阅读说明：本技术 与应用有关的网络切片的选择 (Selection of application-dependent network slices ) 是由 B.查特拉斯 S.曾广武 于 2018-05-25 设计创作，主要内容包括：本发明涉及一种用于选择通信基础设施(10)的被称为网络切片的一组功能(TR1,TR2,TR3)的方法,该一组功能用于路由与安装在连接至所述基础设施(10)的用户终端(51、53)中的应用(App1,App2,App3,App4)有关的数据,该方法由终端(51,53)实施并且包括以下步骤：向规则管理实体(40)传输该终端中的至少一个应用的标识符；从该规则管理实体(40)接收与同所接收的该至少一个应用的该标识符相关联的该网络切片(TR1,TR2,TR3)有关的至少一个规则；以及基于所获得的该至少一个规则来确定网络切片(TR1,TR2,TR3)。(The invention relates to a method for selecting a set of functions (TR1, TR2, TR3), called network slices, of a communication infrastructure (10) for routing data related to applications (App1, App2, App3, App4) installed in user terminals (51, 53) connected to said infrastructure (10), the method being implemented by the terminals (51, 53) and comprising the following steps: transmitting an identifier of at least one application in the terminal to a rule management entity (40); receiving at least one rule from the rule management entity (40) relating to the network slice (TR1, TR2, TR3) associated with the received identifier of the at least one application; and determining a network slice (TR1, TR2, TR3) based on the obtained at least one rule.)

1. A method for selecting a set of functions of a communication infrastructure (10), so-called network slices (TR1, TR2, TR3), for communicating data related to at least one application (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) installed on a user terminal (51, 53) attached to said infrastructure (10), the method being implemented by the terminal (51, 53) and comprising:

-a step of sending a request message comprising at least one application identifier to a rule management entity (40, 60),

-a step of receiving a response message from the rule management entity (40, 60), the response message comprising at least one rule related to the network slice (TR1, TR2, TR3) associated with the at least one identifier,

-a step of selecting a network slice (TR1, TR2, TR3) according to the at least one rule obtained.

2. Selection method according to claim 1, wherein the request message comprises identifiers of the applications (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) installed on the terminal (51, 53) when said terminal (51, 53) is attached to said infrastructure (10).

3. Selection method according to claim 2, wherein the request message is a message relating to the attachment of the terminal (51, 53) to said infrastructure (10).

4. Selection method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one identifier further comprises an item of information relating to the application version (App1, App2, App3, App4, App 5).

5. Selection method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one application identifier is determined by the terminal (51, 53).

6. A method for associating at least one rule implemented in a rule managing entity (40, 60) related to a set of functions of a communication infrastructure (10), so-called network slices (TR1, TR2, TR3), with an identifier of an application (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) attached to a terminal (51, 53) of said infrastructure (10), characterized in that it comprises:

-a step of receiving a request message comprising at least one application identifier (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) from the terminal (51, 53),

-a step of determining at least one rule related to the network slice (TR1, TR2, TR3) associated with the at least one identifier,

-a step of sending a response message comprising the determined at least one rule to the terminal (51, 53).

7. An association method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a priority parameter is associated with the at least one rule and transmitted to the terminal (51, 53).

8. The association method of claim 6, wherein the rule associated with the at least one identifier relates to a service class.

9. An association method as claimed in claim 6, wherein in the case where the at least one application identifier (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) is not associated with any rule, a default rule is determined and transmitted to the terminal (51, 53).

10. Selection method according to claim 6, wherein the rule management entity (40, 60) is implemented in an application server (70).

11. An apparatus (100) for selecting a set of functions of a communication infrastructure (10), so-called network-sliced (TR1, TR2, TR3), for communicating data related to at least one application (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) of a user terminal (51, 53) attached to said infrastructure (10), the apparatus comprising:

a sender (110) capable of sending a request message comprising at least one application identifier to a rule management entity,

a receiver (120) capable of receiving a response message from the rule management entity comprising at least one rule related to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a selection module (101) capable of selecting a network slice according to the at least one rule obtained.

12. An apparatus (200) for associating rules implemented in a rules management entity (40, 60) related to a set of functions of a communication infrastructure (10), so-called network slices (TR1, TR2, TR3), with identifiers of applications (App1, App2, App3, App4, App5) of terminals (51, 53) attached to said infrastructure (10), the apparatus comprising:

a receiver (220) capable of receiving a request message comprising at least one application identifier from a terminal,

a determination module (201) capable of determining at least one rule relating to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a transmitter (210) capable of transmitting a response message comprising the determined at least one rule to the terminal.

