US 12,757,071 B2Granted

User plane function (UPF) load balancing based on central processing unit (CPU) and memory utilization of the user equipment (UE) in the UPF

AssigneeBoost SubscriberCo L.L.C.

InventorsMehdi Alasti, Kazi Bashir, Ash Khamas, Ashish Bansal, Siddhartha Chenumolu

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Abstract

Embodiments are directed towards embodiments are directed toward systems and methods for user plane function (UPF) and network slice load balancing within a 5G network. Example embodiments include systems and methods for load balancing based on current UPF load and thresholds that depend on UPF capacity; UPF load balancing using predicted throughput of new UE on the network based on network data analytics; UPF load balancing based on special considerations for low latency traffic; UPF load balancing supporting multiple slices, maintaining several load-thresholds for each UPF and each slice depending on the UPF and network slice capacity; and UPF load balancing using predicted central processing unit (CPU) utilization and/or predicted memory utilization of new UE on the network based on network data analytics.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A system comprising:

a memory that stores computer instructions;
and
a processor that executes the computer instructions to perform actions, the actions including:
maintaining one or more load thresholds for each user plane function (UPF) of a one or more UPFs in a cellular telecommunication network, wherein:
the one or more UPFs serve as anchor points between user equipment (UE) in the cellular telecommunication network and a data network (DN);
each UPF of the one or more UPFs is a virtual network function responsible for interconnecting packet data unit (PDU) sessions between the user equipment (UE) and the DN by anchoring the PDU sessions on individual UPFs;
and
the one or more load thresholds for each UPF depend on a respective capacity of each UPF to have PDU sessions anchored thereon;
and
selecting a UPF of the one or more UPFs on which to anchor a PDU session of a new UE newly appearing on the cellular telecommunication network based on the one or more load thresholds, wherein selecting a UPF of the one or more UPEs on which to anchor the PDU session includes:
weighting selection of a particular UPF of the one or more UPFs based on predicted load on a UPF of the new UE by using credit/token-based weighted scheduling.

8 more elements

A method comprising:

electronically maintaining a one or more load thresholds for each user plane function (UPF) of a one or more UPFs in a cellular telecommunication network, wherein:
the one or more UPFs serve as anchor points between user equipment (UE) in the cellular telecommunication network and a data network (DN);
each UPF of the one or more UPFs is a virtual network function responsible for interconnecting packet data unit (PDU) sessions between the user equipment (UE) and the DN by anchoring the PDU sessions on individual UPFs;
and
the one or more load thresholds for each UPF depend on a respective capacity of each UPF to have PDU sessions anchored thereon;
and
electronically selecting a UPF of the one or more UPFs on which to anchor the PDU session based on the one or more load thresholds, wherein the selecting a UPF of the one or more UPEs includes:
weighting selection of a particular UPF of the one or more UPFs based on predicted load on a UPF of the new UE by using credit/token-based weighted scheduling.

5 more elements

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one computer processor, cause actions to be performed including:

maintaining a one or more load thresholds for each user plane function (UPF) of a one or more UPFs in a cellular telecommunication network, wherein:
the one or more UPFs serve as anchor points between user equipment (UE) in the cellular telecommunication network and a data network (DN);
each UPF of the one or more UPFs is a virtual network function responsible for interconnecting packet data unit (PDU) sessions between the user equipment (UE) and the DN by anchoring the PDU sessions on individual UPFs;
and
the one or more load thresholds for each UPF depend on a respective capacity of each UPF to have PDU sessions anchored thereon;
and
selecting a UPF of the one or more UPFs on which to anchor the PDU session based on the one or more load thresholds, wherein the selecting a UPF of the one or more UPFs includes:
weighting selection of a particular UPF of the one or more UPFs based on predicted load on a UPF of the new UE by using credit/token-based weighted scheduling or probability-based weighted scheduling.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 18/403,589Filed 3 Jan 2024 · continuation
Priority: 27 Aug 2021
Published: US 2024/0147307 A12 May 2024
Granted: 6 Oct 2026
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

H04W 28/0861
Among access entities: between base stations
H04L 47/125
Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion: by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
H04L 47/127
Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion: by using congestion prediction
H04L 47/215
Flow control; Congestion control: using token-bucket

Family

Application17/459,279Parent of this continuation · filed 27 Aug 2021
Application17/942,326Parent of this continuation · filed 12 Sep 2022
US 11,477,694 B1Parent of this continuation · filed 18 Oct 2022
US 2024/0147307 A1Pre-grant publication · published 2 May 2024
US 11,902,831 B2Parent of this continuation
US 2023/0066148 A1Published application
US 12,757,071 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.