WO2019064677A1

WO2019064677A1 - Management device and network architecture control method

Info

Publication number: WO2019064677A1
Application number: PCT/JP2018/018541
Authority: WO
Inventors: 宏司坪内; 榑林　亮介; アシックカーン; マルケースジョアントリエイ
Original assignee: 株式会社Ｎｔｔドコモ
Priority date: 2017-09-26
Filing date: 2018-05-14
Publication date: 2019-04-04
Also published as: JP2021010041A

Abstract

A management device (60) deploys an NF on the basis of a deployment request for an NF constituting a slice, said deployment request including the NF type corresponding to the deployment request and a requirement required by the NF. The management device (60) comprises: a use NF determination unit (62) that determines an NF grade candidate to be used on the basis of the NF type and the requirement included in the deployment request and usable NF grade information stored in advance in association with the NF type and the requirement; a shareable/non-shareable evaluation unit (63) that, on the basis of the determined NF grade candidate and the requirement, retrieves deployment information relating to at least one of a pre-stored deployed NF or infrastructure, and evaluates whether the NF pertaining to the NF grade candidate can be shared; and an NF deployment unit (64) that deploys an NF satisfying the requirement by newly generating an NF or appropriating an existing NF in accordance with the evaluation results.

Description

Management device and network configuration control method

The present invention relates to a management device and a network configuration control method.

In 3GPP TS23.501 (5G system), it is considered to divide the system into logical networks (slices) and to assign slices for each service (see Non-Patent Document 1). Also, when configuring one slice, one or more network function units (hereinafter referred to as “NF”) suitable for the requirements for providing a service corresponding to the slice (slice requirements) It is considered to configure the slice. At this time, one or more NFs may be shared by multiple slices.

Depending on the requirements of the above slices, the required grade of NF varies. For example, there are multiple grades such as “only standard features are sufficient” and “require unique customization features” for functions that NF should possess, and multiple grades according to the required degree of availability exist It can.

Here, assuming that a certain NF is shared by a plurality of slices, the shared NF (hereinafter referred to as “shared NF”) is high enough to satisfy all the slice requirements for the plurality of slices. It is necessary to prepare grade NF, and there is a concern that soaring cost of sharing NF can be raised. In addition, for NFs not shared by multiple slices, it is also desirable to procure appropriate grade NFs that satisfy the requirements.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to avoid a rise in the procurement cost of NF.

A management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is an NF type indicating a type of an NF corresponding to a deployment request, which is a deployment request of a network function unit (NF) configuring a slice that is a virtual network on a network infrastructure; A request receiving unit for receiving the deployment request including the requirements required for the NF, the NF type and the requirements included in the deployment request received by the request receiving unit, and the NF type and requirements in advance A use NF determination unit for determining an NF grade candidate to be used based on the stored available NF grade information, and a prestored information based on the NF grade candidate determined by the use NF determination unit and the requirement Search deployment information on deployed NF and / or infrastructure, and An NF that satisfies the above requirements by newly generating an NF or using an existing NF according to the determination result by the sharing availability determination unit that determines whether the NF related to the supplement can be shared or not and the sharing availability determination unit And an NF deployment unit for deploying the Note that “deployment” in this case includes the creation of new products and the diversion of existing products.

In the above management apparatus, the request receiving unit is a deployment request of a network function unit (NF) configuring a slice that is a virtual network on the network infrastructure, and an NF type indicating the type of the NF corresponding to the deployment request Accepting the deployment request including the requirements required for the NF, the use NF determination unit may use the NF type and requirements included in the accepted deployment request, and the memory stored in advance in association with the NF types and requirements Based on the NF grade information, the NF grade candidate to be used is determined, and the sharing decision unit determines the deployment information regarding at least one of the pre-stored deployed NF and the infrastructure based on the determined NF grade candidate and the above requirements. Search to determine whether the NF related to the NF grade candidate can be shared, and further, NF deployment But, by diverting the new generation to or existing NF a NF in accordance with the determination result, to deploy the NF satisfying the above requirements. In this way, when deploying an NF based on the deployment request of the NF configuring the slice, the NF grade candidate to be used is determined and determined according to the NF type and the requirements required for the NF. Based on the NF grade candidate and the above requirements, it is judged whether the NF related to the NF grade candidate can be shared or not, and an appropriate NF satisfying the above requirements is deployed according to the judgment result, so that multiple slices are performed as in the prior art. It is possible to avoid the need to prepare high grade NFs that satisfy all the requirements of the above, and to avoid soaring procurement costs of NFs.