13. A system for selecting a network slice, the system comprising:

-a terminal (51, 53) comprising the selection means (100) according to claim 11,

-a rule management entity (40, 60) comprising an association device (200) according to claim 12.

14. A computer program, characterized in that the computer program comprises instructions for implementing the steps of the method of selection according to claim 1 when this method is executed by a processor.

15. A recording medium readable by the selection apparatus according to claim 11, on which a program according to claim 14 is recorded.

Technical Field

The present patent application belongs to the field of telecommunications infrastructure and technology related to network slicing.

Background

The architecture of a mobile telecommunications network is standardized via a standardization group known as 3 GPP. This is particularly true for so-called "2G", "3G" and "4G" mobile networks, whose various architectures are defined in the technical specifications established by such organizations.

Until the "4G" generation mobile networks currently being deployed in most countries, the various network architectures generally rely on very specific equipment dedicated to certain precise functions, whether at the access network or core network level, in particular for packet transmission from or to mobile terminals. To date, a single set of functions is used in deployed network infrastructures, regardless of the type of traffic. The various flows of the session are thus circulated by the same set of functions (routing, addressing, data flow control, naming, etc.).

The lack of flexibility and scalability inherent to this type of conventional architecture makes it desirable to envisage adopting a more flexible architecture for the next generation mobile networks (known as "5G") in order to be able to respond rapidly to extremely diverse requirements in terms of traffic or quality of service. It should be noted that a 5G network is intended to refer to both mobile and fixed networks. Thus, the technology inherent in 5G network development involves both fixed and mobile infrastructure.

Among the solutions envisaged, one of the most promising relies on the network slicing technique mentioned in the 3GPP technical report TR 23.799 v2.0.0, month 2016, specifically.

The concept of network slicing aims at creating multiple network instances, also referred to as "network slices" in english. Fig. 1 presents a simplified view of the layout of a communication infrastructure 10 according to the prior art, comprising network slices TR1, TR2, TR3, each representing a shared function (routing, addressing, data flow control, naming, etc.) implemented for example in a data center. Terminal 50 is connected to two network slices TR1 and TR2, while terminal 51 is attached to slice TR2 and terminal 53 is attached to slice TR 3. Slice TR1 provides access to data network 12, network slice TR2 provides access to network 22, and network slice TR3 provides access to network 32. In this example, the network slice provides access to different data networks, but the network slice may also provide access to the same communication network. These slices, which can be likened to different mobile networks, are determined by the characteristics of the data flows travelling on the network slices, which exhibit a common point in terms of destination, transmission, proving commonly administered security constraints within the network slices.

Thus, each of the slices is optimized for the needs of a particular type of service and/or a certain type of client or terminal.

Terminals, in particular mobile terminals, support an increasing number of applications offered by each of the network operators and application providers to which the terminals are connected. The traffic generated by these diverse applications must be carried on various network slices implemented in the communication infrastructure to which the terminal is connected. A network slice consists of network functions and configurations such that requirements associated with services, clients or terminals associated with the slice can be satisfied. Not all network slices deployed by an operator are configured with the same transmission characteristics, assuming the idea is to adapt the architecture and network slices to the needs of the use case associated with this network slice. For example, network slicing for service implementations associated with IoT (Internet of Things, english) services may result in a need to manage a large number of terminals but the bit rate associated with each terminal is rather low if, for example, meter readings are processed. Services provided for professional customers will require advanced security and availability functions. The purpose is to activate only for a given network slice the functions that are essential for the use case corresponding to the network slice. The purpose of this network slice architecture is to provide greater flexibility for the operator and to provide the client with services corresponding to its needs by activating the functions necessary for the requested service.

Such network slicing techniques thus allow operators of telecommunication networks to create "customized" networks, enabling optimized solutions to be provided for a variety of scenarios with very diverse constraints in terms of functionality and performance.

It is provided to be able to perform multiple network slices simultaneously within the same telecommunications network in order to provide various services to various customers over the same network.

When a terminal is connected to a telecommunications network, one or more network slices corresponding to the terminal or to services activated on the terminal must be selected. As indicated above, the terminal has at its disposal a large number of applications, each capable of requesting parameters for transmitting data associated with these specific services, and therefore must select a network slice suitable for its needs.

The 3GPP specification TR 23.799 (release 2.0.0 of 12 months 2016) indicates that the network will be able to provide the terminal with rules that allow the terminal to select a network slice according to the service it wishes to use. This specification does not specify the issue of when or how the terminal generates and uses these rules to actually design such that application data is communicated on the appropriate network slice.

