Patent Application
20220386166
The present application relates generally to enhancement function discovery and, more particularly, to proposing methods and apparatus for the enhancement function discovery via a wireless network assistance framework.
Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.
Today's networks do more than just forwarding traffic. It is a common practice for a network operator to capture traffic traversing its network for monitoring, inspection, and/or classification, so that necessary measures can be taken to ensure good network health and/or user experience. When unencrypted application and/or transport protocols (such as Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), partially HTTP Secure (HTTPS), or Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)) are used, a network operator (also referred to as network provider) usually does not require close collaboration with an Over-The-Top (OTT) service, application, and/or content provider (collectively referred to as service provider in this disclosure) that offers services, applications, and contents through a network maintained/operated by the network operator. However, as service providers are deploying encrypted protocols (such as HTTP Version 3 (HTTP/3) or QUIC) at a fast pace, it is becoming more difficult for operators to use traffic for network monitoring or application optimization purposes in a non-collaborative way. To use network functions that optimize traffic or provide differential treatment when traffic is encrypted, the network operator and the service provider need to collaborate. Through this kind of collaboration, network operators and service providers can discover and/or negotiate the existence of a proxy (e.g., a QUIC proxy) or a QUIC performance enhancement function, which can be configured.
3GPP (the third Generation Partnership Project) provides an exposure framework. Yet the exposure framework has not been utilized to support performance enhancement functionality to be implemented in-band and/or on the path of application delivery.
Embodiments of the disclosure include methods implemented in a network node for traffic enhancement to apply to an application between a wireless device and a server, where the application is to be delivered using a QUIC session. In one embodiment, a method includes receiving from the wireless device, a request to activate a policy for the application between the wireless device and the server, where the request includes an identifier of the application and an indication to request an enhancement function. The method further includes, in response to the request to activate the policy for the application, transmitting to the wireless device, an authorization of traffic enhancement with information of a proxy node to provide the enhancement function upon the network node identifying the proxy node.
Embodiments of the disclosure include network nodes for applying traffic enhancement to an application between a wireless device and a server, where the application is to be delivered using a QUIC session. In one embodiment, a network device comprises a processor and non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored instructions, which when executed by the processor, is capable of causing the network node to perform receiving from the wireless device, a request to activate a policy for the application between the wireless device and the server, where the request includes an identifier of the application and an indication to request an enhancement function. The network node is caused to further perform in response to the request to activate the policy for the application, transmitting to the wireless device, an authorization of traffic enhancement with information of a proxy node to provide the enhancement function upon the network node identifying the proxy node.
Embodiments of the disclosure include non-transitory computer-readable storage media having stored instructions for traffic enhancement to apply to an application between a wireless device and a server, where the application is to be delivered using a QUIC session. In one embodiment, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored instructions, where the instructions when executed by the processor of a network node, are capable of causing the network node to perform receiving from the wireless device, a request to activate a policy for the application between the wireless device and the server, where the request includes an identifier of the application and an indication to request an enhancement function. The network node is caused to further perform in response to the request to activate the policy for the application, transmitting to the wireless device, an authorization of traffic enhancement with information of a proxy node to provide the enhancement function upon the network node identifying the proxy node.
Embodiments of the disclosure provide mechanisms to utilize the exposure framework and support the discovery and usage of performance enhancement functionality, thus allow a network operator and a service provider to collaborate and provide performance enhancement or charging enhancement in a wireless network. For example, the solutions proposed in this disclosure may reuse and/or extend the 5G Network Assistance application programming interfaces (APIs) to discover, configure, and use (1) performance enhancement functionality such as traffic prioritization to improve the end users' Quality of Experience (QoE) and/or (2) charging functionality such as sponsored data provided by service, application, and/or content providers. The enhancement functionality may be implemented in an on-path COllaborative Performance Enhancement (COPE) entity (also referred to as a COPE proxy) or another proxy (e.g., another QUIC proxy). For simplicity of discussion, COPE entity is used as an example of the proxy for traffic enhancement in some embodiments of the disclosure, but other proxies may be implemented in place of the COPE entity in these and other embodiments of the disclosure as well. Similarly, while QUIC session is used as an example of an encrypted transport protocol that supports the enhancement functionality through a proxy, other encrypted transport protocols may be implemented in place of the QUIC protocol in these and other embodiments of the disclosure as well.
A service provider may use the abstract Network Assistance APIs to discover a COPE entity and its functionalities, provided by the network's operator or by a third-party network, for a certain type of network support function. Further, they can use the same abstract API to explicitly configure the use of COPE for certain traffic flows, where the application, after discovering COPE entity, sends all of the application's traffic via COPE entity; thus, the network does not need to interfere in the application traffic. In the scope of this disclosure, one or more applications may run atop of QUIC and it is, therefore, encrypted. Note that there is no restriction in terms of capabilities offered by COPE to any application.
Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, the proposed solution allows the discovery and configuration of an enhancement function (e.g., by using COPE entity), to request network support for a particular (encrypted) application traffic. The Network Assistance framework can be hosted by both 3GPP and third-party networks. Use of the Network Assistance interface for COPE discovery and configuration enables faster deployment and simple usage of policy enforcement for traffic between a wireless device and a service provider via COPE. The discovery and configuration of the enhancement function allows the wireless device to request/receive a QoE or sponsored data that is suitable to the particular application traffic over a QUIC connection.
Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Additional information may also be found in the document(s) provided in the Appendix.