According to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the need for preparing a high grade NF that satisfies all of the requirements of multiple slices as in the prior art, and to avoid an increase in the procurement cost of NF.

It is a figure showing the logical composition of the communication system concerning the embodiment of the invention. It is a figure showing physical composition of a communication system concerning an embodiment of the invention. It is a functional block block diagram of a management apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in an availability requirement table. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in an available NF grade table. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in NF / infrastructure information table. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in NF connection information table. It is a flowchart which shows the process performed by a management apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of the determination process of NF grade used. It is a figure which shows another structural example of a management apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions of a management apparatus.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. First, the logical configuration and physical configuration of the communication system 1 including the management apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the communication system 1 as a logical configuration, slices (here, slices # 1 and # 2) are formed for each service provided to the UE 30, and each slice provides a service corresponding to the slice. Configured by one or more NFs (network function units) 10 suitable for the requirements (slice requirements) to In the example of FIG. 1, slice # 1 is configured to include NF1 to NF4, slice # 2 is configured to include NF1, NF2, NF5, and NF6, and NF1 and NF2 shown by thick lines in FIG. , Shared by # 2. Also, the communication system 1 is provided with an NRF (Network Repository Function) 20 that centrally manages connection information of each NF, and each NF inquires of the NRF 20 when communicating with other NFs and communicates with the NF of the communication destination NF. Get connection information.

As shown in FIG. 2, as a physical configuration, the communication system 1 includes a management device 60, the above-described NRF 20, UE 30, an access device 70 (for example, a base station, e-NodeB, etc.), the above-described NF 10, and a computing device 50. And they can be communicated with each other via the network 80. The UE 30 is connected to the network 80 via the access device 70. The NF 10 and the computing device 50 are housed in data centers 40 provided at various locations. Further, the NF 10 is configured in one or both of virtual NF 10 A virtually generated in a plurality of in the computing device 50 and physical NF 10 B provided in a form of occupying a device equivalent to the computing device 50. Be done.

Next, the functional block configuration of the management device 60 will be described using FIG. As shown in FIG. 3, the management apparatus 60 includes a request receiving unit 61, a use NF determination unit 62, a shareability determination unit 63, an NF deployment unit 64, an NRF registration unit 65, an availability requirement table 66, and an available NF grade table 67. And a deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68. The outline of each functional unit will be described below.

The request receiving unit 61 is a functional unit for receiving a deployment request including an NF type indicating the type of the NF desired to be deployed, and a requirement required for the NF.

The use NF determination unit 62 uses the NF grade based on the NF type and requirements included in the deployment request accepted by the request acceptance unit 61 and the information of the availability requirement table 66 and the available NF grade table 67 described later. It is a functional unit that determines a candidate. Also, although the detailed process will be described later, the use NF determination unit 62 may determine one NF grade as an NF grade candidate to be used, or may determine a plurality of NF grade candidates.

The sharing availability determination unit 63 deploys at least one of the deployed NF and infrastructure information stored in advance in the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68 based on the NF grade candidate determined by the usage NF determination unit 62 and the above-described requirements. It is a functional unit that searches information (hereinafter referred to as “deployed NF / infrastructure information”) and determines whether or not NFs related to NF grade candidates can be shared.

The NF deployment unit 64 is a functional unit that deploys an NF that satisfies the above requirements by newly generating an NF or using an existing NF according to the determination result by the shareability determination unit 63. Also, the NF deployment unit 64 adds / updates the deployed NF instance information to the NF / infrastructure information table 68.

The NRF registration unit 65 registers the NF type, the slice identification auxiliary information, and the connection information in an NF connection information table 21 described later of the NRF 20 so that the newly generated NF and the diverted NF can be used.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the availability requirement table 66 is a table storing information in which the availability requirement and the redundant configuration are associated.

The available NF grade table 67 is a table that is provided for each NF type and stores information in which requirements required for the NF for the NF type are associated with available NF grades. For example, FIG. 5 shows an example where the NF type is mobility management function (AMF), and as a requirement required for the NF, an availability requirement (specifically, a redundant configuration corresponding to the availability requirement) And functional requirements (standards A to C, unique A, B) are illustrated, and available NF grades (grades 1 to 9) corresponding to these requirements are shown.

