WO2019051798A1

WO2019051798A1 - Resource allocation method and apparatus, and computer storage medium

Info

Publication number: WO2019051798A1
Application number: PCT/CN2017/101941
Authority: WO
Inventors: 赵昆; 林凌峰; 吕玲; 范绍帅; 田辉; 赵鹏涛; 贾杨; 李国平; 凌刚
Original assignee: 上海诺基亚贝尔股份有限公司
Priority date: 2017-09-15
Filing date: 2017-09-15
Publication date: 2019-03-21
Also published as: CN111095979B; CN111095979A

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a resource allocation method and apparatus in a communication network, and a computer program medium. The method according to an embodiment comprises: determining the quantity of resources required by each network slice among multiple network slices in a communication network, one network slice being associated with a group of logical network functions; computing the quantity of remaining resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the multiple network slices according to the determined quantity of resources required by each network slice, the quantity of remaining resources being the quantity of resources left among the total quantity of resources after resources are allocated to slices among the multiple network slices except for the network slice subsets; and allocating the total quantity of resources to the multiple network slices according to the quantity of remaining resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the multiple network slices. By means of the embodiments of the present disclosure, resource allocation on a network slice level can be effectively obtained, thereby improving resource utilization.

Description

Method, device and computer storage medium for resource allocation

Technical field

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the technical field of communication networks, and in particular, to methods, apparatus, and computer storage media for resource allocation for network slicing in a communication network.

Background technique

This section is intended to facilitate a better understanding of the present disclosure. Therefore, the content of this section should be read on this basis and should not be construed as an admission as to which of the prior art or which are not prior art.

Internet-based services bring a pleasing experience, and with the rapid development of such services, the explosive growth of mobile services has a serious impact on the bandwidth of mobile communication systems. Internet of Things, automotive networks, industrial control automation, and other new services place stringent demands on the connectivity, latency, and reliability of mobile communication systems. In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the concept of network slicing has been introduced to address the needs of different vertical industries. These needs of the vertical industry have turned into a wide range of use cases for next-generation architectures.

An important part of the vision for the next generation network architecture is support for network slicing. Network slicing can be seen as a set of end-to-end logical network functions, including access network functions, core network functions, and backhaul functions. Network slicing is considered an effective solution for providing customized services for various types of fifth generation (5G) application scenarios. The specific content related to this can be found in the Next Generation Mobile Network (NMGN) 5G white paper, the International Mobile Telecommunications-2020 (5G) Promotion Group (IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group) published in June 2016 under the title "The novel The paper of design of 5G architecture" and the 3GPP technical report published in March 2016, TR 22.891 version V14.0.0, entitled Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Feasibility Study on New Services and Markets Technology Enablers; Stage 1 (Release 14 ). The entire contents of the above documents are incorporated by reference. This article.

Depending on the service requirements of the scenario, network infrastructure resources can be divided into multiple virtual private virtual network portions. Network functions of different network slices can vary to provide services for different scenarios. Network slices mainly include core network (CN) slices and radio access network (RAN) slices. Regarding the differentiating processing of different network slices that the operator has pre-configured, the RAN working group in 3GPP has reached an agreement. Related content can be found in 3GPP document R2-164004, entitled RAN support for network slicing. The content of this document is also incorporated herein by reference.

At present, how to specifically handle the differentiation of different network slices is still an open question.

Summary of the invention

In the communication network, the RAN resources are limited and scarce, so it is expected that the network slice can efficiently utilize the scarce RAN resources. Therefore, it is necessary to enable RAN network slices to share physical resources (including radio resources, Radio Access Technology (RAT) / Radio Interface Type (RITS), RAN architecture). Different network slices may include the same functionality and share resources in the RAN, in such a way that resources can be reasonably allocated to serve each network slice in the RAN. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for allocating resources to network slices in a communication network is provided.

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a method in a communication network is provided. The method includes determining a quantity of resources required for each of a plurality of network slices of a communication network, a network slice associated with a set of logical network functions; calculating a plurality of resources based on the determined amount of resources required for each network slice Remaining resource amount corresponding to each network slice subset of the network slice, the remaining resource quantity is the remaining resource quantity in the total resource quantity after allocating resources to the slice other than the network slice subset in the plurality of network slices And allocating the total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices based on the remaining amount of resources corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices.

In some embodiments, calculating the remaining amount of resources of the network slice subset S in the plurality of network slices may comprise calculating a feature function for the network slice subset S, the feature function The number form can be expressed as:

Where M represents the total amount of resources, j represents the natural number, c _j represents the amount of resources required by the jth network slice, and v(S) represents the amount of remaining resources after allocating resources to network slices other than the network slice subset S , max represents the maximum function.

