CONTROL METHOD FOR NETWORK COMMUNICATION SYSTEM AND MULTI-ACCESS EDGE COMPUTING ECOSYSTEM DEVICE

Abstract

A control method for network communication system comprises of obtaining an item of neighbor base station identification information of a neighbor base station by a first base station; obtaining a first base station neighbor information from the first base station by a first MEC platform; producing an item of first platform neighbor information by the first MEC platform; determining whether a request signal matches the first platform neighbor information after receiving the request signal from a second MEC platform; providing the first platform identification information to the second MEC platform while determining that the request signal matches the first platform neighbor information.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) on Patent Application No(s). 106130300 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. Sep. 5, 2017, and Application No(s). 106130299 filed in Taiwan, R.O.C. Sep. 5, 2017. The entire contents of each of the above-mentioned patent application is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.

BACKGROUND

Technical Field

This disclosure relates to a control method for network communication system and multi-access edge computing device.

Related Art

Throughput of mobile network keeps increasing for the following reasons. One is that mobile devices get much more popular in the world. Another one is that internet services such as communication software or video streams grow continuously. Moreover, more and more enterprises expand their business scope to include smart device business, hoping to improve the convenience for the users to use the devices and gain their own commercial profit thereby. Under this trend, the throughput is going to overload the normal backhaul network. Further more, a remote cloud operation center is expected to be able to deal with the increasing amount of computation, which is a goal hard to be achieved. In other words, the traditional internet architecture is severely challenged by new technology.

In such a situation, the architecture, Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC), is proposed to solve problems induced by the increasing throughput. The MEC incorporates a new concept for internet architectures. As literally shown, MEC provides users with cloud operation service and information technology (IT) service at logical edge of the mobile network. MEC is came up with by the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), mainly for reducing the burden of core internet equipment and enabling mobile network service providers to provide unique user experience for their customers.

However, there are still some challenges in MEC to be overcome. For example, challenges accompanied by issues like “content cache” or “hand over” have noticeable influences on the performance of MEC, which means that there is still improvement to be made for MEC.

SUMMARY

According to one or more embodiment of this disclosure, a control method for a network communication system, which is adapted to a network communication system. The network communication system comprises a first MEC platform, a first BS and the BS network management server. The first MEC platform communicates with the first BS. The method comprises: obtaining a neighbor BS ID of a neighbor BS by the first BS, wherein a first communication range of the first BS overlaps part of a second communication range of the neighbor BS; obtaining a first BS neighbor information from the first BS by the first MEC platform, wherein the first BS neighbor information includes the neighbor BS ID; generating first platform neighbor information by the first MEC platform, wherein the first platform neighbor information includes a first platform ID of the first MEC platform and the neighbor BS ID; determining whether a request signal matches the first platform neighbor information by the network communication system when the request signal is received by the network communication system from a second MEC platform; and providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform when the request signal is determined as matching the first platform neighbor information.

According to one or more disclosure of this disclosure, a MEC device configured to communicate with a first BS. The MEC device comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is electrically connected to the memory storing a plurality of instructions and is adapted to execute the instructions for the MEC device to operate an MEC platform. The MEC platform is configured to perform steps comprising: obtaining a BS ID of a second BS from the first BS, wherein a second communication range of the second BS overlaps part of a first communication range of the first BS; generating platform neighbor information which includes a platform ID of the MEC platform and the BS ID of the second BS; and providing the platform neighbor information to a central management server for providing the platform neighbor information to an another MEC platform with whom the central management server communicates through the central management server, wherein the platform neighbor information includes the BS ID of the second BS.

According to one or more disclosure of this disclosure, a MEC device configured to communicate with a first BS. The MEC device comprises a processor and a memory. The processor is electrically connected to the memory storing a plurality of instructions and is adapted to execute the instructions for the MEC device to operate an MEC platform. The MEC platform is configured to perform steps comprising: determining whether a request signal matches platform neighbor information by the MEC platform when the MEC platform receives the request signal broadcasted by another MEC platform; and providing a platform ID to the another MEC platform by the MEC platform when the MEC platform determines that the request signal matches the platform neighbor information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure will become more fully understood from the detailed description given herein below and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in a first embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control method for a network communication system in the first embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a second embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in a third embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in the third embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a fourth embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a fifth embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a sixth embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a seventh embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in the seventh embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 11 is an illustration diagram for handing over a terminal device in an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 12 is a function block diagram of an MEC device in an embodiment of this disclosure.

FIG. 13 is a system architecture diagram of an MEC device in an embodiment of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent, however, that one or more embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are schematically shown in order to simplify the drawings.

This disclosure provides a control method for a network communication system including a BS (base station) network management server. Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2, which shows a control method for a network communication system and an architecture the control method adapted to. FIG. 1 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in a first embodiment of this disclosure. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a control method for a network communication system of the first embodiment of this disclosure. The control method shown in FIG. 2 is adapted to network communication system 1a shown in FIG. 1. The network communication system 1a includes a first MEC platform 12a, a first BS 14a. The first MEC platform 12a is configured to communicate with first BS 14a. Herein, although the first MEC platform 12a communicates with one BS in this embodiment, the first MEC platform 12a can communicate with a plurality of BSs in practice. Said “communicate” means wired communication or wireless communication established between devices, and does not have the devices always maintain their connections to each other. For an example, the first BS 14a can support communication protocol and signal transmission for 4G (4th generation). The above description is merely an example and this disclosure is not thus limited thereto.