The NF / infrastructure information table 68 is a table storing the already deployed NF / infrastructure information (corresponding to “deployment information” in the claims), for example, as shown in FIG. As infrastructure information, information such as region name, area name, data center name, computing device ID, NF instance ID, NF specification ID, and used network (used band / available band) are stored in association with each other.

Returning to FIG. 3, the NRF 20 includes the NF connection information table 21 shown in FIG. 7 in order to centrally manage the connection information of each NF, and the NF connection information table 21 includes, for example, an NF type and slice identification auxiliary information. And NF connection information are stored in association with each other.

Next, processing (processing according to the network configuration control method of the present invention) executed by the management apparatus 60 will be described along the flowchart of FIG.

The process in FIG. 8 is triggered by, for example, the deployment request of the NF from the administrator or the upper apparatus to the management apparatus 60 as a trigger. The above-described deployment request is provided with, as input information, an NF type to be deployed, slice identification auxiliary information, connection information to the NF, and requirements required for the NF.

As the above-mentioned NF type, a mobility management function (AMF), an authentication function (AUSF), a session management function (SMF), a data transfer function (UPF) and the like are exemplified. The above-mentioned slice identification auxiliary information is information used by the user at the time of slice access, corresponds to NSSAI described in 3GPP TS 23.501 (Table 5.15.2.2-1), and eMBB, URLLC, MIoT, etc. are exemplified. An IP address, FQDN, etc. are illustrated as connection information to said NF. Requirements required for the above NF include functional requirements (eg, standard, no standard / no mobility, standard and predetermined customization functions etc.), availability requirements (eg, low, medium, high), connected network requirements (eg, low, medium, high) For example, 100M, 1G, 10G, etc., location requirements (eg, specific data center specification, specific area specification, specific region specification, no specification, etc.) may be mentioned. Among the above, the slice identification auxiliary information and the connection information to the NF may be generated as output information by the management device 60 instead of being input to the management device 60.

In step S1 of FIG. 8, the request receiving unit 61 receives a deployment request including the above-described NF type, requirements, and the like.

In the next step S2, the use NF determination unit 62 determines the NF grade to be used by executing the process shown in FIG. As described above, the use NF determination unit 62 may determine one NF grade or a plurality of NF grade candidates, but here, NF type “AMF”, functional requirement “standard” A, standard B, and original A ", availability requirement" y% or more "are input, and an example of determining one NF grade is described.

The use NF determination unit 62 determines a redundant configuration from the input availability requirement with reference to the availability requirement table 66 of FIG. 4 (step S21 of FIG. 9). Here, “Active-Standby” and “All-Active” are determined as redundant configurations corresponding to the availability requirement “y% or more”.

Next, the use NF determination unit 62 determines the available NF grade table 67 to be referred to from the input NF type, and refers to the available NF grade table 67 to input the functional requirements and step S21. Extract an NF grade that satisfies the redundant configuration determined in step S22 (step S22). Here, the available NF grade table 67 of FIG. 5 corresponding to the input NF type “AMF” is referred to, and the functional requirements “standard A, standard B and original A” and redundant configurations “Active-Standby and All- "

NF grade

8, 9" is extracted as an NF grade satisfying "Active".

Furthermore, the use NF determination unit 62 determines the lowest NF grade among the extracted NF grades as the NF grade to be used (step S23). Here, among the extracted "

NF grades

8, 9", the lowest NF grade "NF grade 8" is determined as the NF grade to be used, and it is decided to use the NF specification ID "AMF 8".

Referring back to FIG. 8, in the next step S3, the shareability determination unit 63 refers to the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68 of FIG. 6 and searches for deployed NFs that satisfy the connection destination network requirements and location requirements. Then, determine whether an NF grade to be used and an NF that meets the connection destination network requirements and location requirements have already been deployed, and if the NF can be shared with other slices if deployed. To judge. In addition, in this step S3, when it is determined that sharing is possible, for example, the shared NF is selected by the following procedure.

The deployed NF (NF instance ID in FIG. 6) meeting these requirements is retrieved from the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68 of FIG. 6 below using the NF specification ID, location requirements and connected network requirements as input information. Show an example of determining whether sharing is possible.

