Patent Application
20210337452
The fifth generation wireless communication technologies, commonly known as “5G”, is directed not only to realize a high capacity and high speed communication line, but also to meet various performance needs, such as latency reductions, reliability improvements, and concurrent connections with a large number of user terminals. For certain use cases, multi-access edge computing (MEC) can be deployed at the network edge of the communication network, near the user terminals, to run applications, such as autonomous vehicles, telemedicine, and video distribution. Such use cases can leverage both the features of 5G and MEC.
Disclosed herein is a method for aggregating application functions installed on a plurality of MEC hosts of a plurality of carriers in a single MEC host, and a computer program product and system as specified in the independent claims. Embodiments of the present invention can be freely combined with each other if they are not mutually exclusive.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, application functions are aggregated on multi-access edge computing (MEC) hosts across multiple carriers. An application service provider system is associated with a particular application. The application service provider system receives performance data from a first MEC host and a second MEC host. The first MEC host is deployed on a network of a first carrier and coupled to a first plurality of user terminals. The second MEC host is deployed on a network of a second carrier and coupled to a second plurality of user terminals. The particular application is installed on the first MEC host and the second MEC host. The application service provider system determines whether the performance data from the second MEC host exceeds a threshold value. In response to determining that the performance data from the second MEC host exceeds the threshold value, the application service provider system sends instructions to the second MEC host to aggregate one or more functions of the particular application to the first MEC host.
In some embodiments, the application service provider system determines that delivery of content for the particular application is to be aggregated at the first MEC host based at least on load distribution criteria and sends the instructions to an application server in the second MEC host to aggregate the one or more functions of the particular application to an application server in the first MEC host.
In some embodiments, in response to receiving the instructions from the application service provider system, the second MEC host sends second instructions to each of the second plurality of user terminals to change a connection for the particular application to the first MEC host.
In some embodiments, after aggregating the one or more functions of the particular application to the first MEC host, the application service provider system receives further performance data related to delivery of content to the first plurality of user terminals and the second plurality of user terminals from the first MEC host and the second MEC host. The application service provider system determines whether the further performance data from the second MEC host is below the threshold value. In response to determining that the further performance data from the second MEC host is below the threshold value, the application service provider system sends second instructions to the first MEC host to change user terminal connections for the particular application to original connections.
In some embodiments, in response to receiving the second instructions from the application service provider system, the first MEC host sends second instructions to each of the first plurality of user terminals and each of the second plurality of user terminals to change the connection for the particular application to the original connections.
In some embodiments, each of the first and second plurality of user terminals establishes the connection with an original MEC host to receive the content for the particular application.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, in aggregating application functions on multi-access edge computing (MEC) hosts across multiple carriers, an application service provider system receives values for a set of performance criteria from a first MEC host and a second MEC host. The application service provider system is associated with a particular application. The first MEC host is deployed on a network of a first carrier and coupled to a first plurality of user terminals. The second MEC host deployed on a network of a second carrier and coupled to a second plurality of user terminals. The particular application is installed on the first MEC host and the second MEC host. The application provider system determines whether a given combination of the performance criteria in the set from the second MEC host exceeds a threshold value. In response to determining that the given combination of the performance criteria in the set from the second MEC host exceeds the threshold value, the application service provider system determines that delivery of content for the particular application is to be aggregated at the first MEC host based at least on load distribution criteria. The application service provider system sends instructions to an application server in the second MEC host to aggregate the one or more functions of the particular application to an application server in the first MEC host.
In another embodiment of the present invention, one or more functions of a particular application are aggregated to a first MEC host. The first MEC host is deployed on a network of a first carrier and coupled to a first plurality of user terminals subscribed to the first carrier. The first MEC host is further coupled to a second plurality of user terminals subscribed to a second carrier. The second plurality of user terminals is further coupled to a second MEC host deployed on a network of the second carrier. After aggregating the one or more functions of the particular application to the first MEC host, an application service provider system associated with the particular application receives values of a set of performance criteria related to delivery of content to the first plurality of user terminals and the second plurality of user terminals from the first MEC host and the second MEC host. The application service provider system determines whether a given combination of values in the set of performance criteria received from the second MEC host is below the threshold value or whether content delivery for the particular application is finished. In response to determining that the given combination of values in the set of performance criteria from the second MEC host is below the threshold value or determining that the content delivery for the particular application is finished, the application service provider system sends instructions to an application server of the first MEC host to change user terminal connections for the particular application to original connections.