The first MEC platform 12a is, for example, a physical machine having operating ability, or the first MEC platform 12a is an application in a virtual machine operated by a server. In view of network architecture, the first MEC platform 12a may be deployed at the LTE macro base station (eNodeB) site, at the 3G Radio Network Controller (RNC) site, at a multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) cell aggregation site, and at an aggregation point which may also be at the edge of the core network. That is, the first MEC platform 12a is close to terminal devices of users. The terminal devices of users are located at a periphery of network architecture and are connected to the cloud server or the internet through the core network. Said “periphery of network” may be implemented by, but not limited thereto, an intersection of a LAN (local area network) and an internet, wherein the LAN is closer to the users than to the internet. The terminal devices of users are mobile electrical devices, such as smart phones, pads or laptops. In FIG. 1, a terminal device 30 as one of the terminal devices is shown for illustration. Specifically, the terminal device 30 may access the internet or communicate to another remote terminal device through the first BS 14.

The first MEC platform 12a is configured to serve the terminal device 30, so that the operational load of the terminal device 30 can be lowered when complicated operations are completed by the first MEC platform 12a. In another example, the first MEC platform 12a is configured to store and to handle information that the terminal device 30 may access. The above description is merely an example and does not thus limit the services provided by the first MEC platform 12a.

Please refer to FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 again. In step S201 of said control method, a neighbor BS ID of a neighbor BS is obtained by the first BS 14a, wherein a first communication range of the first BS 14a overlaps a part of a second communication range of the neighbor BS. In FIG. 1, as an example, a second BS 24 serves as the neighbor BS to the first BS 14a. Specifically, when it is talked about “a communication range overlapping another communication range,” there's an intersection area between these two communication ranges, and when the terminal device 30 is located in said intersection area between the first communication range and the second communication range, both of the first BS 14a and the second BS 24 can communicate with the terminal device 30. In practice, the first BS 14a may obtain the neighbor BS ID (identification) of the neighbor BS by ANR (automatic neighbor relation) protocol defined by 3GPP for example. The ANR can be implemented with NRT (Neighbor Relation Table). The neighbor BS ID is an ID or an IP address (internet protocol address) of the neighbor BS (as the second BS 24 in this embodiment).

The neighbor BS relates to another MEC platform. In the embodiment, the second BS 24 and second MEC platform 22 are shown for an example. The second MEC platform 22 is configured to communicate with the second BS 24. Details about the second MEC platform 22 and the second BS 24 are similar to those of the first MEC platform 12a and the first BS 14a in the previous description and are not repeated herein. When a second BS 24 serves as the neighbor BS to the first BS 14a, the second MEC platform 22 is defined as a neighbor of the first MEC platform 12a.

In step S203, the first MEC platform 12a may obtain the first BS neighbor information from the first BS 14a. In step S205, the first MEC platform 12a generates first platform neighbor information, wherein the first platform neighbor information includes a first platform ID of the first MEC platform 12a and the neighbor BS IDs. In step S207, the network communication system 1a determines whether a request signal matches the first platform neighbor information, with the request signal sent by a second MEC platform 22 and received by the network communication system 1a. In step S209, the first platform ID is provided to the second MEC platform 22 when the request signal is determined as matching the first platform neighbor information. This disclosure also offers some implementations in practice illustrated as the following.

Please refer to FIG. 3 for one of the said implementations. FIG. 3 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method adapted to a network communication system in a second embodiment of the control method in this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, in step S301, the first MEC platform 12a determines whether the request signal matches the first platform neighbor information when the request signal broadcasted by the second MEC platform 22 is received by the first MEC platform 12a. In specific, the first MEC platform 12a is configured to determine whether the request signal has contents relative to the first platform neighbor information so as to further determine whether the request signal matches the first platform neighbor information. In an ideal situation, the request signal has the neighbor BS ID (BS ID of the second BS 24 in this embodiment) of the neighbor BS which neighbors or is next to the first BS 14a. In this embodiment, when the request signal is determined as having the neighbor BS ID of the neighbor BS which neighbors the first BS 14a, the first MEC platform 12a determines that the request signal matches the first platform neighbor information. On the other hand, the first MEC platform 12a may receive other request signals broadcasted by other MEC platform whose communication ranges does not overlap the first communication range of the first BS 14a. In this case, said other request signals do not have the neighbor BS IDs. Accordingly, the first MEC platform 12a determines that said other request signals from said other MEC platform do not match the first platform neighbor information.