The object of the present invention is to remedy these disadvantages.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention seeks to improve the situation by means of a method of selecting a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slice, for communicating data relating to at least one application installed on a user terminal attached to said infrastructure, the method being implemented by the terminal and comprising:

-a step of sending a request message comprising at least one application identifier to a rule management entity,

-a step of receiving a response message from the rule management entity comprising at least one rule relating to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a step of selecting a network slice according to the at least one rule obtained.

Network slicing may advantageously be implemented to transmit data for one or more applications that share equal needs in terms of quality of service (latency, bit rate, priority). Thus, a network consisting of a plurality of network slices can transmit diverse data streams having different characteristics while providing for each type of data a configuration and transmission parameters adapted to the needs of the various data streams associated with the application used.

The selection method advantageously enables the selection of a network slice that meets the needs of the application whose data is looped over the selected slice. The terminal on which the application is running transmits an identifier of the application for which the network slice has to be selected to the rule management entity responsible for associating the rule with the application. When a new application is installed on a terminal, the terminal determines an identifier of this application and transmits said identifier to a management entity in order to receive rules allowing it to associate network slices with this identifier. Upon receiving the rule, the terminal can determine the network slice, for example, by maintaining a table that associates the rule with the network slice to be selected. This selection method makes it possible to obtain only rules useful therefor, i.e., rules corresponding to applications installed on the terminal. According to an alternative, in particular if the management entity knows that the terminal can support a large number of rules, the rule management entity returns a set of rules to the terminal, not limited only to the rules corresponding to the received identifier. The transmitted rule may, for example, correspond to a parameter S-NSSAI (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information, english) used by the terminal to determine the Network Slice corresponding to the application.

From the prior art, the need to construct a communication network as a network slice has in fact been identified. However, this prior art does not propose any means of associating network slices with application-related characteristics, so that the data stream of the terminal is transmitted according to its characteristics by selecting a network slice suitable for these characteristics.

According to an aspect of the invention, in the selection method, the request message comprises an identifier of an application installed on the terminal when attaching the terminal to said infrastructure.

A terminal attached to a network may have installed multiple applications. In this case, the terminal must obtain the set of rules corresponding to these various applications. Therefore, it is necessary for the terminal to obtain these different rules when it attaches to the network. This allows the terminal to keep all rules on its attachment and use the application faster thereafter, since the terminal does not have to invoke the rule management entity when it has to use the application. The protocol used for transmitting the request message may be a protocol for attaching to the infrastructure or an attachment independent protocol, such as an API REST (application Programming Interface-Representational state transfer, english) dedicated to the need to transmit the identifier to the rule server.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in the selection method, the request message is a message related to the attachment of the terminal.

Further, the restoration of the rule during the terminal attachment may be implemented by using a communication protocol used during the attachment.

For example, when the terminal is connected to a mobile telecommunication Network, the terminal may restore rules in Data presented in a PCO (Protocol Configuration option) during establishment of a PDN (Packet Data Network ) connection, for example, and if the Network is a fixed Network, the terminal may obtain rules in a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, in english) or a PPP (Point-to-Point Protocol ) message connected to the fixed Network.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the selection method, the at least one application identifier further comprises an item of information relating to the version of the application.

Depending on the network architecture and deployment options of the network slice, an information item about the application version may be required for the association of the rules. The version of the application may be associated with the network slice, for example, while the latest version, which integrates e.g. more transfer performance parameters or security parameters, may be associated with the network slice according to higher level parameters with better performance.

According to another aspect of the invention, the at least one application identifier is determined by the terminal.

For an application, it may have a unique identifier at its disposal that allows the rule management entity to be able to unambiguously distinguish the application, or indeed the version of the application, based on this identifier. This is particularly the case if the application is loaded from an application server accessible from a terminal attached to any type of communication infrastructure. In some cases, the identifier of the application is not explicitly enough to be utilized by the management entity, and the terminal may determine the unique identifier of the application. Depending on the case, a suffix or prefix may be added, for example, to an identifier that may not be sufficiently explicit. The suffix or prefix may, for example, identify an application server that is invoked for loading the application, or an identifier that identifies the operating system of the terminal or indeed the terminal, or a combination of such information. The determined identifier must be able to be displayed explicitly by the management entity so that the management entity can select the rule based on this identifier. The prefix or suffix that may be added must be interpreted by the management entity.

The various aspects of the selection method that have just been described can be implemented independently of one another or in combination with one another.

The invention also relates to a method for associating at least one rule relating to a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slices, with an identifier of an application of a terminal attached to said infrastructure, implemented in a rule management entity, characterized in that it comprises:

-a step of receiving a request message comprising at least one application identifier from the terminal,

-a step of determining at least one rule relating to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a step of sending a response message comprising the determined at least one rule to the terminal.