NF specification ID “AMF 8”, location requirement “region name = Asia, area name = jp-east”, connection destination network requirement “for management communication = 10 M, for data communication = N / A (not used), for control communication = Assuming that “100 M” is input as a requirement, the following two (ie, region name, area) surrounded by a bold frame in FIG. 6 are provided from the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68 of FIG. The name, data center name, computing device ID, and NF instance ID are as follows:
・ Asia, jp-east, tokyo1, CN1, ins1
・ Asia, jp-east, tokyo1, CN2, ins2
When a plurality of shareable candidates are extracted in this way, the shared NF is selected, for example, according to any of the following selection criteria.
・ Select one randomly.
• In the network used, select the place with the least bandwidth.
Select the place where the usage rate of the computing device is the lowest.

If the NF is not shareable with another slice or not deployed in step S3 above, the process proceeds to step S4, and the NF deployment unit 64 newly adds the NF grade NF to be used to the computing device meeting the location requirements. Deploy to

On the other hand, when the NF can be shared with other slices in step S3, the process proceeds to step S5, and the NF deploying unit 64 sets the deployed NF setting information stored in the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68. Make corrections as necessary. For example, it is set to generate predetermined management information (such as traffic flow rate information) for the requested slice identification auxiliary information.

In the next step S6, the NF deploying unit 64 adds and updates deployed NF instance information to the deployed NF / infrastructure information table 68.

Then, in step S7, the NRF registration unit 65 enables the NF connection information table 21 of FIG. 7 stored by the NRF 20 to use the NF type, slice identification auxiliary information, and the like in order to enable the newly generated NF and the diverted NF. Register connection information.

In addition, in step S2 of FIG. 8 described above, a plurality of NF grade candidates may be determined instead of determining one NF grade. In this case, in step S3 of FIG. In the process of searching for deployed NFs, multiple NF grade candidates may be narrowed down to one NF grade. In this way, new deployment of NF can be avoided by sharing NF of a grade higher than the new grade, instead of newly deploying the same grade of NF.

On the other hand, in the case of determining one NF grade as in step S2 of FIG. 8 described above, the process of narrowing down from a plurality of NF grade candidates to one NF grade can be omitted, so that the whole process can be simplified. There is an advantage.

According to the processing of FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 described above, when deploying an NF based on a deployment request of an NF configuring a slice, one or the one used depending on the NF type and the requirements for the NF. After determining a plurality of NF grade candidates, it is determined based on the determined NF grade candidates and the above-mentioned requirements whether or not the NF relating to the NF grade candidates can be shared, and in accordance with the result of the determination an appropriate meeting of the above requirements By deploying the NF, it is possible to eliminate the need for preparing a high grade NF that satisfies all the requirements of multiple slices as in the past, and to avoid the increase in the procurement cost of the NF.

In addition, in a situation where a slice in which NF grade NF higher than the NF grade according to the required requirements is deployed share the high NF grade NF, a new NF grade NF is required. In the case of receiving a deployment request, there may be a disadvantage that the high NF grade NF can not be deployed according to the new deployment request. In order to avoid such a disadvantage, the sharing judgment unit 63 determines the NF grade NF which is lower than the required requirement above for the slice in which the NF grade NF is higher than the required requirement according to the requirement of the slice. Assuming that the slice is newly created, the newly created low NF grade NF is deployed in the slice, and the high NF grade NF is deployed in the slice relating to the new deployment request, the new deployment request Determines that the high NF grade NF can be shared, and the NF deployment unit 64 newly creates the low NF grade NF according to the determination result and deploys it on the existing slice. The above high NF grade NF can be redeployed to a slice related to a new deployment request. This can avoid the disadvantage that the high NF grade NF can not be deployed in response to a new deployment request requiring a high NF grade NF.

