Radio resource slicing in a radio access network

2:

• The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said base stations provide
• i) information regarding communications traffic demand, and/or
• ii) an average effective transmission rate of one or more slices, and/or
• iii) modulation and/or coding schemes used in slice, and/or
• iv) a bandwidth demand of resources for a given slice, and/or
• v) current utilization information of radio resources allocated to a given slice and/or parameters required to calculate sum utility and/or an average effective transmission rate to the slice circuitry.

5:

• A radio access network comprising:
• slice circuitry;
• and
• a plurality of base stations, wherein
• the base stations are configured to transmit an indication of available radio resources to the slice circuitry,
• the slice circuitry is configured to:
• abstract the radio resources available to the plurality of base stations;
• create multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure by dynamically allocating the abstracted radio resources to a number of isolated slices, each slice accommodating one or more communication flows and being isolated from the remainder of the radio resources;
• and
• communicate the radio resource allocations to the base stations, and
• the base stations are further configured to receive radio resource allocations from the slice circuitry and to perform independent application specific customisation of radio resources within an allocated slice.

8:

• Slice circuitry for use in a radio access network comprising slice circuitry and a plurality of base stations, the slice circuitry being configured to:
• receive an indication of radio resources available to the base stations;
• abstract the available radio resources;
• create multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure by dynamically allocating the abstracted radio resources to a number of isolated slices, each slice accommodating one or more communication flows and being isolated from the remainder of the radio resources;
• and
• communicate the radio resource allocations to the base stations for independent and application specific customisation of radio resources within an allocated slice.

9:

• The slice circuitry as claimed in claim 8, further configured to
• determine an initial slice allocation,
• receive feedback from the base stations,
• dynamically determine, based on the received feedback, an updated slice allocation using reinforced learning, and
• transmit the updated slice allocation to the base station.

11:

• A method of operating slice circuitry in a radio access network comprising the slice circuitry and a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:
• at the slice circuitry:
• receiving an indication of radio resources available to the base stations;
• abstract the available radio resources;
• creating multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure by dynamically allocating the abstracted radio resources to a number of isolated slices, each slice accommodating one or more communication flows and being isolated from the remainder of the radio resources;
• and
• communicating the radio resource allocations to the base stations for independent and application specific customisation of radio resources within an allocated slice.

12:

• A non-transitory computer readable medium including executable instructions, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to execute a method of providing radio resources to a number of communication flows in a radio access network that comprises slice circuitry and a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:
• in the slice circuitry:
• abstracting radio resources that are available to the plurality of base stations;
• creating multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure by dynamically allocating the abstracted radio resources to a number of isolated slices, each slice accommodating one or more of the communication flows and being isolated from the remainder of the radio resources;
• and
• communicating the radio resource allocations to the base stations;
• and
• in the base stations;
• performing application specific customisation of radio resources within an allocated slice.

13:

• A non-transitory computer readable medium including executable instructions, which when executed by a computer cause the computer to execute a method of operating slice circuitry in a radio access network comprising the slice circuitry and a plurality of base stations, the method comprising:
• at the slice circuitry:
• receiving an indication of radio resources available to the base stations;
• abstract the available radio resources;
• creating multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure by dynamically allocating the abstracted radio resources to a number of isolated slices, each slice accommodating one or more communication flows and being isolated from the remainder of the radio resources;
• and
• communicating the radio resource allocations to the base stations for independent and application specific customisation of radio resources within an allocated slice.