 may thus be contained in one or more of the devices shown in FIGS. 1-4 or other devices. In particular, the NEs 590 may comprise physical network functions (PNF) including both hardware such as processors, antennas, amplifiers, transmit and receive chains, as well as limited software. The NRs 594 may be similar to the NEs 590, which may 4G/LTE based, but may instead be directed to 5G and other, later technologies. Thus, the NEs 590 and NRs 594 may be essentially hardware-implemented, while the VNFs 520 may be essentially software- implemented. The VNFs 520 may be instantiated in one or more servers. In some embodiments, each of the VNFs 520, DM 530 and the NEs 590, NRs 594 may be managed by an EM 522, 532, 592. In some embodiments, NEs 590, NRs 594 connected with the NM 542 may be managed by an EM 592, while NEs 590, NRs 594 connected with DM 530 may not contain a NM and instead may be serviced by the NM 532 in the DM 530.

[0064] The NFV Management and Orchestration (NFV-MANO) 580 may manage the NFVI 510. The NFV-MANO 580 may orchestrate the instantiation of network services, and the allocation of resources used by the VNFs 520. The NFV-MANO 580 may, along with the OSS/BSS 540, be used by external entities to deliver various NFV business benefits. The OSS/BSS 540 may include the collection of systems and management applications that a service provider (such as a telephone operator or telecommunications company) use to operate their business: management of customers, ordering, products and revenues - for example, payment or account transactions, as well as

telecommunications network components and supporting processes including network component configuration, network sendee provisioning and fault handling. The NFV-MANO 580 may create or terminate a VNF 520, increase or decrease the VNF capacity, or update or upgrade software and/or configuration of a VNF. The NFV-MANO 580 may include a Virtuahzed infrastructure Manager (VIM) 570, a VNF Manager (VNFM) 550 and a NFV Orchestrator (NFVO) 560. The NFV-MANO 580 may have access to various data repositories including network services, VNFs available, NFV instances and NFVI resources with which to determine resource allocation.

[0065] The VIM 570 may control and manage the NFVI resources via

Nf-Vi reference points within the infrastructure sub-domain. The VIM 570 may further collect and forward performance measurements and events to the VNFM 550 via Vi-VNFM and to the NFVO 560 via Or-Vi reference points. The NFVO 560 may be responsible for managing new VNFs and other network services, including lifecycle management of different network services, which may include VNF instances, global resource management, validation and

authorization of NFVI resource requests and policy management for various network sendees. The NFVO 560 may coordinate VNFs 520 (whether NR

VNFs or LTE VNFs) as part of network services that jointly realize a more complex function, including joint instantiation and configuration, configuring required connections between different VNFs 520, and managing dynamic changes of the configuration. The NFVO 560 may provide this orchestration through an OS-Ma-NFVO reference point with the NM 542. The VNFM 550 may orchestrate NFVI resources via the VIM 570 and provide overall coordination and adaptation for configuration and event reporting between the VIM 520 and the EMs and NMs. The former may involve discovering available services, managing virtuahzed resource availability/allocation/release and providing virtuahzed resource fault/performance management. Hie latter may involve lifecycle management that may include instantiating a VNF, scaling and updating the VNF instances, and terminating the network service, releasing the NFVI resources for the service to the NFVI resource pool to be used by other services.

[0066] The VNFM 550 may be responsible for the lifecycle management of the VNFs 520 via the Ve-VNFM-VNF reference point and may interface to EMs 522, 532 through the Ve-VNFM— EM reference point. The VNFM 550 may be assigned the management of a single VNF 520, or the management of multiple VNFs 520 of the same type or of different types. Thus, although only- one VNFM 550 is shown in FIG. 5, different VNFMs 550 may be associated with the different VNFs 520 for performance measurement and other responsibilities. The VNFM 550 may provide a number of VNF functionalities, including instantiation (and configuration if required by the VNF deployment template), software update/upgrade, modification, scaling out/in and up/down, collection of NFVI performance measurement results and faults/events information and correlation to VNF instance-related events/faults, healing, termination, lifecycle management change notification, integrity management, and event reporting.