The association method is implemented by the rule management entity in its client-server type in relation to the terminal that applies the request rule. In order to determine the rules associated with the identifier of the application, for which a rule management entity is invoked by the terminal, the rule management entity may comprise a database internal to the entity or external to the entity, in which database the rules corresponding to the identifier of the application are saved. During the attachment of the terminal to the communication infrastructure, this association method may advantageously make it possible to identify all network slices corresponding to diverse applications presented on the terminal or indeed different versions of the applications.

According to an aspect of the invention, in the association method, a priority parameter is associated with at least one rule and transmitted to the terminal.

Data associated with an application may be transmitted across multiple network slices. For example, data of an application may be transmitted on different network slices depending on whether the terminal is in a case of attaching to a visited network (roaming in english) or attaching to its "parent" network. According to another option, the data of the application may be carried on different slices, in particular according to the availability of network slices or quality of service criteria at a given moment. For the management entity it may be useful to transmit a priority indicator in addition to the transmission rules. Thus, the terminal can determine which rule to prioritize and which other rule to consider if the latter is not available. In case of roaming, the network slice having the highest priority corresponding to the network slice of the parent network may not be selected, and then the terminal selects one of the second network slices or network slices having a lower priority according to a terminal selection algorithm.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the association method, the rule associated with the at least one identifier relates to a service class.

Network slicing may be advantageously implemented for applications that require the same processing by the operator to meet specific quality of service standards. Thus, a real-time type application may be associated with one network slice, while an application with fewer constraints may be associated with another slice. Thus, the service class may be determined based on the application identifier and the terminal will utilize the received information about the service class to select the appropriate network slice by invoking the server or based on an internal database.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the association method, in case that at least one application identifier is not associated with any rule, a default rule is determined and transmitted to the terminal.

A large number of applications, or indeed versions of applications, are loaded onto the terminals of the operator's clients, and it is difficult for the operator to associate explicit rules with each application or each application version. In fact, it is necessary to update the management entity with new applications very regularly and to analyze these applications so that they match the corresponding rules in such a way that they convey their data according to their parameters and the policies of the operator of the slice of the communication network. Thus, it is advantageous to define explicit rules for the broadest application or version of an application, and associate default rules with applications that are the least common or strategic to the operator responsible for associating the rules. Thus, a limited number of rules will be used to manage the diversification of applications, and the data of the applications that are least significant to the operator will be transmitted on the network slice associated with the default rule.

According to another aspect of the invention, in the association method, the rule management entity is implemented in an application server.

The rule management entity may advantageously be implemented in an application server. In fact, when the terminal downloads a new application, the rule management entity may also recover the rules corresponding to the downloaded application. Thus, the obtaining of the rules is optimized since no further server has to be invoked when downloading the application, and furthermore it seems advantageous to transmit, in addition to the application, one or more rules that it is allowed to use on the communication infrastructure. Given that the architecture of the communication network is operator-specific, it may be necessary to identify the operator's network or operator in order to provide rules corresponding to the network or operator in order to ensure the connection of the terminal, in particular the involved application servers that are not operator-specific.

The various aspects of the association method that have just been described may be implemented independently of one another or in combination with one another.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for selecting a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slice, for communicating data relating to at least one application of a user terminal attached to said infrastructure, the apparatus comprising:

a sender capable of sending a request message comprising at least one application identifier to a rule management entity,

a receiver capable of receiving a response message from the rule management entity comprising at least one rule relating to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a selection module capable of selecting a network slice according to the obtained at least one rule.

Such a device, which is capable of implementing the selection method that has just been described in all its embodiments, is intended to be implemented in a terminal.

The invention also relates to a device for associating a rule relating to a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slices, with an identifier of an application of a terminal attached to said infrastructure, implemented in a rule management entity, comprising:

a receiver capable of receiving a request message comprising at least one application identifier from a terminal,

a determination module capable of determining at least one rule relating to the network slice associated with the at least one identifier,

-a transmitter capable of transmitting a response message to the terminal comprising the determined at least one rule.

Such a device, which is capable of implementing in all its embodiments the association method just described, is intended to be implemented in a rule management entity.

The invention also relates to a system for selecting a network slice, the system comprising a terminal comprising selection means and a rule management entity comprising association means.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the steps of the selection method just described when this program is executed by a processor.

The invention also relates to a computer program comprising instructions for implementing the steps of the association method just described, when this program is executed by a processor.

The programs may use any programming language and may be in the form of source code, object code, or a code intermediate source and object code such as partially compiled form, or in any other desired form.

The present invention provides an information medium readable by a computer and containing instructions of the above-mentioned computer program.

