US 11,809,924 B2
Wireless communication service over a network exposure function (NEF) that has an application programming interface (API)
Marouane Balmakhtar, Fairfax, VA (US)
Assigned to T-MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed by T-Mobile Innovations LLC, Overland Park, KS (US)
Filed on Aug. 10, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/398,674.
Prior Publication US 2023/0051308 A1, Feb. 16, 2023
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G06F 9/54 (2006.01); H04W 4/50 (2018.01)
CPC G06F 9/547 (2013.01) [H04W 4/50 (2018.02)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of operating a wireless communication network to serve a User Equipment (UE) over Network Exposure Functions (NEFs) that have Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the method comprising:
receiving, by a NEF Interface Function (NIF), a NEF request from a network function;
correlating, by the NIF, a slice Identifier (ID) for the UE in the NEF request with one of the APIs;
selecting, by the NIF, one of the NEFs based on the one of the APIs;
translating, by the NIF, the NEF request into an API call based on the one of the APIs;
transferring, by the NIF, the API call to the one of the NEFs; and
receiving, by the one of the NEFs, the API call and responsively performing a network task for the UE based on the API call.