In another embodiment, allocating the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices may include: a network slice subset based on multiple network slices, based on a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices. And corresponding to the remaining amount of resources, determining a resource allocation amount applicable to the network slice in the network slice subset; and allocating the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the determined resource allocation amount. In a further embodiment, determining the amount of resource allocation available to the network slice in the subset of network slices can include establishing a bankruptcy game model, wherein the plurality of network slices are modeled as creditors in the bankruptcy game, and the total amount of resources is built The model is the bankruptcy property in the bankruptcy game; and the bankruptcy game algorithm is used to determine the resource allocation amount of the network slice that can be used in the network slice subset.

In still another embodiment, determining the amount of resource allocation available for the network slice in the subset of network slices may include determining a usable value of the i th network slice by calculating an equation to determine that the resource is available for the first Resource allocation for i network slices:

Where υ(S-{i}) represents the remaining amount of resources corresponding to the subset of network slices obtained after removing the i th network slice in the network slice subset S,

Is a normalization factor, and |S| represents the number of members in the network slice subset S, N is the total set of all network slices, n is the total number of the plurality of network slices, n! Represents the factorial of n. In a further embodiment, allocating the total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices based on the determined amount of resource allocation comprises: quantizing the determined resource allocation amount to a non-negative integer, and causing the non-negative integer And equal to the total amount of resources.

In some embodiments, the determined amount of resources may be the number of physical resource blocks.

In other embodiments, the method of determining, calculating, and assigning operations may be pre- The fixed period is executed. In a further embodiment, the predetermined period may depend on at least one of: an effective time of the plurality of network slices, a fluctuation characteristic of a required amount of resources of the plurality of network slices, and the communication The processing power of the means for performing the method in the network.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus for operating in a communication network is provided. The apparatus includes a determining unit, a calculating unit, and an allocating unit. The determining unit is configured to determine an amount of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices of the communication network, wherein one of the network slices is associated with a set of logical network functions; the computing unit is configured to be based on each of the determined networks The amount of resources required for the slice is calculated, and the remaining amount of resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the plurality of network slices is calculated, and the remaining resource quantity is after allocating resources to the slice other than the network slice subset of the plurality of network slices. The remaining amount of resources in the total amount of resources; the allocating unit is configured to allocate the total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices based on a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, an apparatus is provided. The apparatus includes a processor and a memory, the memory including instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is operative to perform any of the methods described in the first aspect of the disclosure.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer program product is provided, comprising instructions that, when executed on one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform a first aspect in accordance with the present disclosure Any of the methods described.

In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium having an existing computer program product thereon is provided. The computer program product includes instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform any of the methods in accordance with the first aspect of the present disclosure.

It should be understood that although some embodiments of the present disclosure have been described with reference to a 5G communication network, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to use in this scenario, but may be more broadly applied to any communication network, system, and scenario in which similar problems exist. .

DRAWINGS

The above and various embodiments of the present disclosure are as described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other aspects, features, and benefits will become more apparent. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or equivalent elements. The drawings are only for facilitating a better understanding of the embodiments of the disclosure, and are not necessarily to

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

2A-2B schematically illustrate a flow chart of a method for resource allocation, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow diagram of another method for resource allocation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

4 illustrates a schematic diagram of operations between modules of a device for resource allocation in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed ways

In the following, the principles and spirit of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the exemplary embodiments. It is to be understood that the invention is not limited by the scope of the present disclosure. For example, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used together with another embodiment to yield a further embodiment. For the sake of clarity, some of the features of the actual implementation described in this specification may be omitted.

References to "one embodiment", "an embodiment", "an example embodiment", and the like in the specification are inferred that the described embodiments may include specific features, structures or characteristics, but not necessarily each embodiment includes the specific features and structures Or characteristics. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiments. In addition, it is considered to be within the knowledge of those skilled in the art, whether or not the invention is specifically described, when the specific features, structures, or characteristics are described in conjunction with the embodiments.

It will be understood that, although the terms "first" and "second" and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements are not limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed without departing from the scope of the example embodiments. The first component. The term "and/or" as used herein includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only, and The singular forms "a", "the", and "the" It will also be understood that the terms "including", "comprising", "having", "the", "the"," / The presence or addition of a combination thereof. The term "optional" means that the described embodiment or implementation is not mandatory and may be omitted in some cases.

In general, the terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs, unless otherwise explicitly defined.