QUIC
QUIC is a general-purpose transport layer network protocol. While it may be referred to as the acronym for Quick User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Internet Connections, some organizations (e.g., Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)) refer to QUIC as the name of the protocol without treating it as an acronym. QUIC may be viewed as similar to Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)+enhancement such as Transport Layer Security (TLS) and/or Hypertext Transfer Protocol 2.0 (HTTP/2 or HTTP/2.0) but implemented on top of UDP. QUIC is therefore a UDP based stream-multiplexed and secure transport protocol with integrity protected header and encrypted payload. Yet unlike the traditional transport protocol stack with TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which resides in the operating system kernel, QUIC can easily be implemented in the application layer. Consequently, this improves flexibility in terms of transport protocol evolution with implementation of new features, congestion control, deployability, and adoption. QUIC uses TLS for security handshake by default. TLS exchanges the necessary keying material in the protocol's handshake. The use of TLS (defined in IETF Request for Comments (RFC) 8446) or Datagram TLS (DTLS) (under discussion, see IETF Internet-Draft draft-ietf-ds-dtls13-31 dated Mar. 25, 2019) is very common as a transport security solution independent from the underlying transport protocol being TCP or UDP. Note that HTTP-over-QUIC is sometimes referred to as HTTP/3 as approved by IETF.
While QUIC standardization efforts started less than 7 years ago, presently it represents nearly 10% of the Internet traffic pushed by large Internet domains. QUIC is becoming a main transport protocol in the Internet's user plane. Many applications running today over HTTP/HTTPS may migrate to QUIC, driven by QUIC's latency improvements and stronger security. Notably, encryption in QUIC covers both the transport protocol headers as well as the payload, as opposed to TLS over TCP (e.g., HTTPS), which protects only the payload.
Proxy
A proxy is an intermediary program/software (or hardware such as a network node implementing such intermediary program/software) acting as a server, a client, or a combination of the server or client for some functionalities as the proxy may create or simply relay requests on behalf of other entities. The proxy may be implemented on a path between a server and a client. Note that each of the client, server, and proxy may be implemented in one or more network nodes such as client nodes, server nodes, and intermediate (on-path) nodes, respectively. Each of a server or client node may be referred to as an endpoint node.
Requests are serviced internally or by passing them on, with possible translation, to other servers. There are several types of proxies, including the following: (1) A “transparent proxy” is a proxy that does not modify the request or response beyond what is required for proxy authentication and identification; (2) a “non-transparent proxy” is a proxy that modifies the request or response to provide some added service to the user agent, such as group annotation services, media type transformation, protocol reduction, or anonymity filtering; (3) a “reverse proxy” basically is a proxy that pretends to be the actual server (as far as any client or client proxy is concerned), but it passes on the request to the actual server that is usually sitting behind another layer of firewalls; and (4) a “performance enhancement proxy” (PEP) is used to improve the performance of protocols on network paths (e.g., where native performance suffers due to characteristics of a link or subnetwork on the path).
5G Reference Architecture
NEF (Network Exposure Function)
The Network Exposure Function (NEF) 101 supports different functionality and specifically in the context of this Disclosure, NEF acts as the entry point into an operator's network, so an external Application Function (AF) interacts with the 3GPP Core Network through NEF.
PCF (Policy Control Function)
The Policy Control Function (PCF) 102 supports a unified policy framework to govern the network behavior. Specifically, for this disclosure, the PCF provides Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules to the Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), i.e., the SMF/UPF that enforces policy and charging decisions according to provisioned PCC rules.
SMF (Session Management Function)
The Session Management Function (SMF) 104 supports different functionalities; specifically, for this disclosure, SMF receives PCC rules from the PCF and configures the UPF accordingly.
UPF (User Plane Function)
The User Plane Function (UPF) 106 supports handling of user plane traffic based on the rules received from the SMF; specifically, for this disclosure, packet inspection and different enforcement actions such as traffic steering, Quality of Service (QoS), charging, etc.
Over-The-Top (OTT) Services
OTT services are provided by a service provider across one or multiple IP networks, for example, the Internet. The service provider here is solely responsible for content controlling and distribution and they usually do it by bypassing telecommunication, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), or broadcast channels, and treating the Internet as a black box. Even though the basic principle of operation is “best-effort,” both service and network providers deploy many techniques to guarantee QoS requirements. These include Content Delivery Network (CDN), caching, proxying, load balancing, transport protocol optimization for cellular and satellite networks, and other traffic engineering.
3GPP supports an exposure framework between a network operator and a service provider, and the exposure framework is based on control plane signaling (which is an out-of-band channel separate from the user's data traffic). This framework allows the service provider to cooperate with the network operator on, for example, policy enforcement and quality assurance. Yet this architecture is not widely used from the beginning of the deployment of an OTT service because it requires particular Service Level Agreements (SLAs) to be in place between multiple, if not all, parties involved. Moreover, this is costly and rather difficult to achieve.
COllaborative Performance Enhancement (COPE) Node and/or Function
A COllaborative Performance Enhancement (COPE) node or function (the COPE node/function may also be referred to as a COPE entity) may be implemented in a network device containing a QUIC proxy and/or performance/traffic enhancement features/functions, and the COPE node may be an intermediate/on-path node (referred to as a COPE node for it implementing the COPE functions) between two endpoints, usually in a client and server setup but also in a peer to peer communication setup, that use encrypted communication.
One communicating party (e.g., a client) may explicitly contact an on-path COPE entity in order to request a network-support service. This service, at a minimum, always includes forwarding of the encrypted traffic to a specific server (e.g., when the server is otherwise not directly reachable). In addition, the endpoints can share traffic information with the COPE entity such that the COPE entity can execute a requested enhancement function to improve the QoS of the traffic as well as optimize operations within the network. Alternatively, the COPE entity may provide additional information about the network that enables the endpoint to optimize its data transfer, e.g., use a more optimized congestion control or delay pre-fetching activities.