It is understood in advance that although this disclosure includes a detailed description on cloud computing, implementation of the teachings recited herein are not limited to a cloud computing environment. Rather, embodiments of the present invention are capable of being implemented in conjunction with any other type of computing environment now known or later developed.
Cloud computing is a model of service delivery for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or interaction with a provider of the service. This cloud model may include at least five characteristics, at least three service models, and at least four deployment models.
Characteristics are as follows:
On-demand self-service: a cloud consumer can unilaterally provision computing capabilities, such as server time and network storage, as needed automatically without requiring human interaction with the service's provider.
Broad network access: capabilities are available over a network and accessed through standard mechanisms that promote use by heterogeneous thin or thick client platforms (e.g., mobile phones, laptops, and PDAs).
Resource pooling: the provider's computing resources are pooled to serve multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model, with different physical and virtual resources dynamically assigned and reassigned according to demand. There is a sense of location independence in that the consumer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
Rapid elasticity: capabilities can be rapidly and elastically provisioned, in some cases automatically, to quickly scale out and rapidly released to quickly scale in. To the consumer, the capabilities available for provisioning often appear to be unlimited and can be purchased in any quantity at any time.
Measured service: cloud systems automatically control and optimize resource use by leveraging a metering capability at some level of abstraction appropriate to the type of service (e.g., storage, processing, bandwidth, and active user accounts). Resource usage can be monitored, controlled, and reported providing transparency for both the provider and consumer of the utilized service.
Service Models are as follows:
Software as a Service (SaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is to use the provider's applications running on a cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various client devices through a thin client interface such as a web browser (e.g., web-based e-mail). The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including network, servers, operating systems, storage, or even individual application capabilities, with the possible exception of limited user-specific application configuration settings.
Platform as a Service (PaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is to deploy onto the cloud infrastructure consumer-created or acquired applications created using programming languages and tools supported by the provider. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure including networks, servers, operating systems, or storage, but has control over the deployed applications and possibly application hosting environment configurations.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): the capability provided to the consumer is to provision processing, storage, networks, and other fundamental computing resources where the consumer is able to deploy and run arbitrary software, which can include operating systems and applications. The consumer does not manage or control the underlying cloud infrastructure but has control over operating systems, storage, deployed applications, and possibly limited control of select networking components (e.g., host firewalls).
Deployment Models are as follows:
Private cloud: the cloud infrastructure is operated solely for an organization. It may be managed by the organization or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
Community cloud: the cloud infrastructure is shared by several organizations and supports a specific community that has shared concerns (e.g., mission, security requirements, policy, and compliance considerations). It may be managed by the organizations or a third party and may exist on-premises or off-premises.
Public cloud: the cloud infrastructure is made available to the general public or a large industry group and is owned by an organization selling cloud services.
Hybrid cloud: the cloud infrastructure is a composition of two or more clouds (private, community, or public) that remain unique entities but are bound together by standardized or proprietary technology that enables data and application portability (e.g., cloud bursting for load-balancing between clouds).
A cloud computing environment is service oriented with a focus on statelessness, low coupling, modularity, and semantic interoperability. At the heart of cloud computing is an infrastructure comprising a network of interconnected nodes.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Hardware and software layer 60 includes hardware and software components. Examples of hardware components include: mainframes 61; RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) architecture based servers 62; servers 63; blade servers 64; storage devices 65; and networks and networking components 66. In some embodiments, software components include network application server software 67 and database software 68.
Virtualization layer 70 provides an abstraction layer from which the following examples of virtual entities may be provided: virtual servers 71; virtual storage 72; virtual networks 73, including virtual private networks; virtual applications and operating systems 74; and virtual clients 75.