Further, in the management device 60 of FIG. 3, the NF deployment unit 64 and the NRF registration unit 65 may be cut out as separate devices. For example, as shown in FIG. 10, the NF deployment unit 64 and the NRF registration unit 65 are disposed in another apparatus 60B, and accordingly, the management apparatus 60 of FIG. 3 is configured with an NF descriptor (design information of NF) and an NF setting. It may be configured as a management data generation device 60A that generates data and NRF setting data and passes it to another device 60B. More specifically, an NF descriptor / setting data generation / correction unit 64A and an NRF setting data generation unit 65A are provided in the management data generation apparatus 60A, and the NF descriptor / setting data generation / correction unit 64A is an NF descriptor (NF design information And NF setting data are generated and passed to the NF deployment unit 64 in another device 60B, and the NRF setting data generation unit 65A generates NRF setting data, and passes it to the NRF registration unit 65 in another device 60B. It should be configured as follows. In the case of the configuration as shown in FIG. 10, it can be grasped that the management device according to the present invention is configured by the management data generation device 60A and another device 60B, and a part of the management device 60 of FIG. Even when the functional units of the above are cut out to be configured, substantially the same processing can be performed, and similar effects can be obtained.

Furthermore, input information input from the administrator / upper level device to the management device 60 of FIG. 3 is stored in advance as a template in the management device 60, and the information actually input is the template ID and the necessary minimum information. (For example, slice identification auxiliary information and the like) may be selected, and in this case, it is possible to reduce the data amount of input information and to make the processing more efficient. Examples of templates include OpenStack Heat Orchestration Template (HOT), OASIS TOSCA, ETSI NFV VNFD / NSD, and the like.

The block diagrams used in the description of the above embodiments show blocks in functional units. These functional blocks (components) are realized by any combination of hardware and / or software. Moreover, the implementation means of each functional block is not particularly limited. That is, each functional block may be realized by one physically and / or logically coupled device, or directly and / or indirectly two or more physically and / or logically separated devices. It may be connected by (for example, wired and / or wireless) and realized by the plurality of devices.

For example, the management device 60 in the above embodiment may function as a computer that performs the processing of the management device 60 described above. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the management device 60. As shown in FIG. The management device 60 described above may be physically configured as a computer device including a processor 1001, a memory 1002, a storage 1003, a communication device 1004, an input device 1005, an output device 1006, a bus 1007 and the like.

In the following description, the term "device" can be read as a circuit, a device, a unit, or the like. The hardware configuration of the management device 60 may be configured to include one or more of the devices shown in the figure, or may be configured without some devices.

Each function in the management device 60 causes the processor 1001 to perform an operation by reading predetermined software (program) on hardware such as the processor 1001, the memory 1002, and the communication by the communication device 1004, the memory 1002 and the storage 1003. It is realized by controlling reading and / or writing of data.

The processor 1001 operates, for example, an operating system to control the entire computer. The processor 1001 may be configured by a central processing unit (CPU: Central Processing Unit) including an interface with a peripheral device, a control device, an arithmetic device, a register, and the like. For example, each functional unit of the management device 60 may be realized including the processor 1001.

The processor 1001 also reads a program (program code), a software module, data, and the like from the storage 1003 and / or the communication device 1004 to the memory 1002, and executes various processing according to these. As a program, a program that causes a computer to execute at least a part of the operations described in the above embodiments is used. For example, each functional unit of the management device 60 may be realized by a control program stored in the memory 1002 and operated by the processor 1001, or may be realized similarly for other functional blocks. The various processes described above have been described to be executed by one processor 1001, but may be executed simultaneously or sequentially by two or more processors 1001. The processor 1001 may be implemented by one or more chips. The program may be transmitted from the network via a telecommunication line.

The memory 1002 is a computer readable recording medium, and includes, for example, at least one of a ROM (Read Only Memory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM), an EEPROM (Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM), and a RAM (Random Access Memory). It may be done. The memory 1002 may be called a register, a cache, a main memory (main storage device) or the like. The memory 1002 may store a program (program code), a software module, etc. that can be executed to implement the method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The storage 1003 is a computer readable recording medium, and for example, an optical disc such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc ROM), a hard disc drive, a flexible disc, a magneto-optical disc (eg, a compact disc, a digital versatile disc, a Blu-ray A (registered trademark) disk, a smart card, a flash memory (for example, a card, a stick, a key drive), a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magnetic strip, and the like may be used. The storage 1003 may be called an auxiliary storage device. The above-mentioned storage medium may be, for example, a database including the memory 1002 and / or the storage 1003, a server or any other suitable medium.

The communication device 1004 is hardware (transmission / reception device) for performing communication between computers via a wired and / or wireless network, and is also called, for example, a network device, a network controller, a network card, a communication module, or the like. For example, each functional unit of the management device 60 described above may be realized including the communication device 1004.