The network assistance may be performed by a number of entities within a core network of the wireless network. For example, the SMF 314 may provide management functions for sessions between the applicant clients 302/304 and the application servers 352/354. The PCF 316 may provide functions about policy and charging control rules for the sessions, and the UPF 318 may monitor the user plane traffic based on the rules received from SMF 314. The COPE entity 312 may provide enhancement functions for the sessions.
Application Network Interaction
The network assistance client 404 is the client (e.g., client 202) for a QUIC session. In one embodiment, the network assistance client 404 may be a UE 5G Media Function such as a media player. The media player has APIs such as UE Media Session Handling APIs (referred to as M6d in 3GPP TS 26.501) and/or UE Media Player APIs (referred to as M7d in 3GPP TS 26.501) for the application 402 to use to deploy enhancement functions. A UE may include multiple network assistance clients and each network assistance client may offer a service to a different UE application (e.g., Netflix application, YouTube application, etc.), so that the network assistance client may request a policy to be applied by the wireless network on the particular application traffic. The policy may be QoS related (e.g., traffic delay, congestion, packet loss) regarding Quality of Experience (QoE) of a user. Additionally, the policy may be charging related regarding sponsored data for the particular application traffic. For example, the UE application may request a sponsorship for the particular UE or a (registered) user of the UE so that the traffic of the UE application is not charged or charged at a discounted rate.
The network assistance client 404 communicates with the network through one or more signalling interfaces (e.g., a Network Assistance API 430) towards a Network Assistance Application Function (NA AF) 414. In one embodiment, the NA AF 414 is a media Application Function (AF). The signalling interfaces allow the network assistance client 404 to interact with the network and influence or enforce a certain delivery policy (e.g., a media delivery policy for a media client implemented as the network assistance client 404). With this architecture, a client interacting with a wireless network 490 (e.g., a 5G core (5GC) network) can request policies for handling user plane traffic. The NA AF 414 can reside as an application function in the UPF 418, allowing it to communicate with a PCF via a SMF (not shown); or it could be a third-party entity hosted by and interacting with the PCF via a NEF as shown at reference 416. An enhancement function may be implemented in a COPE entity 419, which can also reside as an application function in the UPF 418.
This architecture introduces common network assistance APIs, which can then be used to provide network assistance for the traffic between the wireless device 412 and a media/application server 422. Note that the architecture framework may be used for media, other applications, and/or UPF traffic to benefit from network assistance for enhanced quality of experience (QoE).
Embodiments of the disclosure include an extension to a network assistance API 430 (e.g., a 5G network assistance API) by adding enhancement information (e.g., COPE information) in the policy activation response from the NA AF 414 towards the UE application. Note that as an assumption for the usage of network assistance, a service provider (e.g., the service provider 424 that provides content and/application through its media/application server 422) has a Service-Level Agreement (SLA) 440 in place with a network operator (e.g., the operator of the wireless network 490 or core network 292). The service provider can then install policies for the application traffic of interest through the network assistance API 430 to explicitly leverage enhancement capabilities provided by the network operator. The application traffic is then transported through user (data) plane 432, which may reach the media/application server 422 through a content delivery network (CDN) edge 420. Note that the network proxy that performs the enhancement function (e.g., a COPE entity) may be a logical function located either inside or outside the UPF 418 as well as a network node that is physically coupled to the UPF 418.
When a network assistance client 404 starts the session towards the server 422, it sends a request to activate the policy towards the NA AF 414. The NA AF 414 authorizes the policy usage for the particular application, indicating that it wants to explicitly use the COPE function and the required COPE capabilities. In the response to the policy activation request, the NA AF 414 sends the COPE information that it wants the application to use. The application 402 then starts the communication with COPE to establish a multi-layer security context with QUIC towards the server 422.
In one embodiment, the required information for COPE to be able to be explicitly addressed includes one or more of the following: (1) Global ID or a Common Name (CNAME), (2) COPE certificate (Cert), and/or (3) Optional IP address and/or port. The COPE information and, in some embodiments, a validity time may be conveyed to the application 402 in the policy activation response from the NA AF 414 towards the wireless device 412. The validity time is a timer that indicates how long the COPE instance is available for the session and is sometimes referred to as lifetime.
In the same policy activation response, or in the subsequent communication between the wireless device 412 and the NA AF 414, the usage policy will be communicated so that the application reveals the information required for the COPE 419 to perform the desired function.
The PDU session creates a bearer between the wireless device 412 to the wireless network. The PDU session does not reach the media/application server 422, thus the PDU session by itself is insufficient to deliver traffic between the wireless device 412 and the media/application server 422. The PDU session may not have a service level agreement (SLA) specified for the QoS of the session. Thus, the PDU session may use a default SLA and/or QoS.
The wireless device 412 then starts an application using QUIC as the transport protocol. At reference 542, the wireless device 412 sends a request to activate a policy for its traffic. The activation request includes (1) an application identifier to indicate the type of traffic to be delivered to the wireless device and (2) an indication to request an enhancement function (e.g., a parameter of COPE required that is set to YES). While in some embodiments, the activation request indicates only that an enhancement function is requested, other embodiments further specify one or more particular enhancement functions for which the application requires.
