US 11,683,672 B2
Distributed ledger control over wireless network slices
Lyle Walter Paczkowski, Mission Hills, KS (US)
Assigned to T-MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed by T-Mobile Innovations LLC, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed on Nov. 4, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/519,035.
Prior Publication US 2023/0134319 A1, May 4, 2023
Int. Cl. H04W 4/50 (2018.01); H04W 48/18 (2009.01); H04W 4/24 (2018.01)
CPC H04W 4/50 (2018.02) [H04W 4/24 (2013.01); H04W 48/18 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a wireless communication network to serve User Equipment (UEs) over wireless network circuitry controlled by distributed ledger circuitry, the method comprising:
the distributed ledger circuitry executing a contract from an origin block and responsively transferring an instantiation request for a wireless network slice to network orchestration circuitry;
the network orchestration circuitry instantiating the wireless network slice in wireless network circuitry responsive to the instantiation request from the distributed ledger circuitry;
in the wireless network circuitry, the wireless network slice delivering a wireless network service to the UEs and responsively transferring the slice usage data for the wireless network slice to the distributed ledger circuitry;
the distributed ledger circuitry executing the contract from middle blocks and a termination block to form a blockchain that stores the slice usage data for the wireless network slice;
the distributed ledger circuitry transferring a termination request for the wireless network slice to the network orchestration circuitry responsive to executing the contract from the termination block; and
the network orchestration circuitry terminating the wireless network slice responsive to the termination request from the distributed ledger circuitry.