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to following any suitable communication standard (such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE Long Term Evolution (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High speed packet access (HSPA), CDMA2000, Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), etc. networks. Moreover, communication between devices in a communication network can be performed in accordance with any suitable communication protocol including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable communication protocols, such as first generation (1G), second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G, 4G, 4.5G, 5G communication protocols, wireless local area network (WLAN) standards (such as IEEE 802.11 Standard); and/or any other suitable wireless communication standard, and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a device in a communication network through which a terminal device accesses and receives services from a network. Depending on the terminology and technology used, a network device may refer to a base station (BS), an access point (AP), and the like.

The term "communication device" refers to any device that has communication capabilities. By way of example and not limitation, a communication device may also be referred to as a terminal device, a user equipment (UE), a subscriber station (SS), a portable subscriber station, a mobile station (MS), or an access terminal (AT). Communication devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desks Computers, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop-mounted devices (LME) ), USB dongle, smart device, wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), D2D equipment, machine to machine (M2M) equipment, V2X equipment, etc. In the following description, the terms "communication device", "terminal device", "terminal", "user device" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

A schematic diagram of an example wireless communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented is shown in FIG. Wireless communication network 100 can include one or more network devices 101. For example, in this example, network device 101 can be embodied as a base station, such as a gNB. It should be understood that the network device 101 may also be embodied in other forms, such as NB, eNB, BTS, BS, or BSS, repeater, and the like. The network device 101 provides a wireless connection for a plurality of communication devices 111-1, 111-2 (hereinafter collectively referred to as communication devices 111) within its coverage. It should be understood that the arrangement in the figures is merely an example and that the wireless communication system 100 may also include more or fewer communication devices or network devices. Additionally, communication devices in communication network 100 can have different types and capabilities and use different services.

In a traditional 4G network, a unified communication system is used to serve all users. The entire physical resource is directly allocated to the user based on the traffic and load. This is because the access devices in the previous network were almost all smart phones, and there was no need for network slicing. However, in 5G or other future communication systems, there may be many types of access devices, and their service requirements are quite different, which makes the traditional system model no longer applicable for at least the following reasons.

First, the one-to-one solution not only does not reflect the characteristics of 5G network slicing, but also results in low resource utilization. Second, the model with a middleman has not been fully studied, mainly because it is difficult to design a suitable mechanism. Furthermore, previous network technologies have not yet taken into account 5G network scenarios. For example, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) scenarios require large-scale multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, and large-scale and type-of-use communication (mMTC) requires consideration of narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) technology. These technologies are key enablers of 5G networks.

For the above reasons, the concept of network slicing is proposed for different application scenarios. That is, there may be multiple network slices in the communication network 100 of FIG. Network functions of different network slices can vary to provide services for different scenarios. In addition, different Network slicing may have different performance requirements and bandwidth requirements. Therefore, different network slicing should support differentiated processing to improve the utilization efficiency of scarce RAN resources. The plurality of communication devices in Figure 1 can be associated with different network slices.

Embodiments of the present disclosure propose a resource allocation algorithm in a communication system that can be used, for example, but not limited to, resource allocation in a network slicing service in a 5G network, and capable of allocating resources reasonably and efficiently in a variety of scenarios .

Additionally, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, cooperative game algorithms may be used to address resource allocation issues in a communication network. For example, a bankruptcy game model can be used to simulate multiple scenarios in a 5G network (eg, eMBB, mMTC, etc.). Bankruptcy game is a special type of multiplayer cooperative game. In the bankruptcy game model, the total amount of debt of the bankrupt company to each creditor is greater than the bankruptcy property owned by the company. In order to allocate the remaining assets of the bankrupt company, the creditors operate by forming alliances to obtain the best interests of the alliance, and then members within the alliance will distribute the benefits fairly. In this way, creditors are free to form alliances in order to maximize the benefits for specific situations in different environments. From this point of view, the bankruptcy game model has strong flexibility and, from the creditor's point of view, it can produce optimal results according to different needs.

In a 5G network, resources (eg, physical resource blocks (PRBs), codewords, etc.) owned by a base station (BS) are limited and scarce. Thus, in some embodiments, it can be reasonably assumed that the total amount of resources required for all network slices is always not less than the total amount of resources owned by the BS. This is similar to the situation in the bankruptcy game. Accordingly, the inventors of the present disclosure propose to model the resource allocation of network slices in a communication network as property allocation in a bankruptcy game.

In 1953, L.S. Shapley proposed a mathematical method that used the concept of eigenfunctions and Shapley values to solve the distribution problem in ruin game. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the mathematical model can be used to solve resource allocation problems in a communication network, and appropriate parameters are designed for the scenario of the communication network to obtain reasonable resource allocation results at the network slice level.

