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US 2026/0019802 A1Published application
Method for enhancing privacy in an access network
AssigneeDeutsche Telekom AG
InventorJosep COLOM IKUNO
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for enhancing privacy in an access network (AN) includes: sending, by an Access Network Intelligent Controller (AN-IC) to an interface node, a request for an AN parameter related to the interface node; receiving, by the AN-IC from the interface node, an interface node message containing the requested AN parameter; receiving, by the AN-IC from an AN-IC application, a further request for the AN parameter; and matching, by the AN-IC, the further request to a policy element based on the information contained in the further message request or interface node message.
Claims19
1:
- A method for enhancing privacy in an access network (AN) comprising one or more AN components and an AN Intelligent Controller (AN-IC), wherein at least one AN component contains an interface node, wherein the AN-IC comprises:
- an AN-IC application configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from the interface node, via the AN-IC;
- one or more policy elements, each policy element containing a behavior to be applied to a matching requests or a related AN parameter, wherein the behavior corresponds to allowing/rejecting a request, modifying an AN parameter and/or generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- and
- one or more logical connections between the AN-IC and one or more interface nodes;
- wherein the method comprises:
- sending, by the AN-IC to the interface node, a request for an AN parameter related to the interface node;
- receiving, by the AN-IC from the interface node, an interface node message containing the requested AN parameter;
- receiving, by the AN-IC from the AN-IC application, a further request for the AN parameter;
- and
- matching, by the AN-IC, the further request to a policy element based on the information contained in the further message request or interface node message.
8 more elements
2:
- The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- sending, by the AN-IC to the AN-IC application, a message;
- wherein the message comprises:
- in case of the matching behavior indicating generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter, a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- in case of the matching behavior indicating modifying an AN parameter, a modified AN parameter derived from the AN parameter;
- or
- in case of the matching behavior indicating rejecting the request, a message rejecting the application request.
4 more elements
3:
- The method of claim 1, wherein the AN is a radio access network (RAN), and wherein a respective AN component is a radio unit (RU), a central unit (CU), or a distributed unit (DU);
- and/or
- wherein modifying a respective AN parameter corresponds to replacing, removing, re-mapping, hashing, encrypting, obscuring or otherwise altering AN parameters or parts thereof.
4:
- The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- applying, by the AN-IC, the behavior from the matching policy element to the received AN parameter.
5:
- The method of claim 1, wherein the AN-IC further comprises a Shared Data Layer (SDL) configured to store AN parameters, and wherein the method further comprises:
- after the receiving, storing, by the AN-IC, the received AN parameter in the SDL.
6:
- The method of claim 5, further comprising:
- after the storing, retrieving, by the AN-IC, the AN parameter from the SDL;
- and
- applying, by the AN-IC, the behavior from the matching policy element to the retrieved AN parameter.
1 more element
7:
- The method of claim 5, further comprising:
- before the storing, applying, by the AN-IC, the behavior from the matching policy element to the AN parameter;
- and
- after the storing, retrieving, by the AN-IC, the AN parameter from the SDL.
1 more element
8:
- A method for enhancing privacy in an access network (AN) comprising one or more AN components and an AN Intelligent Controller (AN-IC) wherein each AN component contains an interface node, and wherein the AN-IC comprises:
- an application configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from the interface node, via an AN-IC application;
- the AN-IC application, wherein the AN-IC application is configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from the interface node, via the AN-IC;
- one or more policy elements, each policy element containing a behavior to be applied to a matching requests or a related AN parameter, wherein the behavior corresponds to allowing/rejecting a request, modifying an AN parameter and/or generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- and
- one or more logical connections between the AN-IC and one or more interface nodes;
- wherein the method comprises:
- sending, by the AN-IC to the interface node, a request for an AN parameter related to the interface node;
- receiving, by the AN-IC from the interface node, an interface node message containing the requested AN parameter;
- sending, by the application to the AN-IC application, an application request for a second AN parameter, wherein the second AN parameter relates to the AN parameter;
- receiving, by the AN-IC from the AN-IC application, a further request for the AN parameter, wherein the AN parameter relates to the second AN parameter;
- receiving, by the AN-IC application from the AN-IC, a message containing the AN parameter requested in the further request;
- and
- matching, by the AN-IC application, the further request to a policy element based on the information contained in the application request for the second AN parameter.
11 more elements
9:
- The method of claim 8, further comprising:
- sending, by the AN-IC application to the application, a message;
- wherein the message comprises:
- in case of the matching behavior indicating generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter, a second further AN parameter analogous to the second AN parameter;
- in case of the matching behavior indicating modifying an AN parameter, a modified second AN parameter derived from the second AN parameter;
- or
- in case of the matching behavior indicating rejecting the request, a message rejecting the application request.