In one example, management layer 80 may provide the functions described below. Resource provisioning 81 provides dynamic procurement of computing resources and other resources that are utilized to perform tasks within the cloud computing environment. Metering and Pricing 82 provide cost tracking as resources are utilized within the cloud computing environment, and billing or invoicing for consumption of these resources. In one example, these resources may comprise application software licenses. Security provides identity verification for cloud consumers and tasks, as well as protection for data and other resources. User portal 83 provides access to the cloud computing environment for consumers and system administrators. Service level management 84 provides cloud computing resource allocation and management such that required service levels are met. Service Level Agreement (SLA) planning and fulfillment 85 provide pre-arrangement for, and procurement of, cloud computing resources for which a future requirement is anticipated in accordance with an SLA.
Workloads layer 90 provides examples of functionality for which the cloud computing environment may be utilized. Examples of workloads and functions which may be provided from this layer include: mapping and navigation 91; software development and lifecycle management 92; virtual classroom education delivery 93; data analytics processing 94; and transaction processing 95.
The MEC host 401 is a logical construct which includes the MEC platform 403 and the virtualization infrastructure 404 that provides compute, storage and network resources to the MEC applications 402 installed on the MEC host 401.
The virtualization infrastructure 404 includes a data plane 412 that enforces the forwarding rules received by the MEC platform 403 and routes the traffic between the applications 402, services, and the networks.
The MEC applications 402 run as virtual machines on top of the virtualization infrastructure 404 provided by the MEC host 401 and interact with the MEC platform 403 to handle the MEC services available in the MEC host 401.
The MEC platform 403 includes a collection of baseline functionalities that are required to run applications on the MEC host 401 and enable MEC applications 402 to discover, advertise, provide, and consume the MEC services. Essential functionalities include traffic steering, provision of persistent storage, and time references. The MEC platform 403 further supports configuring the local DNS proxy/server, in order to direct the user traffic to the MEC applications 402.
The MEC platform manager 405 is at the host level and includes components for instantiating, terminating, and relocating a MEC application, as well as providing indications to the MEC orchestrator 407 on application related events. The MEC platform manager 405 further includes components for policy management, including authorizations, traffic rules, DNS configurations, and resolving issues when policies are in conflict.
The virtualization infrastructure manager 406 manages the virtualized resources for the MEC applications 402, such as allocating and releasing virtualized compute, storage, and network resources.
The MEC orchestrator 407 has the visibility over the resources and capabilities of the entire MEC system. The MEC orchestrator 407 is responsible for coordination and control of instantiation, healing, and resolving resources conflicts. The MEC orchestrator 407 is further responsible for managing the MEC applications 402 and related procedures by supporting on-boarding of the applications 402, checking their integrity and authenticity, validating the policies associated with them, and maintaining a catalog of the available applications 402. The MEC orchestrator 407 ensures that application requirements (e.g. latency, user through put, etc.) are fulfilled with the selection of the appropriate target MEC host, and possible trigger application relocation.
The operations support system 408 is the highest level management system that assists in getting the MEC applications running in the desired location of the network. The operations support system 408 receives request to instantiate and terminate the edge applications from the customer facing service (CFS) portal 410 and applications 411 from user equipment. The CFS portal 410 acts as an entry point for third parties.
The user app LCM proxy 409 is used by MEC application clients to request services related to on-boarding, instantiation and termination of the applications. For example, the user app LCM proxy 409 can be used to request relocation from an external cloud into the MEC system.
According to the illustrated arrangement, an application is deployed in each carrier MEC environment to provide services to many users in the same geographic area in a ubiquitous manner, which may result in inefficiencies. That is, installed on each of the MEC host A-C 516-518 are functions of a plurality of applications (App1, App2, App3), one or more of which are used by the user terminals 501-503. A first plurality of user terminals 501 subscribe to Carrier A, a second plurality of user terminals 502 subscribe to Carrier B, and a third plurality of user terminals 503 subscribe to Carrier C. Each application (App1, App2, App3) is associated with an application service provider (504, 505, 506, respectively). Each application service provider (504, 505, and 506) provides access to its associated application (App1, App2, and App3, respectively) over the carrier networks 507-509. The application service provider and its associated application are deployed on a provider system, typically in the core cloud. For example, applications (App1, App2, App3) are each installed on MEC host A 516, MEC host B 517, and MEC host C 518. MEC host A 516 provides services from the applications (App1, App2, App3) to the first plurality of user terminals 501 subscribing to carrier A. MEC host B 517 provides services from the applications (App1, App2, App3) to the second plurality of user terminals 502 subscribing to carrier B. MEC host C 518 provides services from the applications (App1, App2, App3) to the third plurality of user terminals 503 subscribing to carrier C. Here, base stations A-C 513-515 service the same or similar geographical area. To provide services from any particular application (App1, App2, or App3) to the user terminals 501-503 located in the same geographic area and subscribed to different carriers, the particular application (App1, App2, or App3) is installed on each MEC host 516-518 deployed in each carrier core network 507-509. However, this may result in inefficiencies. For example, consider the scenario where an application on each MEC host is providing the application service to just a few user terminals. In such a scenario, it is inefficient to run the application on each of the MEC hosts since the total amount of network traffic and CPU or memory usage required is small enough to run the application on a single MEC host. When the application sends a large volume of data from the cloud-side of the network to each MEC host, the inefficiency is especially acute when the application is providing services to only a few users.