The activation request may also indicate that QUIC is the transport protocol. In one embodiment, the indication to request an enhancement function may be an indication to request a proxy (or a proxy node) that performs the enhancement function. The enhancement function/proxy may be determined based on a subscriber policy profile of the wireless device or the user of the wireless device, and the subscriber policy profile may be saved in a unified data repository (UDR), through which the subscriber policy profile may be updated so that a different enhancement function/proxy may be used by the application.
The activation request is received at the NA AF 414, which authorizes the policy with traffic enhancement using a specific function (e.g., implemented using a proxy node such as a COPE node 519) at reference 544. The NA AF 414 may also reject the policy activation request (e.g., when it determines that the requested enhancement function cannot be performed for the indicated type of traffic). When that happens, the NA AF 414 may trigger a policy activation response message indicating an error, so that no enhancement function is assigned to the application.
For the NA AF 414 to authorize the policy, the NA AF 414 may interact with one or more of a PCF 520, a SMF 518, and the UPF 418. For example, the NA AF 414 may notify the PCF 520 about the activation request from the wireless device 412, and the PCF 520 may create/update its PCC rules and send a request message to the SMF 518. The SMF 518 may then request the UPF 418 to forward the application traffic to the proxy node implementing the specific function that satisfies the requested enhancement function for the type of traffic indicated by the activation request.
The UPF 418 may select, from multiple enhancement functions that are implemented on the path between the wireless device 412 and the media/application server 422 and each of which performs one or more enhancement functions, the specific function that satisfies the requested enhancement function for the type of traffic indicated by the activation request.
The UPF 418 then returns information about the proxy node implementing the specific function to the SMF 518, including one or more of the following: (1) Global ID or a Common Name (CNAME), (2) COPE certificate (Cert), (3) Optional IP address and/or port, and/or (4) validity time. The SMF 518 then passes along the information about the specific function to the PCF 520, which in turn notifies the NA AF 414.
At reference 546, the NA AF 414 responds to the request to activate the policy with the information about the node implementing the specific function (e.g., the COPE entity 519). Once the wireless device 412 obtains the information about the node, the wireless device 412 sets up a secured QUIC session with the node implementing the specific function (e.g., a COPE instance) at reference 564. For example, the QUIC session may use packets with a QUIC outer connection for communication with the node. The packets may have (1) the QUIC outer connection for communicating between the wireless device 412 and the node and (2) a QUIC inner connection for communicating between the wireless device 412 and the media/application server 422.
The specific enhancement on traffic between the wireless device 412 and the media/application server 422 allows the traffic to comply with a required SLA between the network operator of the wireless network and the service provider that maintains the media/application server 422. The user traffic can then be transmitted through a QUIC inner end-to-end connection using the inner end-to-end connection at reference 566.
Note that a COPE node may perform a set of functions, including one or more of the following:
The client and COPE node will agree on the feature usage. The encryption of the COPE information may use the existing encryption algorithms known in the art. For example, the encryption can use so-called hybrid encryption algorithm (e.g., Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES)) consisting of a key encapsulation mechanism and a data encapsulation mechanism) or other symmetric/asymmetric encryption algorithms.
An Exemplary Embodiment
Preconditions: The UE's PDU session is already established. The UE's PDU session, as discussed earlier, does not reach the application server. Also, this solution assumes a default policy to handle applications (e.g., YouTube), which could be based on an existing SLA between the network operator and the content provider.
Step 1) The UE opens an application (e.g., YouTube) using QUIC as transport protocol.
Step 2) Before starting the application (e.g., YouTube), the UE's application entity (YouTube) triggers a Policy Activation Request message to the UE's Network Assistance entity (in 3GPP terminology, this entity is called “5G Media Functions,” but embodiments of the disclosure is not restricted to Media), by means of reusing/extending the API described in 3GPP TS 26.501 (e.g., M6d). This Policy Activation Request message will include as parameters the application identifier (e.g., appId=YouTube), and an indication to request COPE (e.g., COPE required=YES) (an enhancement function). By utilizing the API between the UE's application and the network assistance client to request traffic enhancement (e.g., QoS related or charging related) on applications between a UE (or another wireless device) and a server, embodiments of the disclosure provide efficient ways for the applications to traverse a wireless network of a network operator and reach an application server of a service provider, so that traffic enhancement may be performed on the traffic to comply with the SLAs for the applications.
Note that in prior approaches without embodiments of the disclosure, a wireless device such as the UE cannot indicate a request for an enhancement function in a policy activation request and thus do not provide a sufficient QoE for the end-user.
Step 3) The UE's Network Assistance client triggers a Policy Activation Request message to the NA AF entity, including the same parameters from Step 2: the application identifier (e.g., appId=YouTube) and an indication to request COPE (e.g., COPE required=YES).
Step 4) The NA AF authorizes the request and triggers a Policy Activation Request message to the PCF, including the same parameters, i.e., relaying, from Steps 2 and 3: the application identifier (e.g., appId=YouTube) and an indication to request COPE (e.g., COPE required=YES).
Steps 5 and 6) The PCF creates/updates the corresponding PCC rule(s) (based on the NA AF request) and triggers a Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Modify Request message to the SMF, including the same parameters from Steps 3 and 4: the application identifier (e.g., appId=YouTube) and an indication to request COPE (e.g., COPE required=YES). It is proposed to extend the PCC rule with COPE policies. For example, the updated PCC rule may include the following: (1) applD=YouTube, and (2) Policy and Charging actions (e.g., to charge this traffic with a certain Rating Group or to apply a certain QoS action, e.g., high QoS) to request a performance enhancement function for the YouTube traffic for this particular user PDU session.