In step S303, the first MEC platform 12a provides the first platform ID to the second MEC platform 22 when the request signal and the first platform neighbor information are determined as matching each other. When the second MEC platform 22 obtains the first platform ID, the second MEC platform 22 can establish neighbor relationship to first MEC platform 12a according to the first platform ID and communicate with the first MEC platform 12a to exchange information. On the contrary, when the first MEC platform 12a determines that the request signal does not match the first platform neighbor information, the first MEC platform 12a does not provide the first platform ID to the source of the request signal. In practice, the first MEC platform 12a and the second MEC platform 22 can define each other as a neighbor MEC platform by storing the platform ID of each other in their own corresponding information columns. In one embodiment, when the second MEC platform 22 receives the first platform ID provided by the first MEC platform 12a, the second MEC platform 22 further provides its own platform ID to the first MEC platform 12a. After the first MEC platform 12a receives the platform ID provided by the second MEC platform 22, the first MEC platform 12a establishes neighbor relationship to the second MEC platform 22. Ways to establish neighbor relationship can be designed by a person having ordinary skill in the art according to the present disclosure.

In view of the architecture, the first communication range of the first BS 14a overlaps at least part of the second communication range of the second BS 24. Therefore, there is a high possibility that the terminal device 30 moves to the second communication range from the first communication range. In other words, both of the first MEC platform 12a and the second MEC platform 22 are possible to serve for the terminal device 30 sequentially. As a result, with the control method, the first MEC platform 12a and the second MEC platform 22 can establish neighbor relationship to each other and share information. Thus, MEC can make determinations efficiently and better services can be provided to the terminal device 30.

Please continue to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 illustrating another implementation. FIG. 4 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in a third embodiment of this disclosure. FIG. 5 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in the third embodiment of this disclosure. In the third embodiment, network communication system 1b further comprises a central management server 18b. The central management server 18b is configured to communicate with the first MEC platform 12b. As shown in FIG. 5, in step S501, the first MEC platform 12b provides the first platform neighbor information to the central management server 18b; in step S503, the central management server 18b determines whether the request signal matches the neighbor BS ID when the request signal from the second MEC platform 22 is received by the central management server 18b. As mentioned previously, the first platform neighbor information comprises the first platform ID of the first MEC platform 12b and the neighbor BS ID of the first MEC platform 12b. In step S505, the central management server 18b provides the first platform ID to the second MEC platform 22 when the request signal and the first platform neighbor information are determined as matching each other.

According to the above, the central management server 18b can be an intermediate role between MEC platforms. The second MEC platform 22 can build a communication connection to the central management server 18b and provide a request signal to the central management server 18b. Thus, the security issues and signal delivery issues of signal broadcasting can be avoided. On the other hand, the case with first platform neighbor information provided from the first MEC platform 12b to the central management server 18b is shown in the disclosure. However, in practice, the second MEC platform 22 can also provide corresponding platform neighbor information to the central management server 18b, for the first MEC platform 12b to access. In other words, the first MEC platform 12b can also request for its own neighbor MEC platform from the central management server 18b and establish neighbor relationship to its neighbor MEC platforms. Further more, the central management server 18b can obtain platform neighbor information not only from the first MEC platform 12b and the second MEC platform 22 but also from other MEC platforms. According to the above embodiments, said neighbor MEC platforms can establish neighbor relationship with each other, too. In the following, embodiment shown in FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 is recited for example.

As mentioned above, the first MEC platform 12b is configured to serve terminal device 30. In one embodiment, the first MEC platform 12b stores a plurality of first data pieces in its first storage space for the terminal device 30 to access. The contents and formats of the first data pieces are not limited herein. In practice, since the size of the first storage space is finite, when the first storage space is almost filled with the first data pieces, the first MEC platform 12b has to free up at least part of the first storage space by deleting some first data pieces or replacing some first data pieces by new data pieces so as to get non-occupied storage space for data pieces meeting the needs of users.

In one embodiment, the first MEC platform 12b stores a plurality of first data pieces in a first storage medium, with each first data piece corresponding to a first access record, and a plurality of second data pieces is stored in a second storage medium of the first MEC platform 12b, with each second data piece corresponding to a second access record. After the step of providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform 22, the first MEC platform 12b can further optimize the arrangement of the first storage medium according to information relative to the second MEC platform 22.

Please refer to FIG. 6 exemplifying the data access mentioned above. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a fourth embodiment of this disclosure. In step S601, the first MEC platform 12b and the second MEC platform 22 are communicated to determine whether any one of the first data pieces is the same as any one of the second data pieces when the rest of a first storage space of the first MEC platform 12b is equal to or smaller than a default size. In step S603, the first MEC platform 12b selectively deletes at least one of the first data pieces according to the first access record and the second access record when one of the first data pieces is determined as the same as one of the second data pieces In accordance, this disclosure provides different kinds of implementations for step S603 as the following.

Please refer to FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in the fifth embodiment of this disclosure. In this embodiment, the first access record has a first access number of each of the first data pieces in a default time interval, and the second access record has a second access number of each of second data pieces in the default time interval. The step of selectively deleting part of the first data pieces according to the first access record and the second access record, the method further comprises the following steps. In step S701, the first MEC platform determines whether there is any repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces. In step S703, the first MEC platform obtains a sum of the first access number of a first repeated data piece and the second access number of a second repeated data piece, and the first MEC platform replaces the value of the first access number of the first repeated data piece with the sum when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces. In step S705, the first MEC platform deletes one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having the least first access number of the first data pieces. The first MEC platform herein is not limited thereto any of the above examples, and the first MEC platform 12b is taken as an example with the following illustration.