The input device 1005 is an input device (for example, a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a switch, a button, a sensor, and the like) that receives an input from the outside. The output device 1006 is an output device (for example, a display, a speaker, an LED lamp, etc.) that performs output to the outside. The input device 1005 and the output device 1006 may be integrated (for example, a touch panel).

Further, each device such as the processor 1001 and the memory 1002 is connected by a bus 1007 for communicating information. The bus 1007 may be configured by a single bus or may be configured by different buses among the devices.

Further, the management device 60 includes hardware such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (PLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA). It may be configured, and part or all of each functional block may be realized by the hardware. For example, processor 1001 may be implemented in at least one of these hardware. The configuration other than the management device 60 illustrated in FIG. 1 may have the same configuration as that of the communication terminal.

As mentioned above, although this embodiment was described in detail, it is clear for persons skilled in the art that this embodiment is not limited to the embodiment described in this specification. This embodiment can be implemented as a modification and a change mode, without deviating from the meaning and range of the present invention which become settled by statement of a claim. Therefore, the description of the present specification is for the purpose of illustration and does not have any limitation on the present embodiment.

As long as there is no contradiction, the processing procedure, sequence, flow chart, etc. of each aspect / embodiment described in this specification may be reversed. For example, for the methods described herein, elements of the various steps are presented in an exemplary order and are not limited to the particular order presented.

The input / output information may be stored in a specific place (for example, a memory), or may be managed by a management table. Information to be input or output may be overwritten, updated or added. The output information may be deleted. The input information or the like may be transmitted to another device.

The determination may be performed by a value (0 or 1) represented by one bit, may be performed by a boolean value (Boolean: true or false), or may be compared with a numerical value (for example, a predetermined value). Comparison with the value).

Each aspect / embodiment described in this specification may be used alone, may be used in combination, and may be switched and used along with execution. In addition, notification of predetermined information (for example, notification of "it is X") is not limited to what is explicitly performed, but is performed by implicit (for example, not notifying of the predetermined information) It is also good.

Software may be called software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description language, or any other name, and may be instructions, instruction sets, codes, code segments, program codes, programs, subprograms, software modules. Should be interpreted broadly to mean applications, software applications, software packages, routines, subroutines, objects, executables, threads of execution, procedures, functions, etc.

Also, software, instructions, etc. may be sent and received via a transmission medium. For example, software may use a wireline technology such as coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair and digital subscriber line (DSL) and / or a website, server or other using wireless technology such as infrared, radio and microwave When transmitted from a remote source, these wired and / or wireless technologies are included within the definition of transmission medium.

The information, signals, etc. described herein may be represented using any of a variety of different techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, chips etc that may be mentioned throughout the above description may be voltage, current, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or photons, or any of these May be represented by a combination of

In addition, the information, parameters, and the like described in the present specification may be represented by absolute values, may be represented by relative values from predetermined values, or may be represented by corresponding other information. .

Mobile communication terminals may be subscriber stations, mobile units, subscriber units, wireless units, remote units, mobile devices, wireless devices, wireless communication devices, remote devices, mobile subscriber stations, access terminals, mobile terminals, by those skilled in the art. It may also be called a wireless terminal, a remote terminal, a handset, a user agent, a mobile client, a client, or some other suitable term.

The terms "determining", "determining" as used herein may encompass a wide variety of operations. "Judgment", "decision" are, for example, judging, calculating, calculating, processing, processing, deriving, investigating, looking up (for example, a table) (Searching in a database or another data structure), ascertaining may be regarded as “decision”, “decision”, etc. Also, "determination" and "determination" are receiving (e.g. receiving information), transmitting (e.g. transmitting information), input (input), output (output), access (accessing) (for example, accessing data in a memory) may be regarded as “judged” or “decided”. Also, "judgement" and "decision" are to be considered as "judgement" and "decision" that they have resolved (resolving), selecting (selecting), choosing (choosing), establishing (establishing), etc. May be included. That is, "judgment" "decision" may include considering that some action is "judged" "decision".

As used herein, the phrase "based on" does not mean "based only on," unless expressly stated otherwise. In other words, the phrase "based on" means both "based only on" and "based at least on."