Steps 7 and 8) The SMF then requests the UPF to forward the application traffic to a COPE entity by triggering a packet flow control protocol (PFCP) Session Modification Request including at least the following parameters: a packet detection rule (PDR) with packet detection information (PDI) (e.g., appId=YouTube) and a forward action rule (FAR) including a Forwarding Policy indicating this traffic should be forwarded to the COPE entity. Note that the PDR/PDI is used to include rules to detect user plane traffic (e.g., YouTube) and the FAR is to indicate where to forward the traffic to.
Steps 9 and 10) The UPF selects a COPE entity (according to the FAR received in Step 8) and returns the relevant COPE information (e.g., Global ID or CNAME, Validity time, COPE node certificate, and the COPE IP address (optionally)) to the SMF in the PFCP Session Modification Response message. Note that in prior approaches without embodiments of the disclosure, the session modification response message merely indicates that the modification has been successful, and embodiments of the disclosure enhance the session modification response message with performance enhancement information such as the relevant COPE information.
Step 11) The SMF triggers a Npcf_SMPolicyControl_Modify Response message to the PCF, including the COPE information (e.g., Global ID or CNAME, Validity time, COPE node certificate, Optional COPE IP address).
Step 12) The PCF triggers a Policy Activation Response message to the NA AF, including the COPE information from Step 11 (e.g., Global ID or CNAME, Validity time, COPE node certificate, Optional COPE IP address).
Step 13) The NA AF triggers a Policy Activation Response message to the UE's Network Assistance entity, including the COPE information (e.g., Global ID or CNAME, Validity time, COPE node certificate, Optional COPE IP address).
Step 14) The UE's Network Assistance entity triggers a Policy Activation Response message to the UE's Application entity, including the COPE information (e.g., Global ID or CNAME, Validity time, COPE node certificate, Optional COPE IP address).
Step 15) The UE application (e.g., YouTube) will use the COPE information to identify the COPE entity or a COPE instance of the COPE entity (e.g., either through Global ID or CNAME by means of an existing domain name system (DNS), or directly through the COPE IP address, when provided). When this is done, the application client (e.g., YouTube app) may establish a connection towards the COPE instance (e.g., application client creating an outer QUIC connection to the COPE instance) and YouTube application traffic will pass through the COPE instance.
As long as the COPE information is valid (as indicated by the validity time), the UE can use this information and connection to the COPE instance without re-requesting the information over the 5G Network Assistance API. In case the Validity time expires, the UE triggers a new Policy Activation Request, allowing the network to potentially select a different COPE instance. It is assumed that, as part of the SLA between the network operator and the content provider, the UE application client (e.g., YouTube app) is well behaved and YouTube traffic (and not other) will pass through the COPE instance.
Finally, not shown in
Operations at Network Node and Wireless Device
At reference 702, a PDU session is established between the wireless device and the network device as explained herein above relating to reference 532. At reference 704, the network device receives, from the wireless device, a request to activate a policy for the application between the wireless device and the server. The request to activate the policy is explained herein above relating to reference 542 and steps 1 to 3 of
At reference 706, in response to the request to activate the policy for the application, the network node transmits, to the wireless device, an authorization of traffic enhancement with information of a proxy node to provide the enhancement function upon the network node identifying the proxy node. In one embodiment, the proxy node implements a COPE entity discussed herein above.
The operations between the network node and the wireless device may be through a network assistance API in embodiments of the disclosure as discussed herein above. Thus, the network assistance API is not limited to media applications as described in 3GPP TS 26.501 but can be used to enhance the QUIC session on different types of traffic and by applying a variety of charging related and/or QoS related enhancement functions.
The authorization of the traffic enhancement and the identification of the proxy node is explained herein above relating to reference 544 and 546, and also steps 4 to 13 of
In one embodiment, the authorization of traffic enhancement is transmitted with a lifetime indicating a period during which the enhancement function is available to the wireless device to open the QUIC session and request the enhancement function. The lifetime is the validity time discussed herein above in some embodiments.
In one embodiment, the information of the proxy node to provide the enhancement function includes one or more of the following: a global identifier or a common name of the proxy node, a certificate of the proxy node, an Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or port of the proxy node, and an indication of one or more functions that are provided by the proxy node.
In one embodiment, the network node performs a network assistance application function (NA AF), and the identification of the proxy node includes transmitting a policy activation request message to a policy control function (PCF) upon receiving the request to activate the policy, where the policy activation request message includes the application identifier and the indication to request the enhancement function; and receiving a policy activation response message from the PCF, where the policy activation response message includes the information of the proxy node to provide the enhancement function. One embodiment of these operations is explained by steps 4 and 12 of
In one embodiment, upon receiving the policy activation request message from the NA AF, the PCF is to perform the following: updating or creating one or more policy and charging control rules; transmitting a policy control modify request message to a session management function (SMF); receiving a policy control modify response message from the SMF, wherein the policy control modify response message includes the information of the proxy node to provide the enhancement function; and transmitting the policy activation response message to the NA AF. One embodiment of these operations is explained by steps 4-5 and 11-12 of
In one embodiment, upon receiving the policy control modify request message, the SMF is to perform the following: transmitting a packet flow control protocol session modification request message to a user plane function (UPF); receiving a packet flow control protocol session modification response message from the UPF, where the packet flow control protocol session modification response includes the information of the proxy node to provide the enhancement function; and transmitting the policy control modify response message to the PCF. One embodiment of these operations is explained by steps 6-7 and 10 of
In one embodiment, upon receiving the packet flow control protocol session modification request message, the UPF is to perform: selecting a proxy node to perform the enhancement function; and transmitting the packet flow control protocol session modification response message to the SMF. One embodiment of these operations is explained by steps 8 and 10 of
At reference 802, a PDU session is established between the wireless device and the network device as explained herein above relating to reference 532. At reference 804, the wireless device transmits to the network node a request to activate a policy for the application between the wireless device and the server, where the request includes an identifier of the application, and an indication to request an enhancement function. The request to activate the policy is explained herein above relating to reference 542 and steps 1 to 3 of
At reference 806, the wireless device receives from the network node an authorization of traffic enhancement with information of a proxy node to provide the enhancement function. One embodiment of these operations is explained by reference 546 and steps 13 and 14 of
At reference 808, the wireless device establishes a connection between the wireless device and the proxy node, using the information of the proxy node, to apply the enhancement function on the QUIC session.