Please refer to the table 1 and table 2 shown as follows. The table 1 shows a plurality of first data pieces and corresponding first access numbers stored by the first MEC platform 12b. The table 2 shows a plurality of second data pieces and corresponding second access numbers stored by the second MEC platform 22. Specifically, the first MEC platform 12b stores data piece #1, data piece #16 and data piece #20 while the second MEC platform 22 stores data piece #1, data piece #4 and data piece #20. Namely, both of the first MEC platform 12b and the second MEC platform 22 store data piece #1 and data piece #20. In this scenario, data piece #1 and data piece #20 are the mentioned first repeated data piece (in respect to the first MEC platform 12b) or the second repeated data piece (in respect to the second MEC platform 22). As mentioned before, each of the first access number and the second access number is, for example, a number that for how many times each corresponding data pieces have been accessed in a default time interval. Said default time interval can be set as an hour, a time interval of length set by a user or a time interval back from a current time point.

TABLE 1
                 first access
first data piece number
data piece#1     1000
data piece#16    1248
data piece#20    3634

TABLE 2
                  second
second data piece access number
data piece#1      2450
data piece#4      1029
data piece#20     5350

In one traditional way, taking the first MEC platform 12b for example, the first MEC platform 12b usually takes only the first access numbers of the first data pieces into consideration for its operations. Therefore, when the first MEC platform 12b is short of storage space in the first storage medium, the first MEC platform 12b usually deletes the first data piece corresponding to the least first access number in the record of the first MEC platform 12b. In the case of the table 1 above, the first MEC platform 12b usually deletes data piece #1 or substitutes data piece #1 with a new data piece. However, as shown in table 2, the second access number corresponding to the data piece #1 is not the least one among the access numbers of the second data pieces and is even larger than some first access numbers of the first data pieces.

As mentioned before, with the first communication range of the first BS 14b overlapping the second communication range of the second BS 24, terminal devices communicated with the second BS 24 probably move away from the second BS 24 and are probably handed over to the first BS 14b. These terminal devices are initially served by the second MEC platform 22. However, after being handed over to the first BS 14b, these terminal devices are served by the first MEC platform 12b instead. Under some circumstances, these terminal devices whom are handed over to the first BS 14b from the second BS 24 may look forward to access some second data pieces, like data piece #1, from the first MEC platform. Nevertheless, in aforementioned traditional practices, the first MEC platform 12b may delete data piece #1 for lacking of storage space. Thus, when a terminal device requests for data piece #1 from the first MEC platform 12b, it costs the first MEC platform 12b for operational time and resources to re-obtain data piece #1 for the terminal device, causing service delay even errors.

For such a situation, after establishing neighbor relationship to the second MEC platform 22 as the mentioned embodiment, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, the first MEC platform 12b makes decisions about the storage changes further according to the second access record when the first MEC platform 12b determines to delete one or more first data pieces or to replace one or more first data pieces by one or more new data pieces. In one embodiment, the first MEC platform 12b updates one or more first access numbers according to the corresponding second access numbers. Referring to table 1 and table 2, both data piece #1 and data piece #2 are shown in both table 1 and table 2 and thus are defined as repeated data pieces. In accordance, the first MEC platform 12b obtains the sum of the first access number corresponding to data piece #1 and the second access number corresponding to data piece #1, and the first MEC platform 12b substitutes the original first access number corresponding to data piece #1 with the sum. Similarly, the first MEC platform 12b obtains another sum of the first access number corresponding to data piece #20 and the second access number corresponding to data piece #20, and the first MEC platform 12b substitutes the original first access number corresponding to data piece #20 with said another sum. According to the above, table 1 is thus updated to table 3 shown as follows. Refer to table 3, the one with the least first access number in the table 3 is data piece #16. Thus, the first MEC platform 12b deletes data piece #16 and does not delete data piece #1 like traditional ways. In practice, the first MEC platform 12b can continue accumulating the statistical result based on the updated data (like table 3), or the first MEC platform 12b can continue accumulating the statistical result based on the data before updated (like table 1).

TABLE 3
                 first access
first data piece number
data piece#1     3450
data piece #16   1248
data piece #20   8984

In another embodiment, the first MEC platform 12b can make said decisions according to the larger one of the first access number and the second access number. Take table 3 for example, the first MEC platform 12b may delete data piece #16 instead of data piece #1 in such embodiment because the second access number of data piece #1 is larger than the other first access numbers of some first data pieces.

Please refer to FIG. 8. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in the sixth embodiment of this disclosure. In this embodiment, the first access record has the first last-access-time-point of each piece of first data pieces and the second access record has a second last-access-time-point of each piece of the second data pieces. The method further comprises the following steps. In step S801, the first MEC platform determines whether there is a repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces. In step S803, the first MEC platform compares the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece with the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces. In step S805, the first MEC platform replaces the value of the first last-access-time-point with the value of the second last-access-time-point when the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece is earlier than the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece. In step S807, the first MEC platform deletes one data piece whose last-access-time-point is the earliest in the first data pieces.