[0067] The VIM 570 may be responsible for controlling and managing the NFVI compute, storage and network resources, usually within one operator's Infrastructure Domain. The VIM 570 may be specialized in handling a certain type of NFVI resource (e.g. compute-only, storage-only, networking -only), or may be capable of managing multiple types of NFVI resources. The VIM 570 may, among others, orchestrate the allocation/upgrade/release/reclamation of NFVI resources (including the optimization of such resources usage) and manage the association of the virtuaiized resources to the physical compute, storage, networking resources, and manage repository inventory-related information of NFVI hardware resources (compute, storage, networking) and software resources (e.g. hypervisors), and discovery of the capabilities and features (e.g. related to usage optimization) of such resources.

[0068] Hie NVFI 510 may itself contain various virtuaiized and non- virtualized resources. These may include a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) that may provide computational abilities (CPU), one or more memories that may provide storage at either block or file-system level and one or more networking elements that may include networks, subnets, ports, addresses, links and forwarding rules to ensure intra- and inter- VNF connectivity,

[0069] Each VNF 520 may provide a network function that is decoupled from infrastructure resources (computational resources, networking resources, memory) used to provide the network function. Although not shown, the VNFs 520 can be chained with other VNFs 520 and/or other physical network function to realize a network service. The virtualized resources may provide the VNFs 520 with desired resources, whether LTE, 4G or 5G, for example. Resource allocation in the NFVI 510 may simultaneously meet numerous requirements and constraints, such as low latency or high bandwidth links to other communication endpoints.

[0070] The VNFs 520, like the NEs 590 may be managed by one or more

EMs 522, 532, 592, which may be local to the VNF 520 or within another element. The EM may provide functions for management of virtual or physical network elements, depending on the instantiation. The EM may manage individual network elements and network elements of a sub-network, which may include relations between the network elements. For example, the EM 522 of a VNF 520 may be responsible for configuration for the network functions provided by a VNF 520, fault management for the network functions provided by the VNF 520, accounting for the usage of VNF functions, and col lecting performance measurement results for the functions provided by the VNF 520.

[0071] The EMs 522, 532, 592 (whether in a VNF 520 or NE 590/NR

594) may be managed by the NM 542 of the OSS BSS 540 through Itf-N reference points. The NM 542 may provide functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, mainly as supported by the EM 532 but may also involve direct access to the network elements. The NM 542 may connect and disconnect VNF external interfaces to physical network function interfaces at the request of the NFVO 560,

[0072] As above, the various components of the system may be connected through different reference points. The references points between the NFV-MANO 580 and the functional blocks of the system may include an Os- Ma-NFVO between the NM 542 and NFVO 560, a Ve-VNFM-EM between the EM 522, 532 and the VNFM 550, a Ve - VNFM- VN F between a VNF 520 and the VNFM 550, a Nf-Vi between the NFVI 510 and the VIM 570, an Or- VNFM between the NFVO 560 and the VNFM 550, an Or-Vi between the NFVO 560 and the VIM 570, and a Vi-VNFM between the VIM 570 and the VNFM 550. An Or-Vi interface may implement the VNF software image management interface and interfaces for the management of virtualized resources, their catalogue, performance and failure on the Or-Vi reference point. An Or-Vnfm interface may implement a virtualized resource management interface on the Or- Vnfm reference point. A Ve-Vnfm interface may implement a virtualized resource performance/fault management on the Ve-Vnfm reference point.

[0073] In reference to FIGS. IB and 1C, the central unit - ULNRBS and the core network functions (e.g. MME, SGW, PGW) can be implemented as the NR VNF and CN VNF 520, respectively, in the cloud. The distributed unit - LLNRBS may be implemented as the NR PNF 594 in physical hardware.

[0074] FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of network function creation in accordance with some embodiments. In particular, FIG. 6 illustrates a procedure of NR VNF and NR PNF creation. The creation may be implemented by any of the implementations shown in FIGS 1-5. In some embodiments, one or more of the operations shown in FIG. 6 may be eliminated or combined with other operations. Other operations that may occur in the system, may not be provided for simplicity. Although shown as occurring immediately after each other, other operations carried out by and notifications between the various entities for other VNFs, for example, may occur. In addition, operations may occur in a different order from that shown in FIG. 6; for example, operations 16 and 17 may occur before operations 14 and 15.

[0075] At operation 1, the NM 610 may transmit to the NFVO 630 a request (OnboardVnfPackageReqiiesf) to create a particular VNF. The VNF may be, for example, a NR VNF. The request may contain an information element vnfPackagePath, which may be the uniform resource locator (URL) indicating where a VNF package can be obtained.