In one embodiment, the connection between the wireless device and the proxy node uses an outer connection of the QUIC session for the application, wherein an inner connection of the QUIC session is for an end-to-end connection between the wireless device and the server.
In one embodiment, the authorization of traffic enhancement is transmitted with a lifetime indicating a period during which the enhancement function is available to use. The lifetime is the validity time discussed herein above in some embodiments.
In one embodiment, the information of the proxy node to provide the enhancement function includes one or more of the following: a global identifier or a common name of the proxy node, a certificate of the proxy node, an Internet Protocol (IP) address and/or port of the proxy node, and an indication of one or more functions that are provided by the proxy node.
Through the request to activate the policy for an application and its response, embodiments of the disclosure provide ways for a wireless device (e.g., a UE) to collaborate with the network operator and/or the service provider to perform one or more enhancement functions to make the QUIC traffic session comply with a SLA between the network operator and service provider for the application to be used by the wireless device. Since the QUIC traffic session is encrypted and the proxy node in embodiments of the disclosure offers traffic enhancement on the application traffic in the encrypted environment, embodiments of the disclosure make QUIC-based applications more secure (through encryption) and robust (through proxy-based enhancement).
Embodiments of Network Node and Wireless Device
The network node 902 includes hardware 940 comprising of a set of one or more processors 942 (which are typically COTS processors or processor cores or ASICs) and physical NIs 946, as well as non-transitory machine-readable storage media 949 having stored therein software 950. During operation, the one or more processors 942 may execute the software 950 to instantiate one or more sets of one or more applications 964A-R. While one embodiment does not implement virtualization, alternative embodiments may use different forms of virtualization. For example, in one such alternative embodiment, the virtualization layer 954 represents the kernel of an operating system (or a shim executing on a base operating system) that allows for the creation of multiple instances 962A-R called software containers that may each be used to execute one (or more) of the sets of applications 964A-R. The multiple software containers (also called virtualization engines, virtual private servers, or jails) are user spaces (typically a virtual memory space) that are separate from each other and separate from the kernel space in which the operating system is run. The set of applications running in a given user space, unless explicitly allowed, cannot access the memory of the other processes. In another such alternative embodiment, the virtualization layer 954 represents a hypervisor (sometimes referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM)) or a hypervisor executing on top of a host operating system, and each of the sets of applications 964A-R run on top of a guest operating system within an instance 962A-R called a virtual machine (which may in some cases be considered a tightly isolated form of software container) that run on top of the hypervisor—the guest operating system and application may not know that they are running on a virtual machine as opposed to running on a “bare metal” host electronic device, or through para-virtualization the operating system and/or application may be aware of the presence of virtualization for optimization purposes. In yet other alternative embodiments, one, some, or all of the applications are implemented as unikernel(s), which can be generated by compiling directly with an application only a limited set of libraries (e.g., from a library operating system (LibOS) including drivers/libraries of OS services) that provide the particular OS services needed by the application, As a unikernel can be implemented to run directly on hardware 940, directly on a hypervisor (in which case the unikernel is sometimes described as running within a LibOS virtual machine), or in a software container, embodiments can be implemented fully with unikernels running directly on a hypervisor represented by virtualization layer 954, unikernels running within software containers represented by instances 962A-R, or as a combination of unikernels and the above-described techniques (e.g., unikernels and virtual machines both run directly on a hypervisor, unikernels and sets of applications that are run in different software containers).
The software 950 contains a traffic enhancement coordinator 920. The traffic enhancement coordinator 920 may perform operations in the one or more of exemplary methods/operations, described with reference to earlier figures such as
A network interface (NI) may be physical or virtual. In the context of IP, an interface address is an IP address assigned to a NI, be it a physical NI or a virtual NI. A virtual NI may be associated with a physical NI, with another virtual interface, or stand on its own (e.g., a loopback interface, a point-to-point protocol interface). A NI (physical or virtual) may be numbered (a NI with an IP address) or unnumbered (a NI without an IP address). The physical network interface 946 may include one or more antenna of the network node 902. An antenna port may or may not correspond to a physical antenna.
Note that a wireless device may be implemented using hardware and/or software same or similar to the ones used by the network node discussed herein above.
Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in
The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, and/or ZigBee standards.
Network 1006 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, IP networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks (WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.
Network node 1060 and WD 1010 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and new radio (NR) NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., mobile switching centers (MSCs), mobility management entities (MMEs)), operational and management (0 & M) nodes, operation support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs). As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network.
In
Similarly, network node 1060 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and an RNC component, or a B TS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 1060 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair may, in some instances, be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 1060 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate device readable medium 1080 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1062 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 1060 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1060, such as, for example, GSM, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1060.
Processing circuitry 1070 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry 1070 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1070 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
Processing circuitry 1070 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with, other network node 1060 components, such as device readable medium 1080, network node 1060 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 1070 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1080 or in memory within processing circuitry 1070. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1070 may include a system on a chip (SOC).