The information medium may be any entity or device capable of storing the program. For example, the medium may include a storage device such as a ROM (e.g., a CD ROM or a microelectronic circuit ROM), or a magnetic recording device (e.g., a magnetic disk (floppy disk) or hard disk).

Further, the information medium may be a transmissible medium such as an electrical or optical signal which may be conveyed via an electrical or optical cable, by radio or by other means. The program according to the invention may in particular be downloaded via an internet-type network.

Alternatively, the information medium may be an integrated circuit incorporating the program, the circuit being adapted to perform or for carrying out the method in question.

Drawings

Further advantages and characteristics of the present invention will become more clearly apparent after reading the following description of a specific embodiment thereof, given by way of simple illustrative and non-limiting example, and of the accompanying drawings, in which:

figure 1 presents a simplified view of the layout of a communication infrastructure according to the prior art,

figure 2 presents a communication infrastructure according to an aspect of the invention,

figure 3 presents an overview of a method for selecting a network slice according to a first embodiment of the invention,

figure 4 presents an overview of a method for selecting a network slice according to a second embodiment of the invention,

figure 5 presents an exemplary structure of an apparatus for selecting a network slice according to an aspect of the present invention,

FIG. 6 presents an exemplary structure of an apparatus for associating rules in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In the following description, examples of several embodiments of the invention in a mobile communication infrastructure are presented, but the invention can also be implemented in a fixed network infrastructure.

Referring first to fig. 2, a communication infrastructure in accordance with an aspect of the present invention is presented.

Terminal 51 supports applications App1, App2, App3, while terminal 53 supports applications App2 and App 4. In this example, it is considered that applications App1 and App2 are audio and video applications, respectively, while applications App3 and App4 are so-called non-real-time applications, for example for text transmission. The operator of the communication infrastructure 10 constructs its infrastructure by deploying three network slices TR1, TR2, TR3 for transmitting audio data, video data and non-real-time data, respectively. These three slices TR1, TR2, TR3 are implemented in the same communication infrastructure 10 and are instantiated using software resources of a common data center, but provide capabilities and performance in terms of the transfer of data streams suitable for the corresponding application. In particular, the network slice TR1 provides a somewhat insignificant transmission capability, but with very low latency. The network slice TR2 requires significant transmission capacity in order to circulate the video data stream and a rather low latency. Furthermore, this slice has the capability for temporary memory buffering. Finally, the last slice TR3 is characterized by a rather significant capacity and a rather significant latency. This infrastructure can be supplemented with other network slices not represented in the figure, according to the needs of the operator. In particular, default network slices may be envisioned for unidentified application flows or flows that do not require specific needs in terms of transmission.

The network slices TR1 and TR2 provide access to service platforms hosted in the communication network 22 included in the operator's communication infrastructure 10, while the slice TR3 provides access to the data network 32 not included in the infrastructure 10. This data network may be, for example, a service provider's network or a corporate network.

The communication infrastructure also comprises a rule server 40, the role of which is to provide rules for associating network slices with the application of the terminal.

It should be noted that according to an alternative, a network slice may comprise the functionality of a separate access network, the functionality of a separate core network or the functionality of an access network and the functionality of a core network. In fact, the selection method may be implemented for any type of network slice under consideration.

Presented in connection with fig. 3 is an overview of a method for selecting a network slice according to a first embodiment of the invention.

In a step not represented in the figure, the terminal 51 is attached to the network according to known procedures specified in the prior art, in particular by 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Project, english) organisation, in case the terminal 51 is attached to a mobile network, or by BBF (BroadBand Forum, english) organisation, in case the terminal is attached to a fixed network.

During a step E1, during the attachment procedure or according to an option, once the terminal has attached to the communication infrastructure, the terminal 51 transmits a request message M1 to the rules server 40, the request message comprising an identifier of the application that has been installed on the terminal 51. The message may be a specific message or, in particular, a message relating to the attachment of the terminal 51 in case the rules server 40 is co-located with another server called by the terminal 51 for attachment to the communication infrastructure, such as an AAA (Authentication Authorization Accounting, in english) server or a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, in english) server. The Protocol used for transmitting the message may be, for example, the HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol, english) Protocol. It should be noted that the terminal 51 may transmit all identifiers in a single message, or according to an alternative method, each message is assigned an identifier.

According to a variant, the terminal 51 may transmit a message to the rule server 40 comprising not only the application but also the application version, and in this case may associate an appropriate network slice corresponding not only to the application but also to the application version. Thus, the latest version of the application may benefit from better performing network slice delivery parameters. Furthermore, the prospect of providing a network slice that is appropriate for the application version may represent an argument that encourages users to use the latest version of the application and thus limits the complex management of different application versions.