Please refer to table 4 and table 5 illustrating another example. A plurality of first data pieces and a plurality of first last-access-time-points corresponding to the first data pieces are recorded in table 4. A plurality of second data pieces and a plurality of second last-access-time-points corresponding to the second data pieces are recorded in the table 5. Specifically, the first MEC platform 12b stores data piece#1, data piece#16 and data piece#20, and the second MEC platform 22 stores data piece#1, data piece#4 and data piece#20. Wherein, both of the first MEC platform 12b and the second MEC platform 22 store data piece#1 and data piece#20.

TABLE 4
                 first last-access-
first data piece time-point
data piece#1     20:53
data piece #16   20:30
data piece #20   20:20

TABLE 5
                  second last-access-
second data piece time-point
data piece #1     20:48
data piece #4     20:12
data piece #20    20:33

In traditional ways and in respect to the first MEC platform 12b, the first MEC platform 12b takes the first last-access-time-points of the first data pieces into consideration. Therefore, when the first MEC platform 12b is short of storage space in the first storage medium, the first MEC platform 12b usually deletes the first data piece corresponding to the earliest first last-access-time-points, namely the one not being accessed for the longest time. With information in table 4 and table 5, in traditional ways, the first MEC platform 12b deletes data piece #20 or substitutes data piece #20 with new data piece. However, as shown in table 5, the second last-access-time-point of data piece #20 is not the earliest among all the second data pieces, and is even later than the first last-access-time-point of some first data pieces.

For such a situation, after establishing neighbor relationship to the second MEC platform 22 as the mentioned embodiment, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 8, when the first MEC platform 12b determines to delete one or more first data piece or to replace one or more first data piece by one or more new data piece, the first MEC platform 12b makes decision about the space storage changes further according to the second access record. In one embodiment, referring to table 4 and table 5, both data piece #1 and data piece #20 are shown in both table 1 and table 2 and thus are defined as repeated data pieces. In accordance, the first MEC platform 12b determines which of the first last-access-time-point of data piece #1 and the second last-access-time-point of data piece #1 is earlier, and the first MEC platform 12b determines which of the first last-access-time-point of data piece #20 and the second last-access-time-point of data piece #20 is earlier. In this embodiment, the first last-access-time-point (20:53) corresponding to data piece #1 is not earlier than the second last-access-time-point (20:48) corresponding to data piece #1, thus the first MEC platform 12b keeps the first last-access-time-point corresponding to data piece #1. On the other hand, the first last-access-time-point (20:20) corresponding to data piece #20 is earlier than the second last-access-time-point (20:33) corresponding to data piece #20, thus the first MEC platform 12b substitutes the value of the first last-access-time-point corresponding to data piece #20 with the second last-access-time-point corresponding to data piece #20 so as to update the first last-access-time-point corresponding to data piece #20. In accordance, the first MEC platform 12b updates table 4 into table 6 as the following. As shown in table 6, data piece #16 has the earliest first last-access-time-point, which means that data piece #16 is not accessed for the longest time. Accordingly, first MEC platform 12b delete data piece#16 to free up some storage space.

TABLE 6
                 first last access
first data piece time point
data piece #1    20:53
data piece #16   20:30
data piece #20   20:33

With the daily advancing communication architecture, a network communication system may further comprises a self organizing network (SON) server. Details about the SON server are already recorded in the specification of 3GPP and in the specification of LTE and thus are not repeated herein. The SON server can be configured to adjust the handover parameters of a base station. For example, A3 offset of TTT (time to trigger), broadly used in the industry, can serve as one of said handover parameters but the handover parameters is not limited thereto. In the past, the SON server adjusted the handover parameters according to the signal strength of signals between an end devices and a BS only, thus the whole system can barely have preferable performance. This disclosure makes quite an improvement in this issue. Please refer to FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, wherein FIG. 9 is a flowchart for some steps of a control method for a network communication system in a seventh embodiment of this disclosure, and FIG. 10 is a function block diagram of a network communication system in a seventh embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the network communication system, for example, further comprises a SON server 19c. The SON server 19c is configured to communicate with the first MEC platform 12c. After the aforementioned step for providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform 22, the control method further comprises the following steps. In step S901, the first MEC platform 12c obtains second load information from the second MEC platform 22, wherein the second load information corresponds to loads of at least one second processor of the second MEC platform 22 or loads of at least one memory of the second MEC platform 22. In step S903, the first MEC platform 12c provides the second load information to the SON server 19c. In step S905, the SON server 19c adjusts at least one hand-over parameter of the first BS 14c according to a first load information of the first MEC platform 12c and the second load information.

Please refer to FIG. 11. FIG. 11 is an illustration diagram for handing over a terminal device in an embodiment of this disclosure. There are a first MEC platform 12c, a second MEC platform 22a, a second MEC platform 22b, a first BS 14c and a second BS 24a and 24b shown in FIG. 11. The first MEC platform 12c communicates with the first BS 14c. The second MEC platform 22a communicates with the second BS 24a. The second MEC platform 22b communicates with the second BS 24b. Further more, there are a region R1 and a region R2 shown in FIG. 11. The region R1 is the place wherein the communication range of the first BS 14c overlaps the communication range of the second BS 24a together with the communication range of the second BS 24b. The region R2 is the place wherein the communication range of the first BS 14c overlaps the communication range of the other BSs. In this embodiment, both part of the communication range of the second BS 24a and part of the communication range of the second BS 24a overlap part of the communication range of the first BS 14a. Therefore, both of the second MEC platform 22a and the second MEC platform 22b are defined as neighbors of the first MEC platform 12c. The relative details about neighbor relationship are similar to what are disclosed in the aforementioned paragraphs and are not repeated again.

In the past, when a terminal device, taking the previous mentioned terminal device 30 for example, moves away from the region R2 to the region R1, the SON server 19c adjusts the hand-over parameters of the first BS 14c according to signal strength of the signal between the terminal device 30 and each BS. Which means, in traditional ways, the terminal device 30 may be handed over to the BS which can communicate with the terminal device 30 with the strongest signal among all said BSs. However, in practice, each BS may communicate with a plurality of terminal devices. In other words, the MEC platform 12c, the second MEC platform 22a and the second MEC platform 22b may serve other terminal devices at the same time. In an assumed scenario, the signal strength between the second BS 24a and the terminal device 30 may be the strongest, but the second MEC platform 22a serves more terminal devices than the other MECs. In such scenario, the second MEC platform 22a has a load heavier than other MECs. Therefore, if the terminal device 30 is handed over to the second BS 24a, the second MEC platform 22a may not serve the terminal device 30 well, even causing severe delay.

Compared to the traditional ways, in the embodiment of FIG. 9 and FIG. 10, the SON server 19c adjusts the parameters further according to the load information of the BSs. Thus, the signal strength and the service quality may both be taken into consideration. Said load information is, for example, loads in memory, processor operation or network throughput of each MEC platform. Due to hardware diversity, the forms of said load information and hand-over parameters are not limited thereto. In other words, a method relative to adjusting hand-over parameters of one or more BSs is covered by this disclosure.

According to the above, this disclosure further provides an MEC device. Please refer to FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 for illustration wherein FIG. 12 is a function block diagram of an MEC device in an embodiment of this disclosure and FIG. 13 is a system architecture diagram of an MEC device in an embodiment of this disclosure. As shown by FIG. 12, the MEC device 40 comprises processor 42 and memory 44. The processor 42 is electrically connected to the memory 44. The memory 44 stores a plurality of instructions. When the processor 42 executes the instructions stored in the memory 44, the MEC device 40 operates an MEC platform. The MEC platform is at least configured to perform the steps in the aforementioned embodiment. By FIG. 12, the MEC device 40 further comprises storage medium 46. The storage medium 46 is configured to store said first data pieces and their access records or other parameters or other information. The storage medium 46 is, for example, a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), but is not limited thereto the examples.

By FIG. 13, the MEC device 40 may operate a virtual machine system 410. In this embodiment, the MEC platform 12 may be operated in the virtual machine system. In another embodiment, the virtual machine system 410 may further operate the SON server 19. In further another embodiment, the MEC device 40 operates a plurality of virtual machine systems, while the MEC platform 12 and the SON server 19 are respectively operated in different ones of said virtual machine systems. Therefore, in view of the units in FIG. 10, said first MEC platform 12c and the SON server 19c may be integrated in one single physical machine, such as the MEC device 40.

In one embodiment, the MEC device 40 is configured to communicate with the first BS. The MEC platform 12 operated by the MEC device 40. The MEC platform 12 is configured to perform the following steps: obtaining a BS ID of a second BS from the first BS, wherein a second communication range of the second BS overlaps part of a first communication range of the first BS; generating platform neighbor information which includes a platform ID of the MEC platform and the BS ID of the second BS; providing the platform neighbor information to a central management server for providing the platform neighbor information to another MEC platform with whom the central management server communicates through the central management server, wherein the platform neighbor information includes the BS ID of the second BS. The MEC platform 12 in this embodiment is, for example, the first MEC platform 12a of the embodiment in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

In another embodiment, the MEC device 40 is configured to communicate with the first BS. The MEC platform 12 operated by the MEC device 40 is further configured to perform the following steps: determining whether the request signal matches the platform neighbor information by the MEC platform when the MEC platform receives a request signal broadcasted by another MEC platform; and providing a platform ID to said another MEC platform by the MEC platform when the MEC platform determines that the request signal matches the platform neighbor information. The MEC platform 12 in this embodiment is, for example, the first MEC platform 12a of the embodiment in FIG. 3. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

After the MEC device 40 establishes neighbor relation ship with another MEC device according to the above steps, the MEC platform 12 operated by the MEC device 40 can further perform the following steps.