In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1070 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1072 and baseband processing circuitry 1074. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1072 and baseband processing circuitry 1074 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1072 and baseband processing circuitry 1074 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.
In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB, or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 1070 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1080 or memory within processing circuitry 1070. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1070 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1070 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1070 alone or to other components of network node 1060, but are enjoyed by network node 1060 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Device readable medium 1080 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable, and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1070. Device readable medium 1080 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc., and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1070 and utilized by network node 1060. Device readable medium 1080 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 1070 and/or any data received via interface 1090. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1070 and device readable medium 1080 may be considered to be integrated.
Interface 1090 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between network node 1060, network 1006, and/or WDs 1010. As illustrated, interface 1090 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1094 to send and receive data, for example, to and from network 1006 over a wired connection. Interface 1090 also includes radio front end circuitry 1092 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 1062. Radio front end circuitry 1092 comprises filters 1098 and amplifiers 1096. Radio front end circuitry 1092 may be connected to antenna 1062 and processing circuitry 1070. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1062 and processing circuitry 1070. Radio front end circuitry 1092 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1092 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1098 and/or amplifiers 1096. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1062 Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1062 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 1092. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1070. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1060 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1092; instead, processing circuitry 1070 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 1062 without separate radio front end circuitry 1092. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 1072 may be considered a part of interface 1090. In still other embodiments, interface 1090 may include one or more ports or terminals 1094, radio front end circuitry 1092, and RF transceiver circuitry 1072, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 1090 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 1074, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
Antenna 1062 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1062 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 1090 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 1062 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector, or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO). In certain embodiments, antenna 1062 may be separate from network node 1060 and may be connectable to network node 1060 through an interface or port.
Antenna 1062, interface 1090, and/or processing circuitry 1070 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node, and/or any other network equipment Similarly, antenna 1062, interface 1090, and/or processing circuitry 1070 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node, and/or any other network equipment.
Power circuitry 1087 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 1060 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 1087 may receive power from power source 1086. Power source 1086 and/or power circuitry 1087 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 1060 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 1086 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 1087 and/or network node 1060. For example, network node 1060 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry 1087. As a further example, power source 1086 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 1087. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.
Alternative embodiments of network node 1060 may include additional components beyond those shown in
As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (IoT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may, in a 3GPP context, be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, home or personal appliances (e.g., refrigerators, televisions, etc.), or personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.
As illustrated, wireless device 1010 includes antenna 1011, interface 1014, processing circuitry 1020, device readable medium 1030, user interface equipment 1032, auxiliary equipment 1034, power source 1036, and power circuitry 1037. WD 1010 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 1010, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD 1010.
Antenna 1011 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 1014. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 1011 may be separate from WD 1010 and be connectable to WD 1010 through an interface or port. Antenna 1011, interface 1014, and/or processing circuitry 1020 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data, and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 1011 may be considered an interface.
As illustrated, interface 1014 comprises radio front end circuitry 1012 and antenna 1011. Radio front end circuitry 1012 comprise one or more filters 1018 and amplifiers 1016. Radio front end circuitry 1014 is connected to antenna 1011 and processing circuitry 1020, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1011 and processing circuitry 1020. Radio front end circuitry 1012 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 1011. In some embodiments, WD 1010 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1012; rather, processing circuitry 1020 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 1011 Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1022 may be considered a part of interface 1014. Radio front end circuitry 1012 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1012 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1018 and/or amplifiers 1016. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1011. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1011 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 1012. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1020. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
Processing circuitry 1020 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 1010 components, such as device readable medium 1030, WD 1010 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 1020 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1030 or in memory within processing circuitry 1020 to provide the functionality disclosed herein.
As illustrated, processing circuitry 1020 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 1022, baseband processing circuitry 1024, and application processing circuitry 1026. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments, processing circuitry 1020 of WD 1010 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1022, baseband processing circuitry 1024, and application processing circuitry 1026 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 1024 and application processing circuitry 1026 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 1022 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1022 and baseband processing circuitry 1024 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 1026 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1022, baseband processing circuitry 1024, and application processing circuitry 1026 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1022 may be a part of interface 1014. RF transceiver circuitry 1022 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 1020.
In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 1020 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1030, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1020 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1020 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1020 alone or to other components of WD 1010, but are enjoyed by WD 1010 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.
Processing circuitry 1020 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g., certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry 1020, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1020 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 1010, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
Device readable medium 1030 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc., and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1020. Device readable medium 1030 may include computer memory (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory (ROM)), mass storage media (e.g., a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable, and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1020. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1020 and device readable medium 1030 may be considered to be integrated.
User interface equipment 1032 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 1010. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 1032 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 1010. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 1032 installed in WD 1010. For example, if WD 1010 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 1010 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g., the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g., if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 1032 may include input interfaces, devices, and circuits, and output interfaces, devices, and circuits. User interface equipment 1032 is configured to allow input of information into WD 1010 and is connected to processing circuitry 1020 to allow processing circuitry 1020 to process the input information. User interface equipment 1032 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a universal serial bus (USB) port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 1032 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 1010, and to allow processing circuitry 1020 to output information from WD 1010. User interface equipment 1032 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 1032, WD 1010 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.
Auxiliary equipment 1034 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications, etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment 1034 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario.
Power source 1036 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD 1010 may further comprise power circuitry 1037 for delivering power from power source 1036 to the various parts of WD 1010 which need power from power source 1036 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 1037 may, in certain embodiments, comprise power management circuitry. Power circuitry 1037 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 1010 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry 1037 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 1036. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 1036. Power circuitry 1037 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 1036 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 1010 to which power is supplied.
