Patent Description:
Deliver of IP traffic in existing network infrastructures in real time is the key enabler for loT, education, videoconference, etc. applications in near future. One of these examples is the Cloud-Gaming where video traffic has to be available in client device from the server in a constant bit rate and less than certain deterministic delay between packets. Another application is the video-conference where video and audio data have to be exchanged among users in real time faction, respecting a very strict Quality of Service (QoS).

Providing QoS in broadband network is not easy. First, current network is mostly packet-based where multiple elements (routers) work independently based on local decisions to deliver one packet to next element. Packet-based network architecture achieves high scalability in exchange of not able to provide End-<NUM>-End (E2E) QoS insurance, such as circuit-based network.

Second, although currently network stack provide mechanisms to define packet priorities, it requires costly configurations that have to be propagated to all involved elements. For instance, some ISP configures specific VLAN to isolate the traffic and configure a full-network QoS setting.

Third, packet or a specific application has to be currently identified to apply any configured priority. Any packet identification is based on <NUM>-tuple information (Origin IP, Destine IP, Origin Port, Destine Port, Traffic type). In order to correctly identify packets, the <NUM>-tuple information has to be stable, and not shared among multiple applications. As consequence, application cannot be easily migrated from one IP to another, or even executed in a Public Cloud infrastructure.

<CIT> discloses an apparatus for providing the end-to-end QoS guarantee and a method thereof. The apparatus is realized by SRM (service resource monitor/management), and comprises a service processing unit and a resource-managing unit. The method comprises setting a SRM in the service network, said SRM comprising monitoring and managing the usage condition of the application server in the service network; after receiving the service request from the user, the SRM generates a processing plan aimed at the user service based on the received usage status of the resource on the application server in the service network and the QoS request information of the user service requested to carry by the service, and sends the special processing plan to the sender of the said service. The end-to-end QoS is guaranteed and the usage efficiency of the application server in the service network is improved.

<CIT> discloses a method that, in response to receiving a packet that is associated with initiating a client-server session, comprises transmitting a workload request to a workload orchestrator; the workload orchestrator selecting a selected server, from among a plurality of available geographically or logically distributed servers in network edge computing nodes, to process the client-server session; the workload orchestrator transmitting a request to the selected server to create a workload to process the client-server session; receiving, from the workload orchestrator, data identifying the selected server; forwarding one or more other packets associated with the same client-server session to the selected server; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.

Present invention proposes a Network Slice E2E QoE Service that helps any service provider, such as Gaming and Videoconference Service providers, that want to provide new and highly demanding services like HD Videoconference or Cloud Gaming, by offering a programmable E2E QoS for real-time traffic, in a multitenant and pay-as-you-go model, without requiring upfront infrastructure investments and costly integrations.

To that end, the present invention provides according to a first aspect a method according to independent claim <NUM>.

In order to select the best node in a candidate list, a value for each candidate can be computed by taking into account: <NUM>) the latency between the candidate and all participant (end-users) in the session; <NUM>) the jitter between the candidate and all participant (end-users) in the session; and <NUM>) the importance of the participant in the session. Then, the computed latency and jitter can be aggregated using a α∈[<NUM>,<NUM>] that indicates the relative importance of latency and jitter in a given service. The idea is to select the candidate that give best performance, in term of latency and jitter, taking into account that no every participant has the same importance in the communication session.

The real-time IP service can include any of video conference, gaming, remote video production, and remote health, among others.

The present invention also provides according to a second aspect an orchestration server according to independent claim <NUM>.

Therefore, the described solution provides a programmable E2E API for real-time traffic, also offered as a platform/server, that provides a network slice for real time services such as video conference, gaming, remote video production, remote health, and industrial - IoT service providers. The invention controls the QoS in terms of control bandwidth, latency and jitter in the communication network slide provided. To achieve the required quality, the use of several technologies can be used, for example <NUM>. 1p, VLAN tagging and DSCP.

Depending on the network section in which the communication takes place, the use of the technology may change. For mobile networks also QCI (QoS Class identifiers) can be used.

Preferred embodiments of the invention are defined by the dependent claims.

The previous and other advantages and features will be more fully understood from the following detailed description with reference to the attached figures which must be considered in an illustrative and non-limiting manner, in which:.

Present solution proposes a network infrastructure based on the combination of the most standard protocols for NAT traversal and programmable network QoS stack to provide network slices for any real-time application. In the following the solution is sometimes referred as Hanzo.

<FIG> shows a network infrastructure for deployment of the present invention. The overall architecture is based on an orchestration server (or Global platform or Hanzo Global) <NUM>, that is operated and managed from a single location. This allows a greater ease of operation and maintenance. In addition, the network infrastructure comprises different regions <NUM>, <NUM>, each one having a specific number of service nodes (or Hanzo nodes) <NUM>, <NUM>, depending on the size of the territory and the volume of traffic received.

The relationship between each region and country will be <NUM>:<NUM>, except in the case of the international transportation region <NUM>, which will be used as a link between regions <NUM>, <NUM>. The architecture will be like as a usual hub and spoke type.

With regard to <FIG>, therein a method for packet data network service slicing over a network infrastructure for real-time IP services is At step <NUM>, an orchestration server <NUM> receives a session request for a real-time IP service from a UE device located in a given region of the regions <NUM>, <NUM>.

At step <NUM> the orchestration server <NUM> requests to one or more service nodes of said given region whether it has/they have network resources. At step <NUM> each of the one or more service nodes upon reception of said request compute a QoS measurement thereof in terms of KPIs including latency, jitter and bandwidth, and tag a plurality of interfaces. At step <NUM> the orchestration server <NUM> selects a given service node of the one or more service nodes in view of the QoS measurement.

<FIG> illustrates the design of the Hanzo Service Node or Hanzo Turn Server <NUM>, and the different components/modules/units implemented on the orchestration server <NUM> and on the services nodes <NUM>, <NUM>. A virtual machine (or Hanzo VM), is deployed on each service node <NUM>, <NUM> to provide full isolation between the whole process. At this level the virtual machine can use/perform the following:.

In addition, a software module (or Hanzo Coturn server) is implemented on each virtual machine, particularly based on Coturn opensource software instance to control which services nodes <NUM>, <NUM> are in running state in order to route traffic or not. Other tasks/features/components of the software module can be:.

The orchestration server <NUM> is responsible for starting and maintaining the service nodes <NUM>, <NUM> according to the needs of each tenant. This is performed based on the consumption of CPU, memory and mainly network resources, such as IP resources, among others, assigned to that tenant. This module <NUM> has the knowledge of the complete connectivity of the network and is the responsible of selecting the best service node <NUM>, <NUM> for each connection based on location information, latency, jitter and bandwidth.

The orchestration server <NUM> can comprise a QoS bandwidth management unit/element (i.e. a software responsible of adapt the bandwidth to the connection), and a profile management software to keep control of users, groups of users, and tags related to users or groups, for each tenant. The orchestration server <NUM> can use Auth <NUM> to maintain compatibility with an industry-standard protocol for authorization. OAuth authorization framework is a protocol that allows a user to grant a third-party web site or application access to the user's protected resources, without necessarily revealing their long-term credentials or even their identity. The orchestration server <NUM> can also have a Log Repository to ensure that the information of each of the connections, to which user they belong, the duration and quality is stored. In addition, the orchestration server <NUM> can have a KPI's Status module that ensures service KPIs SLA's compliance and previous technical KPIs.

Particularly, the invention takes into account the following:.

The algorithm implemented by the orchestration server <NUM> can consider one or more of the following metrics:.

The selection rules for the best suitable service node <NUM>, <NUM> can be made by firstly selecting the Hanzo Service Node or Hanzo Turn servers according to their status. Only those nodes in Ready Status should be used as candidate nodes. Secondly, from these candidate nodes, all those nodes with ACMG less than a threshold will be discarded, and then, from previous candidate, all those nodes with HHNI less than a threshold will be discarded. At that point, for each node i in de candidate list, Vi is computed according following function: <MAT> where α ∈ [<NUM>,<NUM>] indicates the relative importance of Latency and Jitter in a given service, whereas Wj is the user weight of the user j in the application session. These two parameters can change according the application requirements. Finally, the service node <NUM>, <NUM> that minimizes the value of Vi is selected.

With reference to <FIG> therein an example of the network QoS configuration scheme is illustrated. The network QoS is based on several technologies including:.

Various aspects of the proposed method, as described herein, may be embodied in programming. Program aspects of the technology may be thought of as "products" or "articles of manufacture" typically in the form of executable code and/or associated data that is carried on or embodied in a type of machine readable medium. Tangible non-transitory "storage" type media include any or all of the memory or other storage for the computers, processors, or the like, or associated modules thereof, such as various semiconductor memories, tape drives, disk drives and the like, which may provide storage at any time for the software programming.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that the present teachings are amenable to a variety of modifications and/or enhancements. For example, although the implementation of various components described herein may be embodied in a hardware device, it may also be implemented as a software only solution-e.g., an installation on an existing server. In addition, image processing as disclosed herein may be implemented as a firmware, firmware/software combination, firmware/hardware combination, or a hardware/firmware/software combination.

The present disclosure and/or some other examples have been described in the above.

Claim 1:
A method for End-<NUM>-End network slicing over a network infrastructure for real-time IP services, said network infrastructure comprising a plurality of regions (<NUM>, <NUM>) linked via a transportation network (<NUM>), each region of the plurality of regions (<NUM>, <NUM>) having a plurality of service nodes (<NUM>, <NUM>), the method comprising:
- providing an orchestration server (<NUM>) at a given location where a service provider is located, the orchestration server (<NUM>) being configured to manage the plurality of service nodes (<NUM>, <NUM>);
- receiving, by the orchestration server (<NUM>), a session request for a real-time Internet Protocol, IP, service from a user equipment, UE, device located in a given region of said plurality of regions (<NUM>, <NUM>);
- upon reception of said session request, requesting, by the orchestration server (<NUM>), to one or more service nodes of the plurality of service nodes (<NUM>, <NUM>) of said given region whether it has/they have network resources, each of the one or more service nodes upon reception of said request computing a Quality of Service, QoS, measurement thereof in terms of Key Performance Indicators, KPI, including latency, jitter and bandwidth, the QoS measurement being computed by a software module that is implemented on a virtual machine deployed on the service node; and
- selecting, by the orchestration server (<NUM>), a given service node of the one or more service nodes in view of said QoS measurement;
computing by the one or more service nodes of the plurality of service nodes (<NUM>, <NUM>) besides the QoS measurement further a set of metrics including IP metrics, User Datagram Protocol, UDP, metrics, Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, metrics and/or Internet Control Message Protocol, ICMP, metrics;
tagging by the virtual machine a plurality of interfaces, the latter comprising three interfaces, a first one for IP management, a second one for international IP traffic and a third one for IP services;
computing by the software module further which route through the IP services interface has to be used for the session request; and
the selecting step further comprises discarding the service nodes of said one or more service nodes with a Health Node Indicator, HHNI, less than a threshold, the HHNI being based on the IP, UDP, TCP and/or ICMP metrics.