There are several possibilities for informing the terminal about the identity and/or address of the rule server to be invoked to obtain the rule. In case the terminal has a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module, in english), the information can be configured on this card. According to an alternative, the terminal may obtain the information via a protocol such as OMA-DM (Open mobile alliance-Device Management, english) or DHCP. An alternative is to obtain information about the rule server in a message of the control plane, e.g. when the terminal attaches to the access network. According to another aspect, information about the rule server may be derived from a portion of the application identifier. For example, for a rule applicable to an application whose identifier starts with com.

Upon receiving the request message M1 from the terminal 51 during step F1, the rule server 40 determines a rule corresponding to the received application identifier during step E20. To accomplish this task, the rule server 40 may use an internal database or a database located external to the rule server. According to one option, the rule server may invoke a management server to obtain the rule.

During a step E2, the rule server 40 transmits the rule to the terminal 51 in a response message M2. The rule server may choose to transmit one rule per message or all rules in a single message.

The terminal 51 receives the response message M2 in step F2, and determines, based on the received rule, the network slice associated with the diversified installed applications during step E21. The terminal 51 may for example maintain a table associating each application with a network slice and may refer to this table when the application is used to circulate a data stream relating to this application, or according to an option, the terminal may add information about the network slice in the software of each application, so that the network slice is directly identified when the application is started. It should be noted that the determination of the network slice is not associated with the use of the application and may be performed before the application is actually activated.

During step E3, an application is activated on the terminal 51, for example after an action by the end user. During step E21, a network slice TR2 has been determined for this application. In this example, it is assumed that the terminal 51 has not associated any applications with the network slice TR 2. So far, the application activated on the terminal 51 does not actually need to select the slice TR 2. The terminal 51 transmits a message M3 attached to the Network Slice TR2 using a parameter S-NSSAI (Single-Network Slice Selection assistance information in english), in particular identifying the Network Slice TR2, according to the prior art, in particular described in the 3GPP specification TS23.502 (version 0.3.0 of 3 months 2017).

If the attach procedure is successful, the device of the slice TR2, for example a mobile Gateway or BNG (Broadband Network Gateway in english) type device, receives the message M3 during step F3, and transmits the message M4 of the connection confirmation to the terminal 51 during step E4, and from this moment on, when the terminal 51 receives the message M4 during step F4, the data of the application can be actually transmitted on the slice TR2, in particular according to the authentication procedure.

During step E5, terminal 51 calls application server 70 to load the new application. Thus, the terminal 51 transmits the message M5 requesting the application, for example, by using the HTTP protocol. The server 70 may equally well be a public application server or a server specific to the operator responsible for the communication infrastructure within which the network slice is implemented. When the application server receives the message M5 during step F5, and in the case where the application server agrees to dispatch a new application requested by the terminal 51, the application server transmits the application requested in the message M6 to the terminal 51 during step E6. The terminal 51, upon receiving the message M6 during step F6, then maintains the new application for which no network slice is selected.

The terminal then calls the rules server 40 during a step E7 by transmitting a message M7 comprising the identifier of the application loaded during the steps E5, F5, E6, F6. The identifier of the application may have been transmitted by the application server 40, in particular if the application is a public application with an unambiguous identifier or the terminal has defined itself an identifier according to techniques that must be understood by the rule server, typically by adding the identifier of the terminal or the operating system of the terminal to the identifier of the application, thus making it unambiguous and available to the rule server. After having received the request message M7 during step F7, the rule server 40 associates the rule with the identifier received during step E22 and transmits the rule to the terminal 51 in message M8 during step E8.

Once the rule has been received in message M8 during step F8, the terminal 51 determines the network slice for this application during step E23 based on the rule received in message M8. Here, it is considered that the network slice TR2 is determined for this application activated on the terminal, and the terminal 51 does not need to attach to the network slice again, as this is already done during steps E3, F3, E4, F4.

The terminal 51 may store the rules received for the application, which may have been uninstalled or which may have lost the rules obtained, in such a way that the terminal may avoid invoking the rules server again to obtain the rules if it needs to associate the rules with the application. This storage step makes it possible, on the one hand, to avoid overloading the network with rule requests and received messages, and, on the other hand, to invoke the management entity repeatedly. Furthermore, the storage of the obtained rules enables a faster use of the application, since the step of recovering the rules from the management entity is no longer required. According to an alternative, this storage may avoid that the terminal has to invoke the rule server, including situations involving different applications. If the application has a normalized identifier, the terminal may infer the rule to be applied to the second application from the first rule obtained for the first application. For example, if the first application is app1.tpsreel.com, and if the terminal has recovered rule a, the terminal may reuse this rule for all applications of type%. tpsreel.com, where% takes any value.

