Patent ID: 11876683
Assignee: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC G  H

Claim 9:
10. One or more hardware-based non-transitory computer-readable memory devices storing computer-executable instructions which, upon execution by one or more processors disposed in a computing device, cause the computing device to:
instantiate a network functions delivery system that is configured to remotely deploy virtualized network functions (VNFs) in a mobile network comprising network functions virtualization infrastructure (NFVI) to implement network functions in the mobile network, the mobile network being represented by one or more customers;
enable the network functions delivery system to monitor current availability of resources on the NFVI;
maintain a database storing a catalog of VNFs from a plurality of third-party vendors, the catalog exposing a user interface (UI) to the one or more customers configured to enable browsing of VNF descriptive information and selection of VNFs for deployment;
register the plurality of third-party vendors with the network functions delivery system, wherein the plurality of third-party vendors provides a plurality of VNFs for listing in the catalog, the VNFs being packaged for the network functions delivery system, each VNF package comprising a software image to run a VNF, a VNF descriptor defining metadata to onboard the VNF package to the network functions delivery system, specified NFVI resource requirements, and artifacts for managing VNFs when deployed, and wherein the plurality of third-party vendors provides the VNF descriptive information for inclusion in the catalog; and
in response to customer selection of a VNF for deployment, compare the specified NFVI resource requirements with currently available resources on the NFVI based on the monitoring.