As an example, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in connection with a bankruptcy game model in certain portions below. In the description of these embodiments, terms such as "bankruptcy", "player (creditor)", "game" and the like are no longer the original in their original model. Instead, these terms will be used To refer to the corresponding technical characteristics. For example, the bankruptcy property in “bankruptcy” refers here to the total resources in the communication network, the asset allocation in “bankruptcy”. Here, the resource allocation in the communication network, the player in the “bankruptcy” is used to refer to the communication network. A network slice, a player's federation is used to refer to a subset of network slices consisting of one or more network slices in a communication network.

Thus, the inventors of the present disclosure propose to model a base station and network slices associated with different scenarios as bankrupt companies and players (creditors) in a bankruptcy game, respectively. Finally, based on the separated reasonable requirements, the bankruptcy game model can enable network slicing (modeled as creditors) to obtain stable resource allocation, and each network slice is satisfied with the distribution relationship. That is, the bankruptcy game model can be utilized in some embodiments to ensure relatively fair resource allocation between network slices. A method 200 for resource allocation in a communication network, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, is described below in conjunction with FIGS. 2A-2B. The communication network can be, for example, the communication network 100 of FIG. 1, and the method can be implemented by, for example, the network device 101 of FIG. However, the present disclosure is not limited to this. In some embodiments, method 200 can also be implemented by a plurality of network elements distributed throughout the network. For ease of discussion, method 200 will be described below with reference to network device 101 and network environment 100 depicted in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2A, at block 210, network device 101 determines the amount of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices of communication network 100. In one embodiment, the communication network 100 can be a 5G network and includes a plurality of network slices corresponding to different application scenarios (eg, eMBB, mMTC). Each network slice is associated with a set of logical network functions. In addition, each network slice can have a typical service, and different services can have relatively different rate requirements. Thus, in some embodiments, the total rate of network slice requirements can be obtained based on the rate requirements of the service and the number of users in the network slice to determine the amount of resources required for the network slice. For example, for simplification, the fading problem may be disregarded so that the number of PRBs required for the network slice can be roughly estimated based on the rate support that a single PRB can provide. It should be understood that in some embodiments, the amount of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices may also be determined alternatively or additionally based on other factors (e.g., QoS requirements, latency requirements, etc.).

At block 220, the network device 101 calculates a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the plurality of network slices based on the determined amount of resources required for each network slice. The remaining resource amount corresponding to each network slice subset is a resource amount remaining in the total resource amount after allocating resources to the network slice except the network slice subset in the plurality of network slices. Thus, the amount of remaining resources corresponding to each subset of network slices may indicate the amount of resources that may be obtained by the subset of network slices.

In one embodiment, considering a total of n network slices of 1, ..., n, the total set of network slices can be represented as N = {1, ..., n}, while the network slice subset has 2 ⁿ . In this case, at block 220, the corresponding remaining amount of resources is calculated for each of the 2 ⁿ subsets of the network slice.

In one embodiment, the amount of remaining resources corresponding to the subset of network slices S may be calculated by computing a feature function for a subset of network slices S. As an example, the feature function form can be expressed as:

Where M represents the total amount of resources, such as the total number of PRBs, and j represents a natural number.

Representing the network slice j outside the network slice subset S, c _j represents the amount of resources required by the jth network slice, and the result v(S) represents the remaining after allocating resources to the network slice other than the network slice subset S The amount of resources, max represents the maximum function. The feature functions of other network slice subsets can be calculated in the same way.

At block 230, based on the remaining amount of resources corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices, the network device 101 allocates the total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices.

In one embodiment, at block 230, a resource allocation amount usable for a network slice in the network slice subset S may be determined based on a remaining amount of resources corresponding to one network slice subset S of the plurality of network slices, and based on the The determined resource allocation amount is allocated to the plurality of network slices. Embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to determining the amount of resource allocation available to network slices in the network slice subset S in any particular manner.

By way of example and not limitation, in some embodiments, network device 101 may determine the amount of resource allocation based on a cooperative game algorithm, such as a bankruptcy game algorithm.

An example embodiment of block 230 is shown in FIG. 2B. In this example, at block 231, network device 101 establishes a bankruptcy game model for resource allocation, where multiple network slices are modeled as creditors in a bankruptcy game, and the total resource amount is modeled as a bankruptcy blog. The bankruptcy property in the game. Therefore, allocating resources to the network slice translates into the distribution of the bankruptcy property among the creditors. Regarding this allocation, there is a bankruptcy game algorithm.