Embodiments of the present invention addresses these inefficiencies by aggregating application functions installed on a plurality of MEC hosts of a plurality of carriers into a single MEC host. Referring now to
Once aggregated, the performance data at the first and second MEC hosts 516-517 can change such that services for the particular application (App1) can again be efficiently provided in a distributed deployment.
When three or more MEC hosts serve the same geographic area, aggregation of functions of a particular application occurs in a similar manner. Referring to
Once aggregated, the performance data at the second MEC host 517 and/or the third MEC host 518 can change such that services for the particular application (App1) can again be efficiently provided in a distributed deployment. Referring to
Other applications (e.g. App2 and/or App3) installed on the MEC hosts 516-518 can simultaneously be aggregated on other MEC hosts. For example, App2 can be aggregated onto MEC host B 517, where the MEC host B 517 delivers content from App2 to the user terminals 501-503. App 3 can be aggregated onto MEC host C 518, where the MEC host C 518 delivers content from App3 to the user terminals 501-503. All functions of the application can be aggregated or part of the functions of the application can be aggregated while the remaining functions continue to be serviced in a distributed deployment. In some embodiment, the particular application has several functions, each of which has an entirely different workload. The most overloaded function can be selected as a candidate for aggregation on a single MEC host. For example, in the case of TV program delivering applications, the function of delivering the most popular channel can be aggregated on a single MEC Host, since there are many user terminals simultaneously connected to watch the same contents. In this manner, efficiency is increased by taking functions of the particular application distributed on MEC hosts across multiple carriers and aggregating the functions on a single MEC host that services user terminals across the multiple carriers.
Similarly, a second MEC host 904 deployed on the network of carrier B includes a second application server 910, which handles operations between a second plurality of user terminals 914 and an application's backend processes. A second content delivery module 912 of the second MEC host 904 delivers content for the applications handled by the second application server 910 to the second plurality of user terminals 914 subscribed to carrier B. One or more of the second plurality of user terminals 914 uses an application 917 associated with the application service provider 901, and a second content reception module 916 of the one or more of the second plurality of user terminals 914 receives content for the application 917 from a second content delivery module 912 of the second MEC host 904.
The first MEC host 903 includes a first host connection destination information storage 905, and the second MEC host 904 includes a second host connection destination information storage 906, for storing information about connection destinations to other carriers, in some embodiments provided from each carrier in advance. Each of the first plurality of user terminals 913 includes a first client connection destination information storage 920, and each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 includes a second client connection information storage 921, for storing information about connection destinations to MEC hosts for each application on the first and second plurality of user terminals 913-914.