In one embodiment, the storage medium 46 is configure to store a plurality of first data pieces, with each of the first data pieces corresponding to a first access record. A plurality of second data pieces is stored in a second storage medium of said another MEC platform, with each of the second data pieces corresponding to a second access record. The MEC platform 12 is further configured to perform steps comprising: establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by the another MEC platform; communicating with said another MEC platform to determine whether any of the first data pieces is the same as any of the second data pieces when the rest of a first storage space of the storage medium 46 is equal to or larger than a default size; selectively deleting at least one of the first data pieces by the MEC platform according to the first access records and the second access records when one of the first data pieces is determined as the same as one of the second data pieces. The MEC platform 12 in this embodiment is, for example, the first MEC platform of the embodiment in FIG. 6. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

Moreover, in one implementation of this embodiment, one of the first access records has a first access number of one of the first data pieces in a default time interval and one of the second access records has a second access number of one of the second data pieces in the default time interval. The MEC platform 12 further performs steps comprising: determining whether there is any repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces; obtaining a sum of the first access number of a first repeated data piece in the first data pieces and the second access number of a second repeated data piece in the second data pieces, and replacing the first access number of the first repeated data piece with the sum when the first repeated data piece and the second repeated data piece are determined as the same; deleting one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having a least first access number of the first data pieces. The MEC platform 12 in this implementation is, for example, the first MEC platform of the embodiment in FIG. 7. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

In another implementation of this embodiment, the first access record has a first last-access-time-point of each piece of first data pieces, and the second access record has a second last-access-time-point of each piece of second data pieces. The MEC platform further performs steps comprising: determining whether there is a repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces by the MEC platform 12; comparing the first last-access-time-point of a first repeated data piece with the second last-access-time-point of a second repeated data piece when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces; replacing the value of the first last-access-time-point with the value of the second last-access-time-point when the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece is determined as being earlier than the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece; and deleting the one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having an earliest least first last-access-time-point of the first data pieces. The MEC platform 12 in this implementation is, for example, the first MEC platform of the embodiment in FIG. 8. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

In a further embodiment, said first BS is configured to communicate with the terminal device. Said network communication system further comprises a SON server. After providing the first platform ID to another MEC platform, the MEC platform 12 operated by the MEC device 40 is further configure to perform the following steps comprising: establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by said another MEC platform; obtaining a second load information of the another MEC platform, wherein the second load information corresponds to loads of at least one second processor of the another MEC platform or corresponding to loads of at least one second memory of the another MEC platform; and providing the second load information to the SON server. The MEC platform 12 in this implementation is, for example, the first MEC platform of the embodiment shown in FIG. 9. The units and their acts can be referred to the aforementioned descriptions but are not limited thereto.

In view of the above description, this disclosure provides a MEC device and a control method for a network communication system. According to the control method and the MEC device, an operated MEC platform is configured to establish neighbor relationship with another neighbor MEC device and to obtain information related to the neighbor MEC device. Different MEC platforms communicate to different BSs respectively. Information requests or operation request from a mobile device are likely to be handled by different MEC device because it's possible that the mobile is handed over from one BS to another. With the control method and the MEC device provided by this disclosure, the MEC device can refer to not only its own information and information about BS but also information about another MEC device when a MEC device deals with mobile communication operations. As a result, MEC devices can make decisions with broader vision, considering with information related to other MEC devices.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the disclosed embodiment. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A control method for a network communication system, which is adapted to a network communication system, wherein the network communication system comprises a first MEC platform and a first BS, and the first MEC platform communicates with the first BS, comprises:

obtaining a neighbor BS ID of a neighbor BS by the first BS, wherein a first communication range of the first BS overlaps part of a second communication range of the neighbor BS;

obtaining a first BS neighbor information from the first BS by the first MEC platform, wherein the first BS neighbor information includes the neighbor BS ID;

generating first platform neighbor information by the first MEC platform, wherein the first platform neighbor information includes a first platform ID of the first MEC platform and the neighbor BS ID;

determining whether a request signal matches the first platform neighbor information by the network communication system when the request signal is received by the network communication system from a second MEC platform; and

providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform when the request signal is determined as matching the first platform neighbor information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network communication system comprises a central management server, and the first MEC platform communicates with the central management server, further comprising:

providing the first platform neighbor information to the central management server by the first MEC platform;

determining whether the request signal matches the neighbor BS ID when the request signal from the second MEC platform is received by the central management server; and

providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform by the central management server when the request signal and the first platform neighbor information are determined as matching each other.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the request signal matches the first platform neighbor information by the first MEC platform when the request signal broadcasted by the second MEC platform is received by the first MEC platform; and

providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform by the first MEC platform when the request signal and the first platform neighbor information are determined as matching each other.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of first data pieces is stored in a first storage medium of the first MEC platform, with each first data piece corresponding to a first access record, and a plurality of second data pieces is stored in a second storage medium of the first MEC platform, with each second data piece corresponding to a second access records, wherein, after the step of providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform, the method further comprises:

establishing communication between the first MEC platform and the second MEC platform to determine whether any one of the first data pieces is the same as any one of the second data pieces when the rest of a first storage space of the first MEC platform is equal to or smaller than a default size; and

selectively deleting at least one of the first data pieces by the first MEC platform according to the first access record and the second access record when one of the first data pieces is determined as the same as one of the second data pieces.