At block 232, network device 101 determines a resource allocation amount available to the network slice in the network slice subset using a ruin game algorithm; and at block 233, allocates the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the determined resource allocation amount .

In some embodiments, the amount of resource allocation for network slice i can be determined by calculating the Shapley value of the i-th network slice (also referred to as network slice i) of the plurality of network slices. For example, the Shapley value of the i-th network slice can be obtained by the following equation (2):

Where v(S) represents the remaining resource amount corresponding to the network slice subset S, and υ(S-{i}) represents the remaining resources corresponding to the network slice subset obtained after the network slice i is removed in the network slice subset S. the amount. Thus, υ(S)-υ(S-{i}) may represent the contribution of network slice i to the subset of network slices. In addition,

Is a normalization factor, where |S| represents the number of members in the network slice subset S, N is the total set of all network slices, and n is the total number of the plurality of network slices, n! Represents the factorial of n.

An example of resource allocation using method 200 in a 5G network is described below for purposes of example and not limitation. However, it should be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure may also be used with any other communication network that has similar problems.

In this example, three network slices corresponding to three typical application scenarios in a 5G network are considered to establish a bankruptcy game model. Each network slice corresponds to a creditor in the bankruptcy game model. Using the bankruptcy game algorithm, the network slice forms an alliance to obtain better debt settlement, that is, resource allocation. Assume that the total number of PRBs owned by the BS (modeled as a bankrupt company in a bankruptcy game) is represented as a positive integer M, and the total set of network slices considered is represented as N={1,...,n}. Then the alliance of network slices can be expressed as S, and S is a subset of N, ie

In the case where the total number of network slices is n, there are a total of 2 ⁿ possible alliances. S can represent all possible alliances with a probability of 1/2 ⁿ .

Based on the above definition, the feature function v(S) for each federation (ie, network slice subset) S can be obtained according to the above formula (1), which represents remaining after allocating resources to network slices other than the network slice subset S The amount of resources, and thus the resources that can be obtained by the network slice subset S.

In an example embodiment, based on the feature function calculated for each coalition S, a Shapley value for each member i therein may be calculated. In the bankruptcy game model, the Shapley value represents the average compensation available to members of the alliance, reflecting the contribution of the alliance members to the alliance. In resource allocation, the Shapley value is used to represent the average contribution of each network slice to the network slice subset, which indicates the amount of resources each network slice should be allocated, such as the number of PRBs. The Shapley value of the network slice i can be calculated, for example, in the manner shown in the above formula (2).

In resource allocation, the amount of resources for each network slice can be fairly assigned based on the average contribution of each network slice. This is equivalent to fair allocation of property for each member in the bankruptcy game based on each member's contribution to the alliance.

A process of determining resource allocation for a network slice in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure is described below in connection with a more specific example.

In this example, assume that there are 5 network slices participating in resource allocation, ie n=5, and the 5 network slices can be represented as A, B, C, D, E, respectively. Therefore, taking network slice A as an example, there are 16 network slice subsets including the network slice A, or 16 nodes including member A, and can be expressed as: {A}, {A, B}. , {A, C}, {A, D}, {A, E}, {A, B, C}, {A, B, D}, {A, B, E}, {A, C, D} , {A, C, E}, {A, D, E}, {A, B, C, D}, {A, B, C, E}, {A, B, D, E}, {A, C, D, E}, {A, B, C, D, E}. These 16 alliances can be divided into 5 parts based on the number of members. Union with a three-member number {A, B, C}, {A, B, D}, {A, B, E}, {A, C, D}, {A, C, E}, {A , D, E}, for example, in this case, the normalization factor can be calculated as

among them

Indicates that the alliance is divided into five parts.

Indicates that the number of alliances for this part is 6. Member A's contribution to this part can be expressed as:

In some embodiments, when the network device 101 allocates the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the determined resource allocation amount, the determined resource allocation amount may be first quantized into a non-negative integer, and the quantized target is obtained. The sum of the non-negative integers of multiple network slices is equal to the total amount of resources. For example, the contribution of member A to all possible alliances in the above example can be quantified to obtain the reward of member A in the bankruptcy game, that is, the amount of resources that network slice A is allocated in the resource allocation.

As an example, in the case where the resource amount is an integer, for example, in the case where the resource amount is the number of PRBs, the Shapley value calculated by the equation (2) may be rounded up or down to obtain a quantized value. In the case where the result of the formula (2) is not a non-negative integer, the quantization operation can be performed.