As long as "includes", "including", and variations thereof are used in the present specification or claims, these terms as well as the term "comprising" Is intended to be comprehensive. Further, it is intended that the term "or" as used in the present specification or in the claims is not an exclusive OR.

In the present specification, a plurality of devices are also included unless it is a device clearly having only one context or technically. Throughout this disclosure, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, it is intended to include the plural.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 communication system, 10 ... NF, 20 ... NRF, 21 ... NF connection information table, 30 ... UE, 40 ... data center, 50 ... calculation apparatus, 60 ... management apparatus, 60A ... management data generation apparatus, 60B ... another Devices 61 61 request acceptance unit 62 use NF determination unit 63 shareability determination unit 64 NF deployment unit 64A NF descriptor / setting data generation / modification unit 65 NRF registration unit 65A NRF Setting data generation unit 66: availability requirement table 67: available NF grade table 68: deployed NF / infrastructure information table 70: access device 80: network 1001: processor 1002: memory 1003: storage 1003 1004 ... communication device, 1005 ... input device, 1006 ... output device, 1007 ... bus.

Claims

A deployment request of a network function unit (NF) constituting a slice, which is a virtual network on a network infrastructure, including the NF type indicating the type of the NF corresponding to the deployment request and the requirements required for the NF A request receiving unit for receiving a request;
Based on the NF type and the requirement included in the deployment request accepted by the request accepting unit, and the available NF grade information stored in association with the NF type and requirement in advance, the NF grade candidate to be used is Use NF decision part to decide,
Based on the NF grade candidate determined by the use NF determination unit and the requirement, deployment information regarding at least one of a previously stored deployed NF and infrastructure is searched, and whether or not the NF associated with the NF grade candidate can be shared A sharing determination unit that determines the
An NF deployment unit that deploys an NF that satisfies the above requirements by newly creating an NF or using an existing NF according to the determination result by the shareability determination unit;
Management device provided with
The use NF determination unit determines one NF grade as the NF grade candidate,
The shareability determination unit searches the deployment information based on the determined one NF grade and the requirement, and determines whether the NF related to the one NF grade can be shared.
The management device according to claim 1.
The use NF determination unit determines a plurality of NF grade candidates as the NF grade candidate,
The shareability determination unit searches the deployment information based on the determined plurality of NF grade candidates and the requirement, and narrows the plurality of NF grade candidates into one NF grade, and the NF related to the one NF grade. To determine if the can be shared,
The management device according to claim 1.
The use NF determination unit uses, as the requirement, the functional requirement and the availability requirement required for the NF corresponding to the deployment request, and the functional requirement, the availability requirement, the NF type, and the available NF grade Based on the information, determine the NF grade to be used
The management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 3.
The shareability determination unit uses, as the requirements, the location requirements and connected network requirements of the NF to be deployed, and the deployment information based on the location requirements, the connected network requirements, and the determined NF grade. Search to determine whether the determined NF grade NF can be shared,
The management device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.
A new deployment requiring a high NF grade NF in a situation where a slice with an NF grade NF higher than the required NF grade is shared shares the high NF grade NF If the high NF grade NF can not be deployed on demand,
The shareability determination unit newly generates a low NF grade NF according to the requirements of the slice for the slice, deploys the newly generated low NF grade NF in the slice, and the new deployment request Assuming that the high NF grade NF is to be deployed to the slice according to, it is determined that the high NF grade NF can be shared by the slice related to the new deployment request,
The NF deployment unit newly generates the low NF grade NF and deploys and changes the high NF grade NF according to the determination result by the shareability determination unit.
The management apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 5.
A network configuration control method executed by a management device in a network, comprising:
A deployment request of a network function unit (NF) constituting a slice, which is a virtual network on a network infrastructure, including the NF type indicating the type of the NF corresponding to the deployment request and the requirements required for the NF Accepting the request,
Determining an NF grade candidate to be used based on the NF type and the requirement included in the received deployment request and available NF grade information stored in association with the NF type and requirement in advance;
Searching deployment information related to at least one of the pre-stored deployed NF and the infrastructure based on the determined NF grade candidate and the requirement, and determining whether the NF associated with the NF grade candidate can be shared;
Deploying an NF satisfying the above requirements by newly creating an NF or diverting an existing NF according to the judgment result;
A network configuration control method comprising: