Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining a first plurality of inputs that identify a plurality of geographical locations and a plurality of infrastructure located at the plurality of geographical locations, classifying each of the plurality of geographical locations in accordance with the first plurality of inputs to obtain a plurality of classes, obtaining a second plurality of inputs that identify costs, revenue, profits, or any combination thereof, associated with the plurality of infrastructure, processing the second plurality of inputs in conjunction with the plurality of classes to identify a first plurality of locations included in the plurality of geographical locations to decommission infrastructure included in the plurality of infrastructure, and presenting the first plurality of locations via a device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Systems, computer-readable media, and methods are disclosed for parallel data processing for service function chains with network functions spanning multiple servers. An example system includes a first server hosting a first network function of a service function chain, a second server hosting a second network function of the service function chain, a mirror function deployed in a first switch to replicate a plurality of packets received by the system and to send respective copies of the plurality of packets to the first network function and to at least one of the second network function and a third network function of the service function chain, and a merge function deployed in a second switch to merge respective outputs of the first network function and the at least one of the second network function and the third network function.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining predicted available bandwidths for an end user device, monitoring buffer occupancy of a buffer of the end user device, determining bit rates for portions of media content according to the predicted available bandwidths and according to the buffer occupancy, and adjusting bit rates for portions of media content according to the predicted available bandwidths and according to the buffer occupancy during streaming of the media content to the end user device over a wireless network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a processing system identifies a plurality of performance indicators comprising device performance indicators for a plurality of communication devices on a cellular network and network performance indicators for the cellular network. The method also includes obtaining historical data regarding the plurality of performance indicators for each of a series of time points during a past time period; the historical data for each of the plurality of performance indicators form an array of values for that performance indicator. The method further includes generating from each array a set of inputs to an algorithm for predicting a throughput of the cellular network during a future time period; the set of inputs comprises quantiles of the array, and the algorithm comprises a machine learning algorithm. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Concepts and technologies directed to agile transport for background traffic in cellular networks are disclosed herein. In various aspects, a system can include a processor and memory storing instructions that, upon execution, cause performance of operations. The operations can include determining a capacity of a communication path that communicatively couples a user equipment to a radio access network cell site. The operations can include identifying, from the radio access network cell site, a queue that is constructed for the user equipment. The operations can include assembling a plurality of probe burst packet sets from a background traffic flow. The operations can include probing the communication path for spare capacity using the plurality of probe burst packet sets and delivering the background traffic flow to the user equipment using the spare capacity while the communication path is not busy.

Abstract: A system may assist with checking policy impact in a software-defined infrastructure environment. The system's data analysis may enable it to discover and quantify the impact of policies on software-defined infrastructure objects in the same or different layers.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for spherical video streaming over a network by a processing system including a processor, the method including prefetching audio data for rendering the spherical video; determining whether there is a single source or a plurality of sources of audio in the audio data; responsive to a determination that there is only one dominant source of the audio in the audio data, prefetching video data in a field of view centered on spatial coordinates of the dominant source of audio; responsive to a determination that there is the plurality of sources of the audio in the audio data, sorting the plurality of sources of the audio according to an estimated sound source energy for each source in the plurality of sources, thereby creating a sorted list of the plurality of sources; and prefetching video data in plural fields of view centered on spatial coordinates of each audio source in the sorted list of the plurality of sources, wherein the prefetching is

Abstract: The concepts and technologies disclosed herein are directed to a network-assisted Raft consensus protocol, referred to herein as “NetRaft.” According to one aspect of the concepts and technologies disclosed herein, a system can include a plurality of servers operating in a server cluster, and a plurality of P4 switches corresponding to the plurality of servers. Each server of the plurality of servers can include a back-end that executes a complete Raft algorithm to perform leader election, log replication, and log commitment of a Raft consensus algorithm. Each P4 switch of the plurality of P4 switches can include a front-end that executes a partial Raft algorithm to perform the log replication and the log commitment of the Raft consensus algorithm. The back-end can maintain a complete state for responding to requests that cannot be fulfilled by the front-end. The requests can include read requests and/or write requests.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining predicted available bandwidths for an end user device, monitoring buffer occupancy of a buffer of the end user device, determining bit rates for portions of media content according to the predicted available bandwidths and according to the buffer occupancy, and adjusting bit rates for portions of media content according to the predicted available bandwidths and according to the buffer occupancy during streaming of the media content to the end user device over a wireless network. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for parallelizing service function chains.