The terminal 53 may also load a new application, which may be the same as or different from the application loaded by the terminal 51 during the steps E9, F9 and E10, F10 according to the progress of the steps E5, F5, E6, F6 of the terminal 51.

Once the application has been received in the message M10 during step F10, the terminal 53 invokes the rules server 40 during step E11 to obtain the rules for associating the network slice with this application by dispatching the identifier of this application in the request message M11. The rule server 40 receives the message M11 during step F11. During step E24, the server 40 associates the rule determining the default slice during step E24, since the identifier transmitted by the terminal 53 does not correspond to any particular slice, or the data applied does not require a particular processing to be applied to a particular network slice, depending on the entity responsible for the rule. The server transmits this rule in message M12 during step E12. The terminal receives the response message M12 during step F12. When the terminal 53 receives the rule from the server 40, it selects the default slice TR1 during step E25 and connects to the default slice during application activation if it is not already connected to the default slice. This connection is established during steps E13, F13, E14, F14, as described in steps E3, F3, E4, F4, except that the network slices are different.

Referring now to fig. 4, an overview of a method for selecting a network slice in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention is presented. This second embodiment is distinguished from the first embodiment by the fact that: the application server itself contacts the authorization server to obtain rules relating to the application for subsequent transmission of the application and associated rules to the terminal wishing to install the application.

The terminal 51 transmits a request message M '1 for loading a new application to the application server 70 during step E' 1. The application server 70 is also a rules server, but obtains the rules from an authorization server specific to the operator of the network to which the terminal 51 is connected. The server 70, upon receiving the request message M '1 during step F' 1, associates the rule with the application requested by the terminal 51 by invoking the rule server 40. If the application server is a non-operator specific server, the server 70 identifies the rule server 40 to be invoked based on the application identifier transmitted by the terminal 51 according to an option in case the terminal has established an identifier by adding e.g. an operator prefix or suffix. According to another option, the server 70 identifies the server 40 based on an IP (Internet Protocol, english) address used by the terminal 51 for transmitting the message M' 1, or according to another option, by a configuration associating a rule server with a parameter of the terminal 51 (IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity, english) code, IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity, english) code). The server 70 invokes the authorization server 40 during step E '2 by transmitting a message M' 2 to obtain one or more rules associated with the application requested by the terminal 51. When the authorization server 40 receives the message M '2 during step F' 2, it transmits a plurality of rules with priority parameters specific to each rule in the message M '3 to the application server 70 during step E' 3. The rule server 70 obtains the message M '3 during step F' 3.

The rule server 70 transmits the application and the received rule and associated priority parameters to the terminal 51 in a response message M '4 during step E' 4. When the terminal 51 receives this message M ' 4 during step F ' 4, it determines the network slice to be used for the received application during step E ' 21. The terminal 51 attaches to its "parent" network, considering the rule with the highest priority to determine the network slice corresponding to the application. Thereafter, the terminal 51 is attached during steps E '5, F' 5, E '6, F' 6, which correspond to steps E3, F3, E4, F4 of fig. 3.

The terminal 51 invokes the server 70 to load the new application during step E '7 by transmitting the message M' 7. This message is the same as message M' 1, except that the application is different. The server 70 receives the message M '7 during step F' 7 and associates one or more rules with this application requested by the terminal 51. The server 70 has associated the rule with this application during a previous invocation and has stored the rule. The server thus associates the requested application with the rules stored during step E ' 22 without invoking an authorisation server and transmits the application and the rules to the terminal 51 in message M ' 8 during step E ' 8. The terminal 51 receives the message M '8 during step F' 8 and selects the network slice TR2 based on this rule and does not connect with this network slice during application start-up, since the terminal has previously attached to it.

