Enhanced NEF function, MEC and 5G integration

• Main Authors: Gazda, Robert G, Purkayastha, Debashish, Perras, Michelle
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 20.12.2022
• Subjects: ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHICCOMMUNICATION; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

Methods, devices, and systems for third party edge cloud service providers (CSPs) to provide edge computing services to network service providers. The edge computing service is initialized in a network. Network information services of the network are discovered. A location of a cloud resource in the network may be dynamically changed. User plane traffic is steered toward the location of the cloud resource. In some embodiments, initializing the edge computing service includes transmitting an identity of a valid user and a data network name to a network function virtualization management and organization system, or transmitting a user subscription list to a network exposure function. In some embodiments, dynamically changing the location of a cloud resource and steering user plane traffic toward the location of the cloud resource includes determining a number of users of an edge application at a location, and a network requirement of the edge application.