[0076] The NFVO 630 may in response subsequently on-board the VNF package for the N VNF. The VNF package may include information elements, such as vnfPackageld, vnfd, softwarelmage, operationalState, usageState. The infonnation elements describe the operations of the NR VNF and thus the functional split shown in Table 1 . After on-boarding the VNF package, the NFVO 630 may at operation 2 send a notification

(VnfPackageOnBoardingNotiflcation) to the NM 610 with the package ID (vnfPackageld) to indicate a VNF package has been on -boarded.

[0077] After receiving the notification, the NM 610 may extract an identifier of VNF descriptor (vnfDescriptorld) from the VNF package. At operation 3, the NM 610 may then send a Managed Object (MO) Create command with the VNF descriptor ID to the EM 620 to instantiate the VNF.

[0078] At operation 4, the EM 620 may receive the MO Create command. The EM 620 may then respond by sending a request to create the identified VNF (Create Vnfliequesf) to the VNFM 640. Create Vnfliequest may contain vnfDescriptorld, which may be used to create the VNF identifier.

[00791 Having received CrealeVnjRequest, the VNFM 640 may at operation 5 send a response (Create VnfResponse) to the EM 620.

CreateVn] ^"Response may contain vnflnstanceld to indicate the creation of a new instance of a VNF infonnation element. That is, that the VNF identifier has been created. As different processes are used, the various IDs may be different from each other, e.g., vnflnstanceld may be different than vnfDescriptorld.

[0080] At operation 6, the EM 620 may send a request to the VNFM 640

(InstantiateVnjReqiiesi) to instantiate the newly-created VNF.

InstantiateVnfRequesi ' may contain input parameters, such as vnflnstanceld, flavourld, instantiationLevelld, extVirtualLink, extManagedVirtualLink, all of which may be used to instantiate a VNF.

[0081] In response to InstantiateVnfRequesi, the VNFM 640 may at operation 7 send a response InstantiateVnfResponse to the EM 602.

InstantiateVnfResponse may contain an identification

lifecycleOperationOccurrenceld of the life cycle of the VNF.

[0082] After transmission of InstantiateVnfResponse, the VNFM 640 may initiation the instantiation. The VNFM 640 may at operation 8 indicate that initiation has occurred by transmitting to the EM 620 a notification Vnfl fecycleChangeNotiflcation that the instantiation has been initiated.

VnfLifecycleChangeNotification may be a generic notification that is used to indicate a change in the status of the VNF. VnfljfecycleChangeNotiflcation may contain attributes that include the VNF instance ID (i.e., identifying the VNF), the operation and the status of the operation. That is the notification may include vnflnstanceld, status = "start", operation = "instantiation" to indicate the start of VNF instantiation.

[0083] Following transmission of the instantiation initiation indication, the VNFM 640 may continue processing the instantiation until the new VNF is created. Once the VNF is fully instantiated, the VNFM 640 may at operation 9 send another VnfljfecycleChangeNotiflcation to EM 620 to indicate that the VNF instantiation operation is completed and thus the VNF is fully instantiated. VnfLifecycleChangeNotification may contain similar attributes vnflnstanceld, status = "result", operation = "instantiation" to indicate the result of VNF instantiation.

[0084J The EM 620 may receive the indication that the VNF is fully instantiated and subsequently act on the notification. In particular, at operation 10, the EM 620 may create the MO for the NR VNF instance. The EM 620 may then configure the MO accordingly.

[0085] Once the EM 620 configures the MO, the EM 620 communicates with the NM 610. At operation 1 1, the EM 620 may send a notification to the NM 610 to indicate that MO creation has been successfully completed.

[0086 J Once the N M 610 is aware of the MO creation, a series of communications occur between the NM 610 and the EM 620 related to creation of different PNFs and the interaction between the PNFs and the newly created VNF. As shown, at operation 12 the NM 610 may locate the corresponding NR PNF-A for the NR VNF. The NM 610 subsequently send a MO Create command to the NM 610 to create the MO for the NR PNF-A.

[0087] The EM 620, in response to the MO Create command for the NR PNF-A may create the MO for the NR PNF-A. The EM 620 may then at operation 13 send a notification to the NM 610 to indicate that MO creation for the NR PNF-A has been successfully completed. [0088] Once the first NR PNF has been successfully completed, the NM

610 may locate the corresponding a second PNF, NR PNF-B, for the NR VNF. At operation 14 the NM 610 may send another MO Create command to the EM 620. The other MO Create command may indicate to the EM 620 to create the MO for the NR P F-B.

[0089] In response to the other MO Create command, the EM 620 may create the MO for NR PNF-B. After creation of the MO for NR PNF-B, the EM 620 may at operation 15 send a notification to the NM 610 to indicate that MO creation for the NR PNF-B has been successfully completed. In some embodiments, the NM 610 may transmit the second MO Create command without receiving confirmation from the EM 620 of successful completion of the first MO Create command. In such embodiments, the EM 620 may wait until all PNFs have been completed prior to sending the notification of successful completion to the NM 6 ! 0. The notification may include an indication of successful completion for all MO Create commands or separate notifications may be sent after all successful completions.

[0090] Once the NM 610 determines that both PNFs have been successfully completed, the NM 610 may instruct the EM 620 what operation to perform on the PNFs. In particular, at operation 16 the NM 610 may send a MO Modify- command to connect the NR PNF-A to the NR VNF, since NR PNF- A and the N VNF are paired to perform the functions of a base station .

[0091] The EM 620, in response to the MO Modify command, may modify the MO to connect the NR PNF-A to the NR VNF. Once the connection is completed, the EM 620 may at operation 17 send a notification to the NM 610 to indicate that the MO modification to NR PNF-A has been successfully completed.

[0092] The NM 610 and EM 620 may act similarly on NR PNF-B . This is to say that at operation 18 the NM 610 may send another MO Modify command to connect the NR PNF-B to the NR VNF, since NR PNF-B and the NR VNF are paired to perform the functions of a base station.

[0093] The EM 620, in response to the other MO Modify' command, may modify the MO to connect the NR PNF-B to the NR VNF. Once the connection is completed, the EM 620 may at operation 19 send a notification to the NM 610 to indicate that the MO modification to NR PNF-B has been successfully completed. As above, in some embodiments, the NM 610 may transmit the second MO Modify command without receiving confirmation from the EM 620 of successful completion of the first MO Modify command. In such embodiments, the EM 620 may wait until all PNF operations have been completed prior to sending the notification of successful completion to the NM 610. The notification may include an indication of successful completion for ail MO Modify commands or separate notifications may be sent after all successful completions.

[0094] As described, a base station implemented using the operations in

FIG. 6 may thus contain at least one virtual network function (e.g., RRC) and at least one physical network function (e.g., RF). FIG. 6 shows an implementation in which multiple physical network functions are associated with a single virtual network function. One example of such an embodiment is shown in FIG. I B. However, other implementations may be possible. For example, multiple virtual network functions may be associated with a single physical network function, such as network slicing in FIG. 1C. In addition, in some embodiments it may be sufficient for a single virtual network function to be associated with a single physical network function. In such embodiments, for example, operations 14, 15, 18 and 19 may be eliminated in FIG. 6,

[0095] Examples

[0096] Example 1 is an apparatus of a network entity, the apparatus comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry connected with the memory and arranged to: determine that a base station comprising a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF) is to be added to a network that implements Network Function Virtualization (NFV); and encode and decode communications with other elements of a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) to instantiate and deploy the VNF in the NFVI via Configuration Management (CM) functions, deployment of the VNF comprising associating the VNF with the PNF,

[0097] In Example 2, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to: deploy a network node comprising the VNF and PNF by coupling the VNF with another PN F, the VNF configured to simultaneously serve the PNF and the other PNF.

[0098] In Example 3, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

1 -2 optionally include, wherein: the PNF is coupled to another VNF, the base station formed by the PNF coupled with the VNF and the other VNF.

[0099] In Example 4, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

1-3 optionally include, wherein: the VNF and the PNF provide functions comprising Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (Rs .(^').. high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF), the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

[00100] In Example 5, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

1-4 optionally include, wherein: the network entity is an Element Manager (EM) in the NFVI.

[00101] In Example 6, the subject matter of Example 5 optionally includes, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: encode a CM request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and decode from the VNFM CM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended, after reception that instantiation has ended, create and configure a VNF Managed Object (MO) for the VNF, and after creation and configuration of the VNF MO, encode a CM notification of VNF MO creation to a Network Manager (NM), encode a CM notification of PN F MO creation to the NM in response to a CM request to create a PNF MO for the PNF from the NM and encode a CM notification to the NM of MO modification to associate the VNF and the PNF in response to a CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the PNF. [00102] In Example 7, the subject matter of Example 6 optionally includes, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to: encode the CM request to the VNFM in response to a CM request from the NM to create the VNF MO generated after notification at the NM from a Network Function Virtuaiization Orchestrator (NFVO) that a VNF package has been on-boarded.