In
In
In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 1105 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 1100 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 1105. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 1100. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. UE 1100 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 1105 to allow a user to capture information into UE 1100. The input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.
In
RAM 1117 may be configured to interface via bus 1102 to processing circuitry 1101 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 1119 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 1101. For example, ROM 1119 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 1121 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM, programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium 1121 may be configured to include operating system 1123, application program 1125 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 1127. Storage medium 1121 may store, for use by UE 1100, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
Storage medium 1121 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1121 may allow UE 1100 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium 1121, which may comprise a device readable medium.
In
In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem 1131 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, communication subsystem 1131 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 1143b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 1143b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 1113 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 1100.
The features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 1100 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 1100. Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software, or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem 1131 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 1101 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 1102. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 1101 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 1101 and communication subsystem 1131. In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 1200 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 1230. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.
The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 1220 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 1220 are run in virtualization environment 1200 which provides hardware 1230 comprising processing circuitry 1260 and memory 1290. Memory 1290 contains instructions 1295 executable by processing circuitry 1260 whereby application 1220 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.
Virtualization environment 1200 comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 1230 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 1260, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 1290-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 1295 or software executed by processing circuitry 1260. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 1270, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 1280. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 1290-2 having stored therein software 1295 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 1260. Software 1295 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 1250 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 1240 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features, and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
Virtual machines 1240 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface, and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1250 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 1220 may be implemented on one or more of virtual machines 1240, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
During operation, processing circuitry 1260 executes software 1295 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 1250, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 1250 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 1240.
As shown in
Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
In the context of NFV, virtual machine 1240 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtual machines 1240, and that part of hardware 1230 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines 1240, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).
Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines 1240 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 1230 and corresponds to application 1220 in
In some embodiments, one or more radio units 12200 that each include one or more transmitters 12220 and one or more receivers 12210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 12225. Radio units 12200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 1230 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station.
In some embodiments, some signaling can be affected with the use of control system 12230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 1230 and radio units 12200.
With reference to
Telecommunication network 1310 is itself connected to host computer 1330, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 1330 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 1321 and 1322 between telecommunication network 1310 and host computer 1330 may extend directly from core network 1314 to host computer 1330 or may go via an optional intermediate network 1320. Intermediate network 1320 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private, or hosted network; intermediate network 1320, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 1320 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
The communication system of
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station, and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to
Communication system 1400 further includes base station 1420 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 1425 enabling it to communicate with host computer 1410 and with UE 1430. Hardware 1425 may include communication interface 1426 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 1400, as well as radio interface 1427 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 1470 with UE 1430 located in a coverage area (not shown in
Communication system 1400 further includes UE 1430 already referred to. Its hardware 1435 may include radio interface 1437 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 1470 with a base station serving a coverage area in which UE 1430 is currently located. Hardware 1435 of UE 1430 further includes processing circuitry 1438, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 1430 further comprises software 1431, which is stored in or accessible by UE 1430 and executable by processing circuitry 1438. Software 1431 includes client application 1432. Client application 1432 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 1430, with the support of host computer 1410. In host computer 1410, an executing host application 1412 may communicate with the executing client application 1432 via OTT connection 1450 terminating at UE 1430 and host computer 1410. In providing the service to the user, client application 1432 may receive request data from host application 1412 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 1450 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 1432 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that host computer 1410, base station 1420, and UE 1430 illustrated in
In
Wireless connection 1470 between UE 1430 and base station 1420 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 1430 using OTT connection 1450, in which wireless connection 1470 forms the last segment.
More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the performance of applications between a wireless device and a server using QUIC as the transport protocol. For example, the proxy node may apply one or more enhancement function(s) on the application traffic, so that the application traffic has less traffic congestion. Note that the enhancement provided in embodiments of the disclosure may use the existing network assistance infrastructure and the exposure framework, so that the existing infrastructure can be maintained, and additional parameters/functions are added for embodiments of the disclosure. Note that the proxy node may apply QoS related enhancement functions or charging-related enhancement functions to the application as discussed herein above.
Thus, embodiments of the disclosure make QUIC applications more user friendly (since better QoE may be offered) and make the adaptation of QUIC applications smooth and thereby provide benefits such as higher security (through encryption in QUIC sessions), robust application performance (through proxy-based performance enhancement), and/or flexible service offering (through sponsored data).
A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 1450 between host computer 1410 and UE 1430, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 1450 may be implemented in software 1411 and hardware 1415 of host computer 1410 or in software 1431 and hardware 1435 of UE 1430, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 1450 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 1411, 1431 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of OTT connection 1450 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 1420, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 1420. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 1410′s measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 1411 and 1431 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using OTT connection 1450 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.
Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
Virtual Apparatus 1900 may comprise processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments.
In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause a PDU session unit 1902 to perform the operations discussed herein above relating to references 702, a transmit unit 1904 that performs the operation discussed herein above relating to 706, a receive unit 1906 that performs the operation discussed herein above relating to 704, and any other suitable units of apparatus 1900 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
In other implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause a PDU session unit 1902 to perform the operations discussed herein above relating to references 802, a transmit unit 1904 that performs the operation discussed herein above relating to 804, a receive unit 1906 that performs the operation discussed herein above relating to 806, an establishment unit 1908 that performs the operation discussed herein above relating to 808, and any other suitable units of apparatus 1900 to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices, and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/929,557, filed Nov. 1, 2019, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2020/050582 | 1/24/2020 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62929557 | Nov 2019 | US |
