Function management apparatus, function management method and communication system

A function management method of a function management device that manages, in a communication system including a plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and a server, a plurality of functions provided by the server to the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment, the function management method comprising:

• collecting resource information from the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment;
• collecting, from the server, network band usage information for each of the functions, the network band being used for communication between the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and the server;
• calculating, based on the network band usage information, a network band occupancy ratio for each of the functions;
• selecting, from among the functions provided by the server, a first function that has a network band occupancy ratio exceeding a band occupancy threshold;
• and
• activating a virtual machine on one of the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and sending, to the customer premises communication equipment, an instruction to perform the first function that has the network band occupancy ratio exceeding the band occupancy threshold in response to a determination that there are sufficient free resources for performing the first function on the customer premises communication equipment.

A communication system comprising:

• a plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment, wherein each of the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment includes a resource management unit, including one or more processors, configured to manage resource information indicating a resource status inside the customer premises communication equipment;
• a server configured to provide a plurality of functions to the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment, wherein the server includes a network band management unit, including one or more processors, configured to manage network band information for each of the functions, the network band information indicating a usage status of a network band that is used for communication between the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and the server;
• and
• a function management device configured to manage the functions provided by the server, wherein the function management device includes
• a resource management unit, including one or more processors, configured to collect the resource information from the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment,
• a network management unit, including one or more processors, configured to collect, from the server, network band usage information for each of the functions, the network band being used for communication between the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and the server;
• calculate, based on the network band usage information, a network band occupancy ratio for each of the functions;
• and select, from among the functions provided by the server, a first function that has a network band occupancy ratio exceeding a band occupancy threshold, and
• a function processing unit, including one or more processors, configured to activate a virtual machine on one of the plurality of pieces of customer premises communication equipment and send, to the customer premises communication equipment, an instruction to perform the first function that has the network band occupancy ratio exceeding the band occupancy threshold in response to a determination that there are sufficient free resources for performing the first function on the customer premises communication equipment.