[00103] In Example 8, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples

6-7 optionally include, wherein the processing circuitr ' is further configured to: encode a CM notification of creation of another PNF MO to the NM in response to a CM request to create the other PNF MO for another PNF from, the NM and encode a CM notification to the NM of MO modification to associate the VNF and the other PNF in response to a CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the other PNF.

[00104] In Example 9, the subject matter of Example 8 optionally includes, wherein: the CM request to create the other PNF MO is received and the CM notification of the creation of the other PNF MO is encoded after the PN F MO creation and prior to reception of the CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the PNF.

[00105] In Example 10, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 1-9 optionally include, further comprising: an interface configured to communicate with one or more physical components external to the apparatus, wherein a VNF Managed Object (MO) associated with the VNF and a PNF MO associated with the PNF are stored in the memory.

[00106] Example 11 is an apparatus of a network manager (NM), the apparatus comprising: a memory, and processing circuitry arranged to: encode requests to different network entities to instantiate and deploy a base station comprising a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF) in a network that implements Network Function Virtuaiization (NFV); and decode notifications from the different network entities that confirm Managed Object (MO) creation and modification for the VNF and the PNF, the base station formed when the VNF is associated with the PNF. [00107] In Example 12, the subject matter of Example 11 optionally includes, wherein: one of the requests is to associate the VNF with the PNF and another of the requests is to associate the VNF with another PNF.

[00108] In Example 13, the subject matter of Example 11 or 12 optionally includes, wherein: one of the requests is to associate the VNF with the PNF and another of the requests is to associate the PNF with another VNF.

[00109] In Example 14, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 11- 13 optionally include, wherem: the VNF and the PNF provide functions comprising Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium

Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF), the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

[00110] In Example 15, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 11- 14 optionally include, wherein: an initial one of the requests is a request to a Network Function Virtuaiization Orchestrator (NFVO) to on-board a VNF package associated with the VNF, and after reception of a response from the NFVO that indicates that the VNF package has been on-boarded, another one of the requests is to an element manager (EM) to create a VNF MO for the VNF.

[00111] In Example 16, the subject matter of Example 1 optionally includes, wherein: a second of the requests is a request to the EM to create a PNF MO for the PNF, the second of the requests encoded for transmission to the EM after reception from the EM of a notification of creation and configuration of the VNF MO, and a third of the requests is a request to the EM to modify one of the VNF MO or PNF MO to associate with another of the VNF MO or PNF MO, the third of the requests encoded for transmission to the EM after reception of a notification from the EM of creation of the PNF MO.

[00112] In Example 17, the subject matter of Example 16 optionally includes, wherein the requests further comprise: a fourth request to the EM to create one of another PNF MO for anotlier PNF or another VNF MO for another VNF, and after reception from the EM of another notification of creation of the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO, a fifth request to the EM to modify the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO to associate the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO with another network function of the base station.

[00113] Example 18 is a computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an element manager (EM), the one or more processors to configure the EM to: create a Virtual Network Function (VNF) Managed Object (MO) for a VNF and a physical network function (PNF) MO for a PNF in a network that implements a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) to implement Network Function Viitualization (NFV); and form a base station by association of the VNF with the PNF.

[00114] In Example 19, the subject matter of Example 18 optionally includes, wherein: the base station comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

[001 15] In Example 20, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 18-19 optionally include, wherein the one or more processors further configure the EM to: transmit a request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and receive from the VNFM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended prior to creation and

configuration of the VNF MO.

[00116] Example 21 is an apparatus of a network entity, comprising: a memory; and processing circuitry connected with the memory and arranged to: create a next generation Radio Access Network (NGRAN) that comprises a

Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the RAN compri ing a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical ne work function (PNF); distribute the NGRAN functions to split the NGRAN into an Upper Layer New Radio Base Station (ULNRBS) and a Lower Layer New- Radio Base Station (LLNRBS); and link the RAN with a core network that comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), and Packet Gateway (PGW).

[00117] In Example 22, the subject matter of Example 21 optionally includes, wherein the split comprises one of: the ULNRBS comprises the RRC function, and the LLNRBS comprises PDCP, high RLC, lo RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, and RF function; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC and PDCP functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY and RF functions: and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, and high RLC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, and low RLC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, and high MAC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, and low MAC, and the LLNRBS comprises high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, and high PFIY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low PFIY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, and low PHY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises RF^"" function.