Can use non-negative integer vectors

Representing the number of resources each network slice obtains through the resource allocation method proposed by the embodiment of the present disclosure, wherein

Indicates the number of resources obtained by the i-th network slice. In the case where the resource allocation is calculated by the formula (2), the elements of the vector X satisfy the following formulas (4)-(6):

Whole (for example, quantized, or rounded) to obtain a non-negative integer

Although in some embodiments, the amount of resources may represent the number of PRBs, it should be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. In some embodiments, the amount of resources may also represent, for example, the number of time resources, or the number of code resources, and the like.

In some embodiments, resource allocation issues for network slices may be addressed at layer 2 or layer 3 (L2/L3) of a communication network (eg, communication network 100 of FIG. 1). For example, the method of Figures 2A-2B can be implemented at L2/L3 of network device 101.

Alternatively or additionally, in some embodiments, as shown in FIG. 2A, the determining, calculating, and assigning operations in blocks 210-230 may be performed at a predetermined period T. For example, an effective time period T of a network slice can be defined. At the end of the period T, the resource allocation for the network slice can be re-executed. The number of multiple network slices in a communication network may be different in each execution. Therefore, when using the ruin game algorithm, the bankruptcy game model established in the new resource allocation cycle will also change (for example, the number of players (creditors) changes).

This periodic operation makes it possible to solve the resource allocation problem by using a semi-dynamic programming algorithm (for example, in combination with the bankruptcy game model). The semi-dynamic programming algorithm can visually reflect the characteristics of different types of users. By way of example and not limitation, the predetermined period T may depend on at least one of a fluctuation characteristic of a resource amount required for a plurality of network slices, a processing capability of a device performing the resource allocation method, and an effective time of a network slice.

An example method 300 for periodically performing resource allocation in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated in FIG. The method 300 can be implemented, for example, but not limited to, by the network device 101 of FIG. For ease of discussion, method 300 will be described below with reference to network device 101.

As shown in FIG. 3, at block 310, network device 101 establishes a bankruptcy game model that includes modeling the total amount of resources and the network slice as bankruptcy assets and players, respectively. At block 320, network device 101 obtains the number Ci of PRBs required for each network slice i. At block 330, the network slice is used to form a federation (ie, a subset of network slices) for better distribution. At block 340, a feature function value for all possible coalitions is obtained, for example based on equation (1). At block 350, for example, based on equation (2), a Shapley value for a member of the federation (ie, a network slice) is determined, and based on this, resource allocation to the network slice is performed. At block 360, the network device determines if the update period T has arrived, and upon reaching the period T, initiates a new round of resource allocation, ie, returns to block 310.

After the resource allocation at the network slice level is obtained using an embodiment of the present disclosure (eg, method 200 or 300), resource allocation within the network slice may be further performed. Resource allocation within the network slice can be, for example, but not limited to, performed using any known method. For example, scheduling policies such as polling (RR) allocation, proportional fair (PF) allocation, etc. can be used for resource allocation within a network slice.

One aspect of the disclosure also provides an apparatus for allocating resources in a communication network. The device may for example be the communication network device 101 shown in FIG. In one embodiment, network device 101 includes a determining unit, a computing unit, and an allocating unit. The determining unit is configured to determine an amount of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices of the communication network 100. The computing unit is configured to calculate, according to the determined amount of resources required for each network slice, a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the plurality of network slices, the remaining resource amount being sliced to multiple networks The amount of resources remaining in the total resource amount after the slice is allocated resources other than the network slice subset. The allocation unit is configured to allocate a total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices based on a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices.

In one embodiment, the determining unit, the computing unit, and the allocating unit of the network device 101 may perform the operations of blocks 210-230 in FIG. 2A, respectively, or may perform blocks 310-320, 330-340 in FIG. 3, respectively. And 350 operations. Accordingly, the operations described above in connection with

methods

200 and 300 are equally applicable herein and are not described in detail.

In FIG. 4, an example operational diagram between the determining unit 410, the computing unit 420, and the allocating unit 430 of the network device is illustrated in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the determining unit 410 may include subunits 411-413 for determining the amount of resources required for different network slices, respectively. For example, each of the sub-units 411-413 may estimate the resource demand Ci based on the number Ni of users associated with the network slice i and the rate Vi of the corresponding typical service. The resource demand Ci is reported (401, 402, 403) to the computing unit 420 to calculate the feature function v(S) of the federation S, and the Shapley value of the network slice i in the federation S.

And the final resource allocation result xi obtained by the rounding operation. The computing unit 420 reports (404) the final resource allocation result xi to the allocating unit 430 to perform resource allocation (405-407).

FIG. 5 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 500 for resource allocation in accordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. The device can be implemented in/as a network device (e.g., network device 101 shown in Figure 1).

