US 11,838,845 B2
State pooling for stateful re-homing in a disaggregated radio access network
Paul-André Raymond, Reston, VA (US); Ashish Bansal, Frisco, TX (US); Dhaval Mehta, Aldie, VA (US); and Manjari Asawa, Cupertino, CA (US)
Assigned to DISH Wireless L.L.C, Littleton, CO (US)
Filed by DISH Wireless L.L.C., Englewood, CO (US)
Filed on Jul. 14, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/375,858.
Prior Publication US 2023/0019773 A1, Jan. 19, 2023
Int. Cl. H04W 40/02 (2009.01)
CPC H04W 40/02 (2013.01) 18 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A system for pooling network functions in an open radio access network (O-RAN) having a plurality of radio access network (RAN) units arranged in a hierarchy with a plurality of higher-level RAN units to execute traffic handling for at least a portion of traffic traversing the O-RAN between a plurality of lower-level RAN units and a backhaul network in accordance with a homing assignment that indicates a respective set of the lower-level RAN units presently homed to each of the higher-level RAN units, each of the RAN units having a respective state that is dynamically updated in accordance with the traffic handling, the system comprising:
a RAN state pooling system (RSPS), coupled with the plurality of higher-level RAN units via one or more high-speed communication channels, to:
maintain stored states for the plurality of higher-level RAN units, each stored state representing at least a portion of the respective state of an associated one of the higher-level RAN units as dynamically updated in accordance with the traffic handling,
wherein, for each higher-level RAN unit of the plurality of higher-level RAN units, the higher-level RAN unit is associated with a respective portion of the traffic that traverses the O-RAN through the higher-level RAN, and the RSPS is to maintain the stored states such that a respective one or more of the stored states for the higher-level RAN includes periodically updated state information for the higher-level RAN and changes to the respective portion of the traffic associated with the higher-level RAN since a last update was made to the periodically updated state information;
receive a re-homing trigger in accordance with an update to the homing assignment, the update indicating that at least the respective set of the lower-level RAN units presently homed to a first of the higher-level RAN units is re-homed to a second of the higher-level RAN units; and
provide one or more of the stored states associated with the first of the higher-level RAN units to the second of the higher-level RAN units in accordance with the re-homing trigger.