[00118] In Example 23, the subject matter of Example 22 optionally includes, wherein: the ULNRBS is virtualized and the LLNRBS is free from virtual izati on.

[00119] In Example 24, the subject matter of Example 23 optionally includes, wherein: the ULNRBS is implemented as a NR Virtualized Network Function (VNF), and the LLNRBS is implemented as a NR Physical Network Function (PNF),

[00120] In Example 25, the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 21-24 optionally include-24, wherein: the split is other than static and dependent on network operation conditions. [00121] In Example 26, the subject matter of Example 25 optionally includes, wherein: the LLNPJBS is shared by multiple ULNRBS, and each ULNBRS implements a network slice.

[00122] In Example 27, the subject matter of Example 26 optionally includes, wherein: one of the ULNRBS implements a subset of upper layer functions for a network slice while a different ULNRBS implements at least one of other upper layer functions or new functions for another network slice.

[00123] In Example 28, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 21-27 optionally include, wherein: the ULNRBS is connected to multiple LLNRBS when the ULNRBS implements functions that are shared by the multiple LLNRBS.

[00124] Example 29 is an apparatus of an element manager (EM), the apparatus comprising: means for creating a Virtual Network Function (VNF) Managed Object (MO) for a VNF and a physical network fimction (PNF) MO for a PNF in a network that implements a Network Function Virtualization

Infrastructure (NFVI) to implement Network Fimction Virtualization (NFV): and means for forming a base station by association of the VNF with the PNF.

[00125] In Example 30, the subject matter of Example 29 optionally includes, wherein: the base station comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

[00126] In Example 31 , the subject matter of any one or more of Examples 29-30 optionally include, further comprising: means for transmitting a request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and receive from the VNFM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended prior to creation and configuration of the VNF MO.

[00127] Example 32 is a method of forming a base station through an element manager (EM), the method comprising: creating a Virtual Network Function (VNF) Managed Object (MO) for a VNF and a physical network function (PNF) MO for a PNF in a network that implements a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NFVI) to implement Network Function

Vi realization (NFV); and forming a base station by association of the VNF with the PNF.

[00128] In Example 33, the subject matter of Example 32 optionally includes, wherein: the base station comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

[00129] In Example 34, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 32-33 optionally include, further comprising: means for transmitting a request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and receive from the VNFM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended prior to creation and configuration of the VNF MO.

[00130] Example 35 is a method of forming a base station through a network entity, the method comprising: creating a next generation Radio Access Network (NGRAN) that comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the RAN comprising a Virtual

Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF); distributing the NGRAN functions to split the NGRAN into an Upper Layer New Radio Base Station (ULNRBS) and a Lower Layer New Radio Base Station

(LLNRBS); and linking the RAN with a core network that comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), and Packet Gateway (PGW).

[00131] In Example 36, the subject matter of Example 35 optionally includes, wherein the split comprises one of: the ULNRBS comprises the RRC function, and the LLNRBS comprises PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, and RF function; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC and PDCP functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high RLC, Sow? RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY and RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, and high RLC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, and low RLC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions: and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, and high MAC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, and low MAC, and the LLNRBS comprises high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, Sow MAC, and high PHY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low PHY, RF functions; and the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY , and low PHY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises RF function.

[00132] In Example 37, the subject matter of Example 36 optionally includes, wherein: the ULNRBS is virtualized and the LLNRBS is free from virtualization.

[00133] In Example 38, the subject matter of Example 37 optionally includes, wherein: the ULNRBS is implemented as a NR. Virtualized Network Function (VNF), and the LLNRBS is implemented as a NR Physical Network Function (PNF),

[00134] In Example 39, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 35-38 optionally includes, wherein: the split is other than static and dependent on network operation conditions.

[00135] In Example 40, the subject matter of Example 39 optionally includes, wherein: the LLNRBS is shared by multiple ULNRBS, and each ULNBRS implements a network slice.

[00136] In Example 41, the subject matter of Example 40 optionally includes, wherein: one of the ULNRBS implements a subset of upper layer functions for a network slice while a different ULNRBS implements at least one of other upper layer functions or new functions for another network slice.

[00137] In Example 42, the subject matter of any one or more of

Examples 35-41 optionally includes, wherein: the ULNRBS is connected to multiple LLNRBS when the ULN BS implements functions that are shared by the multiple LLNRBS.