The application service provider 901 includes an application control module 902 for managing the aggregation of functions of its associated application 917. The first MEC host 903 further includes a first connection destination change instruction module 907, and the second MEC host 904 further includes a second connection destination change instruction module 908. Each of the first plurality of user terminals 913 further includes a first connection destination control module 918, and each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 further includes a second connection destination control module 919. The functions of the application control module 902, the host connection destination change instruction modules 907-908, and the connection destination control modules 918-919 are described further below with reference to
Referring to
In response to the instructions from the application control module 902, the connection destination change instruction module 908 on the second MEC host 904 sends instructions to the connection destination control module 919 of each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 to change the connection destinations for the particular application 917 to the first MEC host 903 (1005). The instructions specifies connection destination information for the first MEC host 903. In some embodiments, the change in the connection destination is executed by delivery of instructions to an embedded subscriber identity module (eSIM), a form of programmable SIM card embedded directly into a user terminal. An eSIM enables remote SIM programming of a user terminal. In the instructions to program the eSIM, the connection destination is provided with an identity of the base station to which the first MEC host 903 is connected and the geographic area serviced by the base station. In the case of a dual SIM user terminal, the user terminal may be configured to allow only the particular application 917 to connect to the first MEC host 903 while connections for other applications remain unchanged.
In response to the instructions from the connection destination change instruction module 908, the connection destination control module 919 of each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 instructs a content reception module 916 to receive content for the particular application 917 from the first MEC host 903 and stores the original connection destination in the client connection destination information storage 921 (1006). Here, the original connection destination for each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 is the second MEC host 904. In response to the instructions from the connection destination control module 919, the content reception module 916 of each of the second plurality of user terminals 914 establishes a connection to the first MEC host 903 to receive content for the particular application 917 (1007). The first plurality of user terminals 913 each is already configured to receive content for the particular application 917 from the first MEC host 903, and thus no changes are required. In this manner, delivery of content for the particular application 917 is aggregated on a single MEC host 903. After aggregation, the content delivery module 911 of the first MEC host 903 delivers content for the particular application 917 to the content reception modules 915-916 of each of the first and second plurality of user terminals 913-914.
Embodiments for aggregating application functions installed on a plurality of MEC hosts of a plurality of carriers in a single MEC host are described herein. Conventionally, MEC hosts need to be deployed on a per carrier basis to provide services of an application. The services are provided by the MEC hosts in a distributed manner, which can result in inefficiencies. By aggregating one or more functions of the application across carriers on a per application basis according to the embodiments of the present invention, services targeted for a geographic region can be provided more efficiently. This efficiency can be realized in various use scenarios. For example, in a competitive sporting event held within a defined area, such as a stadium, MEC hosts serving as distribution sources for high-resolution video can be aggregated on a per competition event basis according to the embodiments to eliminate duplicate processes and decrease communication load of each MEC host and backbone line. For another example, when the communication service of a certain carrier is disrupted, function(s) of certain types of applications required in an urgent situation (e.g. audio communication service, text communication service, or news delivery service) can be aggregated to a specific MEC host within a geographic area in an MEC environment of another carrier. For another example, the delivery of information concerning transportation accidents, cancellations or delays can be aggregated to an MEC host in order to deliver the information in a more targeted fashion. Vehicles, for example, may be grouped by vehicle type or destinations. For another example, delivery of content of a particular genre or type can be temporarily aggregated to target a certain geographic area.
The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computer program product at any possible technical detail level of integration. The computer program product may include a computer readable storage medium (or media) having computer readable program instructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of the present invention.
The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of the computer readable storage medium includes the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such as punch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructions recorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. A computer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construed as being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freely propagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagating through a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulses passing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmitted through a wire.
Computer readable program instructions described herein can be downloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computer readable storage medium or to an external computer or external storage device via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, a wide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprise copper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wireless transmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/or edge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in each computing/processing device receives computer readable program instructions from the network and forwards the computer readable program instructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium within the respective computing/processing device.
Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the present invention may be assembler instructions, instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions, machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions, state-setting data, configuration data for integrated circuitry, or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object oriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++, or the like, and procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The computer readable program instructions may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example, programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), or programmable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readable program instructions by utilizing state information of the computer readable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry, in order to perform aspects of the present invention.
Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer readable program instructions.
These computer readable program instructions may be provided to a processor of a computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can direct a computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the computer readable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises an article of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects of the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other device to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computer implemented process, such that the instructions which execute on the computer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods, and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the Figures. For example, two blocks shown in succession may, in fact, be accomplished as one step, executed concurrently, substantially concurrently, in a partially or wholly temporally overlapping manner, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocks in the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions.
The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present invention have been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intended to be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the described embodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain the principles of the embodiments, the practical application or technical improvement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodiments disclosed herein.
