US 12,463,872 B2
Distributed and DLT-based SFC partitioning over multiple providers in edge environments
Ana Cristina Bernardo de Oliveira, Rio de Janeiro (BR); Antonio Augusto De Aragão Rocha, Niterói (BR); Evandro Luiz Cardoso Macedo, Jardim Carioca (BR); Flavia Coimbra Delicato, Niterói (BR); Paulo de Figueiredo Pires, Niterói (BR); Rayan Gustavo Oliveira Jucá Lima, Rio de Janeiro (BR); Thais Vasconcelos Batista, Natal (BR); and Thiago Pereira da Silva, Barra do Garças (BR)
Assigned to Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
Filed by Dell Products L.P., Round Rock, TX (US)
Filed on Apr. 5, 2024, as Appl. No. 18/627,620.
Prior Publication US 2025/0317358 A1, Oct. 9, 2025
Int. Cl. G06F 15/173 (2006.01); H04L 41/0895 (2022.01); H04L 41/5019 (2022.01); H04L 45/12 (2022.01)
CPC H04L 41/0895 (2022.05) [H04L 41/5019 (2013.01); H04L 45/124 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method comprising:
partitioning a service function chain (SFC) into a sequence of virtualized network functions (VNFs), wherein the sequence defines an order as to how the VNFs are to be serviced;
deploying the VNFs to a smart contract operating in a distributed ledger, wherein the smart contract initiates a bid to service the SFC by a set of infrastructure providers (InPs), wherein the distributed ledger lists, for each InP in the set: (i) a specific VNF that said each InP is able to service and that is included in the sequence of VNFs and (ii) a corresponding cost to service that specific VNF;
causing the smart contract to generate a graph that lists the InPs in the set, wherein the graph lists the InPs in the set in a manner to reflect the defined order, and wherein the graph lists corresponding InP costs for the VNFs in the set;
causing the smart contract to use a cost function to determine (i) a first graph traversal that has a smallest cost and (ii) a second graph traversal that has a penultimate smallest cost, wherein the first graph traversal includes a subset of InPs selected from the set of InPs; and
generating an output comprising (i) the subset of InPs and (ii) the penultimate smallest cost.