Patent ID: 11962514
Assignee: AT&T INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY I, L.P.
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H  G | IPC G  H

Claim 0:
1. A method comprising:
obtaining, via a processor, a target service function chain spanning multiple servers of a network function virtualization infrastructure, wherein the target service function chain comprises a plurality of network functions to be executed on a plurality of packets in a defined sequence, and wherein at least a first network function and a second network function of the plurality of network functions are capable of being executed in a parallel manner;
generating, via the processor, a plurality of candidate service function chains that utilize an available plurality of network function instances to execute the plurality of network functions in the defined sequence; and
selecting, via the processor from among the plurality of candidate service function chains, a first candidate service function chain to function as the target service function chain, wherein the first candidate service function chain minimizes a number of servers traversed relative to other candidate service function chains of the plurality of candidate service function chains.