Abstract: The invention pertains to a polymer composition comprising a thermoplastic polymer, a glass fiber, and a hollow glass bead, wherein the ratio of the concentration of the hollow glass bead to the total concentration of the glass fiber and the hollow glass bead ranges from 0.2 to 0.49.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, system for tile-based video streaming using a proxy executing at a mobile edge cloud, which adaptively offloads decoding and merging of video tiles from mobile devices to the mobile edge cloud. A processing system including the proxy communicates with a video server and a client device. The proxy receives a request for video content from a client device; the request includes historical field of view (FoV) information. The proxy predicts a client FoV, requests video tiles from the server, downloads the tiles from the server, generates a video chunk by decoding and merging the downloaded tiles, and delivers the video chunk to the client device. The client device performs local decoding and rendering of the generated video chunk. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method in which a processing system identifies a plurality of performance indicators comprising device performance indicators for a plurality of communication devices on a cellular network and network performance indicators for the cellular network. The method also includes obtaining historical data regarding the plurality of performance indicators for each of a series of time points during a past time period; the historical data for each of the plurality of performance indicators form an array of values for that performance indicator. The method further includes generating from each array a set of inputs to an algorithm for predicting a throughput of the cellular network during a future time period; the set of inputs comprises quantiles of the array, and the algorithm comprises a machine learning algorithm. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A method for streaming a 360 degree video over a communications network, wherein the video is streamed in a plurality of chunks, includes selecting a prediction window during which to predict a field of view within the video, the field of view is expected to be visible by a viewer at a time of playback of a next chunk of the video, wherein a duration of the prediction window is based on at least one condition within the communications network, selecting a machine learning algorithm to predict the field of view based on a head movement of the viewer, wherein the machine learning algorithm is selected based on the duration of the prediction window, predicting the field of view based on the head movement of the viewer and the machine learning algorithm, identifying a tile of the next chunk that corresponds to the field of view, and downloading the tile.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a method for spherical video streaming over a network by a processing system including a processor, the method including prefetching audio data for rendering the spherical video; determining whether there is a single source or a plurality of sources of audio in the audio data; responsive to a determination that there is only one dominant source of the audio in the audio data, prefetching video data in a field of view centered on spatial coordinates of the dominant source of audio; responsive to a determination that there is the plurality of sources of the audio in the audio data, sorting the plurality of sources of the audio according to an estimated sound source energy for each source in the plurality of sources, thereby creating a sorted list of the plurality of sources; and prefetching video data in plural fields of view centered on spatial coordinates of each audio source in the sorted list of the plurality of sources, wherein the prefetching is

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying a field of view (FoV) within a first frame of a video that occupies a sub-portion of the frame. A size is determined by subdividing a portion of the video according to a tiling scenario. Tiles overlapping the FoV are detected, and an updated size is determined based on an encoded version of the tiles and compared to a reference size. Responsive to the updated size being less than the reference size, the reference size is adjusted to the updated size, the tiling scenario is adjusted according to an adjusted tiling scenario, and the determining of the size is repeated based on the adjusted tiling scenario. Responsive to the updated size not being less than the reference size, a preferred tiling scenario is identified based on the adjusted tiling scenario for tiling the video. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A processing system may obtain an intent comprising a desired network state for a telecommunication network, determine an existing network state, where the desired network state and the existing network state are defined in accordance with a graph representing the telecommunication network, where the graph includes objects and relationships between the plurality of objects, and where each of the objects includes one or more properties. The processing system may compose a strategy that includes a plurality of policies to obtain the desired network state from the existing network state, where each of the policies comprises an action that is to be implemented in the telecommunication network, where the composing comprises performing a state exploration process over the graph, and where each state transition of the process corresponds to one of the policies. The processing system may then implement the strategy to place the telecommunication network in the desired network state.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, obtaining a first plurality of inputs that identify a plurality of geographical locations and a plurality of infrastructure located at the plurality of geographical locations, classifying each of the plurality of geographical locations in accordance with the first plurality of inputs to obtain a plurality of classes, obtaining a second plurality of inputs that identify costs, revenue, profits, or any combination thereof, associated with the plurality of infrastructure, processing the second plurality of inputs in conjunction with the plurality of classes to identify a first plurality of locations included in the plurality of geographical locations to decommission infrastructure included in the plurality of infrastructure, and presenting the first plurality of locations via a device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, system for tile-based video streaming using a proxy executing at a mobile edge cloud, which adaptively offloads decoding and merging of video tiles from mobile devices to the mobile edge cloud. A processing system including the proxy communicates with a video server and a client device. The proxy receives a request for video content from a client device; the request includes historical field of view (FoV) information. The proxy predicts a client FoV, requests video tiles from the server, downloads the tiles from the server, generates a video chunk by decoding and merging the downloaded tiles, and delivers the video chunk to the client device. The client device performs local decoding and rendering of the generated video chunk. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying a field of view (FoV) within a first frame of a video that occupies a sub-portion of the frame. A size is determined by subdividing a portion of the video according to a tiling scenario. Tiles overlapping the FoV are detected, and an updated size is determined based on an encoded version of the tiles and compared to a reference size. Responsive to the updated size being less than the reference size, the reference size is adjusted to the updated size, the tiling scenario is adjusted according to an adjusted tiling scenario, and the determining of the size is repeated based on the adjusted tiling scenario. Responsive to the updated size not being less than the reference size, a preferred tiling scenario is identified based on the adjusted tiling scenario for tiling the video. Other embodiments are disclosed.