Device 500 may include one or more processors 510 (such as a data processor) and one or more memories 520 coupled to processor 510. Device 500 may also include one or more transmitters/receivers 540 coupled to processor 510. Memory 520 can be a non-transitory machine readable storage medium and can store a program or computer program product 530. Count The computer program (product) 530 can include instructions that, when executed on the associated processor 510, enable the device 500 to operate (e.g., perform the method 200 or 300) in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The combination of one or more processors 510 and one or more memories 520 may form processing component 550 suitable for implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a computer program or computer program product, software, firmware, hardware, or a combination thereof, executable by processor 510.

Memory 520 can be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and can be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as, for example, non-limiting examples of semiconductor-based memory termination devices, magnetic memory termination devices and systems, optical memory termination devices And systems, fixed memory and removable storage.

Processor 510 can be of any type suitable for the local technical environment and can include, by way of non-limiting example, one or more general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), and multi-core processor-based architectures Processor.

Although some of the above description has been made in the context of the communication network shown in FIG. 1, this should not be construed as limiting the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The principles and concepts of the present disclosure may be more generally applicable to other scenarios.

Furthermore, the present disclosure may also provide a computer readable storage medium, such as a memory comprising a computer program or computer program product as described above, comprising a machine readable medium and a machine readable transmission medium. A machine-readable medium can also be referred to as a computer-readable medium, and can include a machine-readable storage medium such as a magnetic disk, magnetic tape, optical disk, phase change memory or electronic memory terminal device, such as random access memory (RAM), read only Memory (ROM), flash memory device, CD-ROM, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, etc. A machine-readable transmission medium can also be referred to as a carrier, and can include, for example, electrical, optical, radio, acoustic, or other forms of propagation signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, and the like.

The techniques described herein may be implemented by various means, such that the means for implementing one or more of the functions of the corresponding devices described in the embodiments includes not only prior art means but also corresponding means for implementing the embodiments described. One or more functional components, and which may include separate components for each individual function, or components that may be configured to perform two or more functions. For example, these technologies can be in hardware (one or more devices), The firmware (one or more devices), software (one or more modules), or a combination thereof is implemented. For firmware or software, implementations may be performed by modules (eg, procedures, functions, etc.) that perform the functions described herein.

The example embodiments herein have been described in terms of block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of the method and apparatus. It will be understood that each block of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations can be implemented by various means including hardware, software, firmware, and combinations thereof, respectively. For example, in one embodiment, various blocks of the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and flowchart illustrations can be implemented by a computer program or computer program product comprising computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be loaded onto a general purpose computer, special purpose computer or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine such that instructions executed on a computer or other programmable data processing device are created for implementation in one or more flowcharts. The part of the function specified in the box.

In addition, although the operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be construed as requiring such operations to be performed in the particular order shown or in the sequence, or all the illustrated operations are performed to achieve the desired results. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, although the invention has been described with a particular embodiment of the invention, it is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the subject matter described herein. Certain features that are described in this specification in the context of separate embodiments can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can be implemented in various embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination. Moreover, although the above features may be described as working in some combination, and even so initially claimed, one or more features of the claimed combination may be removed from the combination in some cases, and Combinations claimed may involve variations of sub-combinations or sub-combinations.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that, as the technology advances, the inventive concept can be implemented in various ways. The above-described embodiments are given for the purpose of illustration and not limitation of the present invention, and it is understood that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of the disclosure and the appended claims. The scope of protection of the disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

A method implemented in a communication network, comprising:

Determining a quantity of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices of the communication network, a network slice associated with a set of logical network functions;

Calculating, according to the determined amount of resources required by each network slice, a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the plurality of network slices, where the remaining resource amount is in the plurality of network slices The amount of resources remaining in the total amount of resources after the allocation of resources by slices other than the subset of network slices;

And allocating the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the remaining resource amount corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices.
The method of claim 1, wherein calculating the remaining amount of resources of the network slice subset S of the plurality of network slices comprises calculating a feature function for the network slice subset S, the feature function form :

Where M represents the total amount of resources, j represents a natural number, c j represents the amount of resources required by the jth network slice, and v(S) represents after allocating resources to network slices other than the network slice subset S The amount of remaining resources, max represents the maximum function.
The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein allocating the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the remaining resource amount corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices comprises:

Determining a resource allocation amount of network slices available for use in the network slice subset based on the remaining amount of resources corresponding to the network slice subset of the plurality of network slices;

The total amount of resources is allocated to the plurality of network slices based on the determined amount of the resource allocation.
The method of claim 3 wherein determining the amount of resource allocation available to the network slice in the subset of network slices comprises:

