# US 12,603,818 B2 · Control apparatus, control method and program for allocating virtual networks for providing network services to a physical network

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- Number: US 12,603,818 B2
- Document ID: US12603818B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 18/683,393
- Filed: 2021-08-16
- Published: 2025-05-01
- Granted: 2026-04-14
- Earliest claimed: 2021-08-16
- Assignees: NTT, Inc.
- Applicants: NTT, Inc.
- Inventors: Ryota Nakamura; Shigeaki Harada
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12603818B2

## CPC

- H04L 41/0897: by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by migrating entities, e.g. virtual resources or entities
- H04L 41/122: of virtualised topologies, e.g. software-defined networks [SDN] or network function virtualisation [NFV]
- G06F 9/45558: {Hypervisor-specific management and integration aspects}
- G06F 9/5027: {the resource being a machine, e.g. CPUs, Servers, Terminals}
- G06F 9/5077: {Logical partitioning of resources; Management or configuration of virtualized resources (specific details on emulation or internal functioning of virtual machines G06F9/455)}
- H04L 41/0833: for reduction of network energy consumption
- H04L 41/0895: Configuration of virtualised networks or elements, e.g. virtualised network function or OpenFlow elements
- G06F 2009/45595: {Network integration; Enabling network access in virtual machine instances}
- G06F 2209/503: Resource availability
- H04L 43/08: Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
- H04L 43/0817: by checking functioning
- Y02D 10/00: Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)
- Y02D: CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE

## Abstract

A network control device includes circuitry configured to narrow down virtual servers, to second virtual servers as candidates that are to be reallocated to nodes, based on changes in a cost for the nodes that are included in a physical network; and allocate a second virtual network of virtual networks, to the physical network, based on information related to the physical network.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A control apparatus configured to allocate virtual networks for providing network services to a physical network, the control apparatus comprising:
circuity configured to:
select, from virtual servers that are allocated to nodes, second virtual servers as candidates that are to be reallocated to the nodes, based on changes in a cost for the nodes that are included in the physical network, upon occurrence of a condition in which the virtual networks are allocated to the physical network,
determine the changes in the cost for the nodes,
rank the nodes based at least on a descending order of the changes in the cost for the nodes,
set priorities associated with reallocation of the virtual servers allocated to the nodes, based on the ranked nodes,
select one or more of the second virtual servers as candidates to be reallocated to given nodes, in descending order of the set priorities, and
allocate a second virtual network including a specific virtual server to the physical network based on information related to the physical network.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to select, from the virtual servers, a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of the second virtual servers.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The control apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the circuitry is configured to allocate a second virtual network of the virtual networks to the physical network, based on information related to the physical network, the second virtual network including a specific virtual server among the second virtual servers.

### Claim 4 (depends on 3)

The control apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the circuitry is configured to select, from the virtual servers, a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of the second virtual servers.

### Claim 5

A control method executed by a control apparatus that allocates virtual networks for providing network services to a physical network, the control method comprising:
selecting, from virtual servers that are allocated to nodes, second virtual servers as candidates that are to be reallocated to the nodes, based on changes in a cost for the nodes that are included in the physical network, upon occurrence of a condition in which the virtual networks are allocated to the physical network,
determining the changes in the cost for the nodes,
ranking the nodes in descending order of the changes in the cost for the nodes,
setting priorities associated with reallocation of the virtual servers allocated to the nodes, based on the ranked nodes,
selecting one or more of the second virtual servers as candidates to be reallocated to given nodes, in descending order of the set priorities, and
allocating a second virtual network including a specific virtual server to the physical network based on information related to the physical network.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program which causes a computer to execute the control method of claim 5.

### Claim 7

A control apparatus configured to allocate virtual networks for providing network services to a physical network, the control apparatus comprising:
circuity configured to:
select, from virtual servers that are allocated to nodes, second virtual servers as candidates that are to be reallocated to the nodes, based on changes in a cost for the nodes that are included in the physical network, upon occurrence of a condition in which the virtual networks are allocated to the physical network,
determine the changes in the cost for the nodes,
rank the nodes in descending order of the changes in the cost for the nodes,
set priorities associated with reallocation of the virtual servers allocated to the nodes, based on the ranked nodes,
select one or more of the second virtual servers as candidates to be reallocated to given nodes, in descending order of the set priorities, and
allocate a second virtual network including a specific virtual server to the physical network based on information related to the physical network,
wherein the information related to the physical network includes at least one of information indicating an outside temperature of each node that is included in the physical network, physical resource information of the physical network, and information indicating a predicted traffic amount of the physical network.