The terminal 53 is considered to be attached to a network that is actually a visited network and is therefore in a roaming situation. The terminal 53 invokes the application server 70 during step E '11 to obtain the application by transmitting the message M' 11. The server receives the request message M '11 during step F' 11. During step E '12, the server 70 initiates the association phase by dispatching the message M' 12 to the rule server 60 corresponding to the terminal 53 or to the operator ensuring the connection of the terminal 53 to the communication infrastructure. The server 60 receives the message M '12 during step F' 12 and transmits the rule associated with the identifier of the application requested by the terminal 53 to the application server 70 in message M '13 during step E' 13. The priority parameter is also transmitted. During step F '13, the server 70 receives the message M' 13 comprising the rules and the priority parameters and stores these items of information relating to the identifiers of the applications for which the server has requested these rules. These items of information are in fact valid when they are transmitted by the authorisation server 60 and these rules are transmitted to the terminal 53 together with the application or in a specific message M '14 different from the one comprising the application during step E' 14. The application server 70 stores the rules according to a rule server that transmits the rules in such a way that invalid or inconsistent rules are not sent to terminals that invoke the same application but are based on a different communication infrastructure than the previous one. During step F '14, the terminal 53 receives a message M' 14 comprising rules and optional applications. During step E' 25, since the terminal 53 is located on the visited network, the terminal 53 selects a rule according to the obtained rule and its priority parameter corresponding to the roaming situation. The terminal 53 determines during step E' 25 from the obtained rules the network slice TR1 corresponding to the rule with lower priority. When the application is activated, the terminal 53 then connects to the network slice TR1 during steps E '15, F' 15, E '16 and F' 16, which are equivalent to steps E '5, F' 5, E '6 and F' 6, except for this time difference in which the terminal connects to the visited network.

According to another embodiment, the terminal selection rule may be executed in two phases. In the first two embodiments, the terminal obtains the rules from the rules server or an application server that has previously obtained the rules from the authorization server. In a third embodiment, the rule server transmits to the terminal an item of information about the service class corresponding to the received application identifier. The terminal, upon receiving the information about the service class, matches the service class with the corresponding slice identifier by invoking a server or by using an internal base station that associates the service class with a network slice. In the case where the internal base station contacts a server to associate a service class with a slice, the server may be the same as the server that was invoked to obtain the service class, or a different server. The obtained information about the service class corresponds to the rules related to the requested network slice, but the selection of the slice is different from the first two embodiments. This embodiment is particularly suited to the context in which an operator has constructed its communication network by deploying network slices adapted to transfer data according to its service class related characteristics, such as for example defined and not only defined in the Diffserv (Differentiated Services, english) approach.

Presented in connection with fig. 5 is an exemplary structure of an apparatus for selecting a network slice according to an aspect of the present invention.

The apparatus 100 for selecting a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slices, implements a selection method, various embodiments of which have just been described.

Such an apparatus 100 may be implemented in a terminal. The terminal may be a mobile terminal or a fixed terminal.

For example, the device 100 comprises a processing unit 106, equipped for example with a microprocessor μ P and driven by a computer program 105, which is stored in a memory 107 and implements the selection method according to the invention. At initialization, the code instructions of the computer program 105 are loaded into, for example, a RAM memory before they are executed by the processor of the processing unit 106.

Such an apparatus 100 comprises:

a transmitter 110 capable of transmitting an identifier Ident of at least one application of the terminal to the rules management entity,

a receiver 120 capable of receiving at least one rule Reg relating to a network slice associated with an identifier received by the at least one application from a rule management entity,

a determination module 101, the selection module being able to determine a network slice from the at least one rule Reg obtained.

Presented in connection with fig. 6 is an exemplary structure of an apparatus for associating rules in accordance with an aspect of the present invention.

The apparatus 200 for associating rules related to a set of functions of a communication infrastructure, so-called network slices, implements a selection method, various embodiments of which have just been described.

Such an apparatus 200 may be implemented in a terminal, which may be a mobile terminal or a fixed terminal.

For example, the device 200 comprises a processing unit 206 equipped with, for example, a microprocessor μ P and driven by a computer program 205 stored in a memory 207 and implementing the selection method according to the invention. At initialization, the code instructions of the computer program 205 are loaded into, for example, a RAM memory before they are executed by the processor of the processing unit 206.

Such an apparatus 200 comprises:

a receiver (220) capable of receiving an identifier Ident of at least one application from a terminal,

an association module 201 able to associate at least one rule Reg relating to the identifier received by the at least one application,

a transmitter 220 capable of transmitting the at least one associated rule Reg to the terminal.

The modules described in connection with fig. 5 and 6 may be hardware modules or software modules.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention that have just been presented are only some of the embodiments that are conceivable. The method for selecting a network slice and the method for associating rules with a set of functions of a communication infrastructure make it possible to improve the quality of experience of a client. In practice, a network slice may be matched to a particular feature of a set of applications that have a common characteristic and request the same or similar processing. Thus, operators of communication infrastructures may implement different mobile networks (identified herein as network slices) within the same infrastructure to carry data streams whose characteristics are the same. Such a structure of the communication infrastructure may be more or less good depending on whether the operator considers an application version, an application or a group of applications by considering e.g. a service class. According to another example, the operator may also associate network slices according to the service provider providing the application. For example, depending on whether the application is provided by provider a or provider B, or by the operator itself, the data of the application may be associated with a slice that specifically enforces more or less guarantees on the quality of service.