US 2026/0101206 A1 · OPEN RADIO ALTERNATE M-PLANE ADAPTATION METHOD AND PROCEDURE

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, communicating management plane (M-plane) data at a first port of a radio unit (RU), the RU being one RU of a set of radio units (RUs) at a cell site of a network operator, the M-plane data related to management and control of the RU, wherein the communicating M-plane data comprises communicating the M-plane data with a distributed unit (DU) over an M-plane segment, and initiating communication of the M-plane data at a second port of the RU, the second port configured for data communication over an alternate M-plane segment to a second RU of the set of RUs for forwarding the M-plane data to the DU over a second M-plane segment between the second RU and the DU, wherein the initiating communication is in response to an interruption in the communicating M-plane data. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Radio Unit (RU), comprising:

a first port configured for data communication;
a second port configured for data communication with another O-RAN RU operating in an O-RAN;
a processing system including a processor;
and
a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
communicating management plane (M-plane) data on the first port over an M-plane segment with a distributed unit (DU) operating in the O-RAN;
detecting a failover condition of the M-plane segment;
and
automatically selecting the second port for communication of the M-plane data with the DU, wherein the automatically selecting the second port is responsive to the detecting the failover condition of the M-plane segment.

6 more elements

A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

communicating management plane (M-plane) data at a first port of a radio unit (RU), the RU being one RU of a set of radio units (RUs) at a cell site of a network operator, the M-plane data related to management and control of the RU, wherein the communicating M-plane data comprises communicating the M-plane data with a distributed unit (DU) over an M-plane segment;
and
initiating communication of the M-plane data at a second port of the RU, the second port configured for data communication over an alternate M-plane segment to a second RU of the set of RUs for forwarding the M-plane data to the DU over a second M-plane segment between the second RU and the DU, wherein the initiating communication is in response to an interruption in the communicating M-plane data.

A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processing system including a processor, configuration information for a radio unit (RU) of a plurality of radio units (RUs) arranged for cellular communications at a base station of a cellular network;
communicating, by the processing system, management plane (M-plane) data on a first port of the RU, the M-plane data related to management and control of the RU;
wherein the communicating the M-plane data is responsive to the configuration information, wherein the communicating the M-plane data comprises exchanging data with a distributed unit (DU) over an M-plane segment, wherein the DU is associated with the cellular network;
receiving, by the processing system, updated configuration information related to an interruption in communication between a second RU of the plurality of RUs and the DU;
configuring, by the processing system, a second port of the RU for communication of M-plane data with the second RU;
receiving, by the processing system, rerouted M-plane data detected at the second port of the RU on an alternate M-plane segment between the RU and the second RU;
and
communicating, by the processing system, the rerouted M-plane data between the second port of the RU and the first port of the RU for communication over the M-plane segment with the DU.

5 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Open radio alternate m-plane adaptation method and procedure

Life of this patent

Open radio alternate m-plane adaptation method and procedure

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20