[00138] Although an embodiment has been described with reference to specific example embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the broader scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. The

accompanying drawings that form a part hereof show, by way of illustration, and not of limitation, specific embodiments in which the subject matter may be practiced. The embodiments illustrated are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the teachings disclosed herein. Other embodiments may be utilized and derived therefrom, such that stnicturai and logical substitutions and changes may be made without departing from the scope of this disclosure. This Detailed Description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of various embodiments is defined only by the appended claims, along with the full range of equivalents to which such claims are entitled.

[00139] Such embodiments of the inventive subject matter may be referred to herein, individually and/or collectively, merely for convenience and without intending to voluntarily limit the scope of this application to any single embodiment or inventive concept if more than one is in fact disclosed. Thus, although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it should be appreciated that any arrangement calculated to achieve the same purpose may be substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This disclosure is intended to cover any and all adaptations or variations of various

embodiments. Combinations of the above embodiments, and other embodiments not specifically described herein, will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description,

[00140] In this document, the terms "a" or "an" are used, as is common in patent documents, to include one or more than one, independent of any other instances or usages of "at least one" or "one or more." In this document, the term "or" is used to refer to a nonexclusive or, such that "A or B" includes "A but not B," "B but not A," and "A and B," unless otherwise indicated. In this document, the terms "including" and "in which" are used as the plain English equivalents of the respective terms "comprising" and "wherein." Also, in the following claims, the terms "including" and "comprising" are open-ended, that is, a system, UE, article, composition, formulation, or process that includes elements in addition to those listed after such a term in a claim are still deemed to fall within the scope of that claim. Moreover, in the following claims, the terms "first," "second," and "third," etc. are used merely as labels, and are not intended to impose numerical requirements on their objects.

[00141 ] The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to comply with 37

C.F.R. § 1.72(b), requiring an abstract that will allow the reader to quickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It is submitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpret or limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in the foregoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims are hereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus of a network entity, the apparatus comprising:

a memory; and

processing circuitry connected with the memory and arranged to:

determine that a base station comprising a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF) is to be added to a network that implements Network Function Virtualization (NFV); and encode and decode communications with other elements of a Network Function Virtualization Infrastructure (NF VI) to instantiate and deploy the VNF in the NFVI via Configuration Management (CM) functions, deployment of the VNF comprising associating the VNF with the PNF.

2. The apparatus of claim I, wherein the processing circuitr - is configured to:

deploy a network node comprising the VNF and PNF by coupling the VNF with another PNF, the VNF configured to simultaneously serve the PNF and the other PNF.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein:

the PNF is coupled to another VNF, the base station formed by the PNF coupled with the VNF and the other VNF.

4. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 1 -3, wherein:

the VNF and the PNF provide functions comprising Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low- Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF), the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

5. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 1-3, wherein:

the network entity is an Element Manager (EM) in the NFVI.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the processing circuitry is further 5 configured to:

encode a CM request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and decode from the VNFM CM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended,

after reception that instantiation has ended, create and configure a VNF o Managed Ohj ect (MO) for the VNF, and

after creation and configuration of the VNF MO, encode a CM notification of VNF MO creation to a Network Manager (NM), encode a CM notifi cation of PNF MO creation to the NM in response to a CM request to create a PNF MO for the PNF from the NM and encode a CM notification to the5 NM of MO modification to associate the VNF and the PNF in response to a CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the PNF.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

0 encode the CM request to the VNFM in response to a CM request from the NM to create the VNF MO generated after notification at the NM from a Network Function Viitualization Orchestrator (NFVO) that a VNF package has been on-boarded. 5

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to:

encode a CM notifi cation of creation of another PN F MO to the NM in response to a CM request to create the other PNF MO for another PNF from the NM and encode a CM notification to the NM of MO modification to associate0 the VNF and the other PNF in response to a CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the other PNF.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein:

the CM request to create the other PNF MO is received and the CM notification of the creation of the other PNF MO is encoded after the PNF MO creation and prior to reception of the CM request to modify the VNF MO to associate the VNF with the PNF.

10. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 1-3, further comprising: an interface configured to communicate with one or more physical components external to the apparatus,

wherein a VNF Managed Object (MO) associated with the VNF and a PNF MO associated with the PNF are stored in the memory.

11. An apparatus of a network manager (NM), the apparatus compr sing: a memory, and

processing circuitry arranged to:

encode requests to different network entities to instantiate and deploy a base station comprising a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF) in a network that implements Network Function Virtuaiization (NFV); and

decode notifications from the different network entities that confirm Managed Object (MO) creation and modification for the VNF and the PNF, the base station formed when the VNF is associated with the PNF.

12. The apparatus of claim 1 1, wherein:

one of the requests is to associate the VNF with the PNF and anotlier of the requests is to associate the VNF with another PNF.

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein :

one of the requests is to associate the VNF with the PNF and another of the requests is to associate the PNF with another VNF.

14. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 11-13, wherein:

the VNF and the PNF provide functions comprising Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF), the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

15. The apparatus of any one or more of claims 11-13, wherein :

an initial one of the requests is a request to a Netw ork Function

Virtual! zation Orchestrator (NFVO) to on-board a VNF package associated with the VNF, and

after reception of a response from the NFV O that indicates that the VNF package has been on-boarded, another one of the requests is to an element manager (EM) to create a VNF MO for the VNF,

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein:

a second of the requests is a request to the EM to create a PNF MO for the PNF, the second of the requests encoded for transmission to the EM after reception from the EM of a notification of creation and configuration of the VNF MO, and

a third of the requests is a request to the EM to modify one of the VNF MO or PNF MO to associate with another of the VNF MO or PNF MO, the third of the requests encoded for transmission to the EM after reception of a notification from, the EM of creation of the PNF MO.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the requests further comprise:

a fourth request to the EM to create one of another PNF MO for another PNF or another VNF MO for another VNF, and

after reception from the EM of another notification of creation of the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO, a fifth request to the EM to modify the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO to associate the one of other PNF MO or other VNF MO with another network function of the base station.

18. A computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of an element manager (EM), the one or more processors to configure the EM to:

create a Virtual Network Function (VNF) Managed Object (MO) for a VNF and a physical network function (PNF) MO for a PNF in a network that implements a Network Function Virtualization infrastructure (NFVT) to implement Network Function Virtualization (NFV); and

form a base station by association of the VNF with the PNF.

19. The medium of claim 18, wherein:

the base station comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the VNF comprises the RRC function and the PNF comprises the RF function.

20. The medium of claim 18 or 19, wherein the one or more processors further configure the EM to:

transmit a request to a VNF Manager (VNFM) to instantiate the VNF and receive from the VNFM responses to the request that indicate that instantiation has begun and ended prior to creation and configuration of the VNF MO.

21. An apparatus of a network entity, comprising:

a rnemoiy; and

processing circuitry connected with the memory and arranged to:

create a next generation Radio Access Network (NGRAN) that comprises a Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), low Radio Link Control (RLC), high RLC, low Medium Access Control (MAC), high MAC, low Physical (PHY), high PHY, and Radio Frequency (RF) function, the RAN comprising a Virtual Network Function (VNF) and a physical network function (PNF); distribute the NGRAN functions to split the NGRAN into an Upper Layer New Radio Base Station (ULNRBS) and a Lower Layer New Radio Base Station (LLNRBS); and

link the RAN with a core network that comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), and Packet

Gateway (PGW).

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the split comprises one of:

the ULNRBS comprises the RRC function, and the LLNRBS comprises PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, and RF function: and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC and PDCP functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY and RF functions; and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, and high RLC functions, and the

LLNRBS comprises low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, and low RLC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, and high MAC functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low MAC, high PHY, low PHY, RF; and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, and low MAC, and the LLNRBS comprises high PHY, low PHY, RF functions; and

the ULNRBS compnses RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, and high PHY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises low PHY, RF functions; and

the ULNRBS comprises RRC, PDCP, high RLC, low RLC, high MAC, low MAC, high PHY, and low PHY functions, and the LLNRBS comprises RF function.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein:

the ULNRBS is virtuaiized and the LLNRBS is free from virtualization.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein:

the ULNRBS is implemented as a NR Virtuaiized Network Function (VNF), and the LLNRBS is impiemenied as a NR Physical Network Function (PNF).

25. Hie apparatus of any one of more of claims 21-24, wherein:

the split is other than static and dependent on network operation conditions.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein:

the LLNRBS is shared by multiple ULNRBS, and

each ULNBRS implements a network slice.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein:

one of the ULNRBS implements a subset of upper layer functions for a network slice while a different ULNRBS implements at least one of other upper layer functions or new functions for another network slice.

28. The apparatus of any one of more of claims 2 -24, wherein:

the ULNRBS is connected to multiple LLNRBS when the ULNRBS implements functions that are shared by the multiple LLNRBS.