Establishing a bankruptcy game model, wherein the plurality of network slices are modeled as creditors in a bankruptcy game, and the total resource amount is modeled as bankrupt property in a bankruptcy game;

A bankruptcy game algorithm is utilized to determine the amount of resource allocation available to the network slice in the subset of network slices.
The method of claim 4 wherein determining the amount of resource allocation available for network slices in the subset of network slices comprises:

The amount of resource allocation available for the ith network slice is determined by calculating the Shapley value of the i-th network slice by calculating the following equation:

Wherein υ(S-{i}) represents the remaining amount of resources corresponding to the network slice subset obtained after the ith network slice is removed in the network slice subset S,
Is a normalization factor, and |S| represents the number of members in the network slice subset S, N is the total set of all network slices, n is the total number of the plurality of network slices, n! Represents the factorial of n.
The method of claim 5, wherein assigning the total amount of resources to the plurality of network slices based on the determined amount of the resource allocation comprises:

The determined resource allocation amount is quantized to a non-negative integer, and the sum of the non-negative integers is made equal to the total resource amount.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the determined amount of resources is the number of physical resource blocks.
The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said determining, said calculating and said allocating are performed in a predetermined cycle.
The method of claim 8 wherein said predetermined period is dependent on at least one of:

The effective time of the plurality of network slices;

Fluctuating characteristics of the required amount of resources of the plurality of network slices, and

The processing capabilities of the means for performing the method in the communication network.
An apparatus in a communication network, comprising a processor and a memory, the memory comprising instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus operates as:

Determining a quantity of resources required for each of the plurality of network slices of the communication network, a network slice associated with a set of logical network functions;

Calculating, according to the determined amount of resources required by each network slice, a remaining amount of resources corresponding to each network slice subset of the plurality of network slices, where the remaining resource amount is in the plurality of network slices The amount of resources remaining in the total amount of resources after the allocation of resources by slices other than the subset of network slices;

And allocating the total resource amount to the plurality of network slices based on the remaining resource amount corresponding to each of the network slice subsets of the plurality of network slices.
The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is further operative to calculate features for a network slice subset S in the plurality of network slices a function to calculate the remaining amount of resources of the network slice subset S, the feature function form is:

Where M represents the total amount of resources, j represents a natural number, c j represents the amount of resources required by the jth network slice, and v(S) represents after allocating resources to network slices other than the network slice subset S The amount of remaining resources, max represents the maximum function.
The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processor, whereby said apparatus is further operative to assign said total amount of resources to said plurality of Network slice:

Determining a resource allocation amount of network slices available for use in the network slice subset based on the remaining amount of resources corresponding to the network slice subset of the plurality of network slices;

The total amount of resources is allocated to the plurality of network slices based on the determined amount of the resource allocation.
The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory comprises instructions executable by the processor, whereby the apparatus is further operative to determine resources available for network slices in the subset of network slices by: Allocation amount:

Establishing a bankruptcy game model, wherein the plurality of network slices are modeled as creditors in a bankruptcy game, and the total resource amount is modeled as bankrupt property in a bankruptcy game;

A bankruptcy game algorithm is utilized to determine the amount of resource allocation available to the network slice in the subset of network slices.
The apparatus of claim 13 wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processor, whereby said apparatus is further operative to:

The amount of resource allocation available for the ith network slice is determined by calculating the Shapley value of the i-th network slice by calculating the following equation:

Wherein υ(S-{i}) represents the remaining amount of resources corresponding to the network slice subset obtained after the ith network slice is removed in the network slice subset S,
Is a normalization factor, and |S| represents the number of members in the network slice subset S, N is the total set of all network slices, n is the total number of the plurality of network slices, n! Represents the factorial of n.
The apparatus of claim 14 wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processor, whereby said apparatus is further operative to:

The total amount of resources is allocated to the plurality of network slices by quantizing the determined amount of resource allocation to a non-negative integer and causing the sum of the non-negative integers to be equal to the total amount of resources.
The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the determined amount of resources is the number of physical resource blocks.
Apparatus according to claim 10 or 11, wherein said memory comprises instructions executable by said processor, whereby said apparatus is further operative to perform said determining, said calculating and said said in a predetermined cycle distribution.
The apparatus of claim 17 wherein said predetermined period is dependent on at least one of:

The effective time of the plurality of network slices;

Fluctuating characteristics of the required amount of resources of the plurality of network slices, and

The processing capabilities of the means for performing the method in the communication network.
A computer readable storage medium having a computer program product embodied thereon, the computer program product comprising instructions that, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform according to the claims The method of any one of 1 to 9.