US 11,943,660 B2
User plane function (UPF) load balancing supporting multiple slices
Mehdi Alasti, Reston, VA (US); Kazi Bashir, Lewisville, TX (US); Ash Khamas, Goffstown, NM (US); Ashish Bansal, Frisco, TX (US); and Siddhartha Chenumolu, Broadlands, VA (US)
Assigned to DISH Wireless L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed by DISH WIRELESS L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed on Jan. 4, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/093,246.
Application 18/093,246 is a continuation of application No. 17/458,889, filed on Aug. 27, 2021, granted, now 11,595,851.
Prior Publication US 2023/0144066 A1, May 11, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. H04W 48/18 (2009.01); H04L 41/16 (2022.01); H04L 47/125 (2022.01); H04L 47/127 (2022.01); H04W 28/08 (2023.01)
CPC H04W 28/0942 (2020.05) [H04W 48/18 (2013.01)] 12 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system, comprising:
a memory that stores computer instructions; and
a processor that executes the computer instructions to perform actions, the actions including:
maintaining a plurality of load thresholds for each network slice of a plurality of network slices, wherein:
each network slice of each respective set of network slices comprises of a set of virtual network resources and network traffic flows associated with the network slice and represents an independent virtualized instance of a network defined by allocation of a subset of available network resources in a cellular telecommunication network;
each network slice of the plurality of network slices is supported by a respective user plane function (UPF) of a plurality of UPFs in a cellular telecommunication network;
the plurality of UPFs serve as anchor points between user equipment (UE) in the cellular telecommunication network and a data network (DN);
each UPF of the plurality of UPFs is a virtual network function responsible for interconnecting packet data unit (PDU) sessions between the user equipment (UE) and the DN by anchoring the PDU sessions on individual UPFs;
the plurality of load thresholds for each network slice depend on a respective capacity of each network slice and total capacity of each UPF supporting each network slice to have PDU sessions anchored thereon; and
an amount of load put on a network slice by a UE appearing in the cellular telecommunication network is assumed to be identical for all UEs appearing in the cellular telecommunication network;
receiving a request to anchor on a UPF a PDU session of a new UE newly appearing on the cellular telecommunication network;
selecting a network slice of the plurality of network slices on which to anchor the PDU session based on a location of the new UE and determined load-regions for each network slice of the plurality of network slices defined by the plurality of load thresholds;
anchoring the PDU session of the new UE to the selected network slice and the respective UPF supporting the selected network slice;
generating a lowing load-region indicating a current network slice load less that a first threshold percentage of network slice capacity;
generating one or more intermediate non-overlapping load-regions each defined by respective lower and upper threshold percentages of network slice capacity and indicating a current load greater than the lowest load-region; and
generating a highest load-region indicating a current network slice load greater than a second threshold percentage of network slice capacity and greater than the one or more intermediate non-overlapping load-regions.