4 more elements
10:
- An access network (AN), comprising:
- one or more AN components, wherein at least one AN component contains an interface node;
- and
- an AN Intelligent Controller (AN-IC);
- wherein the AN-IC comprises:
- an AN-IC application configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from the interface node, via the AN-IC;
- one or more policy elements, each policy element containing a behavior to be applied to a matching requests or a related AN parameter, wherein the behavior corresponds to allowing/rejecting a request, modifying an AN parameter and/or generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- and
- one or more logical connections between the AN-IC and one or more interface nodes;
- and
- wherein the AN-IC is configured to:
- send, to an interface node, a request for an AN parameter related to the interface node;
- receive, from the interface node, an interface node message containing the requested AN parameter;
- receive, from the AN-IC application, a further request for the requested AN parameter;
- and
- match the further request to a policy element based on the information contained in the further message request or interface node message.
13 more elements
11:
- The AN of claim 10, wherein the AN is a radio access network (RAN), and wherein a respective AN component is radio unit (RU), a central unit (CU), or a distributed unit (DU);
- and
- wherein the AN-IC is configured to send to the AN-IC application, a message, wherein the message comprises:
- in case of the matching behavior indicating generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter, a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- in case of the matching behavior indicating modifying an AN parameter, a modified AN parameter derived from the AN parameter;
- or
- in case of the matching behavior indicating rejecting the request, a message rejecting the application request.
4 more elements
12:
- The AN of claim 10, wherein modifying the AN parameter corresponds to replacing, removing, re-mapping, hashing, encrypting, obscuring or otherwise altering AN parameters or parts thereof;
- and/or
- wherein the AN-IC is further configured to apply the behavior from the matching policy element to the AN parameter received from the interface node.
13:
- The AN of claim 10, wherein the AN-IC further comprises a Shared Data Layer (SDL) configured to store AN parameters, and wherein the AN-IC is further configured to:
- store, after receiving the further request for the requested AN parameter, the received AN parameter in the SDL;
- retrieve the AN parameter from the SDL;
- and
- apply the behavior from the matching policy element to the retrieved AN parameter.
2 more elements
14:
- The AN of claim 10, wherein the AN-IC further comprises a Shared Data Layer (SDL) configured to store AN parameters, and wherein the AN-IC is further configured to:
- apply the behavior from the matching policy element to the AN parameter;
- store, after receiving the further request for the requested AN parameter, the received AN parameter in the SDL;
- and
- retrieve the AN parameter from the SDL.
2 more elements
15:
- An access network (AN), comprising:
- one or more AN components, wherein each AN component contains an interface node;
- and
- an AN Intelligent Controller, wherein the AN-IC comprises:
- an application configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from an interface node, via an AN-IC application;
- the AN-IC application, wherein the AN-IC application is configured to request and/or subscribe to one or more AN parameters from a respective interface node, via the AN-IC;
- one or more policy elements, each policy element containing a behavior to be applied to a matching request or a related AN parameter, wherein the behavior corresponds to allowing/rejecting a request, modifying a AN parameter and/or generating a further AN parameter analogous to the AN parameter;
- and
- one or more logical connections between the AN-IC and one or more interface nodes;
- wherein the AN-IC is configured to:
- send, to an interface node, a request for an AN parameter related to the interface node;
- and
- receive, from the interface node, an interface node message containing the requested AN parameter;
- wherein the application is configured to send, to the AN-IC application, an application request for a second AN parameter, wherein the second AN parameter relates to the AN parameter;
- wherein the AN-IC is further configured to receive, from the AN-IC application, a further request for the AN parameter, wherein the AN parameter relates to the second AN parameter;
- and
- wherein the AN-IC application is configured to:
- receive, from the AN-IC, a message containing the AN parameter requested in the further request;
- and
- match the further request to a policy element based on the information contained in the application request for a second AN parameter.
17 more elements
16:
- The method of claim 1, wherein the further request is matched to at least one of:
- an interface node and/or interface node type;
- a requested AN parameter;
- or
- a requester AN-IC application.
2 more elements
17:
- The method of claim 16, wherein the interface node and/or the interface node type is an interface node identifier or an object identifier (OID) identifying the type of the interface node.
18:
- The method of claim 16, wherein the requested AN parameter is an object identifier (OID) identifying a variable within an interface node or within an E2 Service Model (E2SM).
19:
- The method of claim 16, wherein the requester AN-IC application is an xApp application identifier or rApp application identifier.