5. The Method according to claim 4, wherein the first access record has a first access number of each of the first data pieces in a default time interval, and the second access record has a second access number of each of second data pieces in the default time interval, wherein, when selectively deleting the at least one the first data pieces according to the first access record and the second access record, the method further comprises:

determining whether there is any repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces by the first MEC platform;

obtaining a sum of the first access number of a first repeated data piece and the second access number of a second repeated data piece by the first MEC platform and replacing the value of the first access number of the first repeated data piece with the sum by the first MEC platform, when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces; and

deleting one of the first data pieces by the first MEC platform, with said one of the first data pieces having a least first access number of the first data pieces.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first access record has a first last-access-time-point of each piece of first data pieces and the second access record has a second last-access-time-point of each piece of second data pieces, wherein, when selectively deleting the at least one the first data pieces according to the first access record and the second access record, the method further comprises:

determining whether there is a repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces by the first MEC platform;

comparing the first last-access-time-point of a first repeated data piece with the second last-access-time-point of a second repeated data piece by the first MEC platform when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces;

replacing the value of the first last-access-time-point with the value of the second last-access-time-point by the first MEC platform when the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece is determined as being earlier than the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece by the first MEC platform; and

deleting the one of the first data pieces by the first MEC platform, with said one of the first data pieces having an earliest least first last-access-time-point of the first data pieces.

7. The method according to claim 1, with the first BS configured to communicate with a terminal device, and with the network communication system comprising a SON server configured to communicate with the first MEC platform, wherein, after the step of providing the first platform ID to the second MEC platform, the method comprises:

obtaining a second load information from the second MEC platform by the first MEC platform, wherein the second load information corresponds to loads of at least one second processor of the second MEC platform or corresponding to loads of at least one second memory of the second MEC platform;

providing the second load information to the SON server by the first MEC platform; and

adjusting at least one hand-over parameter of the first BS according to a first load information of the first MEC platform and the second information by the SON server.

8. A MEC device configured to communicate with a first BS, wherein the MEC device comprises a processor and a memory, the processor is electrically connected to the memory storing a plurality of instructions, the processor is adapted to execute the instructions for the MEC device to operate an MEC platform, and the MEC platform is configured to perform steps comprising:

obtaining a BS ID of a second BS from the first BS, wherein a second communication range of the second BS overlaps part of a first communication range of the first BS;

generating platform neighbor information which includes a platform ID of the MEC platform and the BS ID of the second BS; and

providing the platform neighbor information to a central management server for providing the platform neighbor information to an another MEC platform with whom the central management server communicates through the central management server, wherein the platform neighbor information includes the BS ID of the second BS.

9. The MEC device according to claim 8 wherein the MEC device comprises a first storage medium configured to store a plurality of first data pieces, with each of the first data pieces corresponding to a first access record, and a plurality of second data pieces is stored in a second storage medium of the another MEC platform, with each of the second data pieces corresponding to a second access record, wherein the MEC platform is further configured to perform steps comprising:

establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by the another MEC platform;

communicating with the another MEC platform to determine whether any of the first data pieces is the same as any of the second data pieces when the rest of a first storage space of the first storage medium is equal to or larger than a default size;

selectively deleting at least one of the first data pieces by the MEC platform according to the first access records and the second access records when one of the first data pieces is determined as the same as one of the second data pieces; and

communicating the MEC platform to the another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by the another MEC platform.

10. The MEC device according to claim 9, wherein one of the first access records has a first access number of one of the first data pieces in a default time interval and one of the second access records has a second access number of one of the second data pieces in the default time interval, wherein, when selectively deleting the at least one of the first data pieces according to the first access records and the second access records, the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

determining whether there is any repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces;

obtaining a sum of the first access number of a first repeated data piece in the first data pieces and the second access number of a second repeated data piece in the second data pieces and replacing the first access number of the first repeated data piece with the sum when the first repeated data piece and the second repeated data piece are determined as the same; and

deleting one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having a least first access number of the first data pieces.

11. The MEC device according to claim 9, wherein the first access record has a first last-access-time-point of each piece of first data pieces, the second access record has a second last-access-time-point of each piece of second data pieces, and the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

determining whether there is a repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces by the MEC platform;

comparing the first last-access-time-point of a first repeated data piece with the second last-access-time-point of a second repeated data piece when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces;

replacing the value of the first last-access-time-point with the value of the second last-access-time-point when the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece is determined as being earlier than the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece; and

deleting the one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having an earliest least first last-access-time-point of the first data pieces.

12. The MEC device according to claim 8, wherein the first BS is configured to communicate with a terminal device, the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by another MEC platform;

obtaining a second load information of the another MEC platform, wherein the second load information corresponds to loads of at least one second processor of the another MEC platform or corresponding to loads of at least one second memory of the another MEC platform; and

providing the second load information to a SON server.

13. A MEC device configured to communicate with a first BS, wherein the MEC device comprises a processor and a memory, the processor is electrically connected to the memory storing a plurality of instructions, the processor is adapted to execute the instructions for the MEC device to operate an MEC platform, and the MEC platform is configured to perform steps comprising:

determining whether a request signal matches platform neighbor information by the MEC platform when the MEC platform receives the request signal broadcasted by another MEC platform; and

providing a platform ID to the another MEC platform by the MEC platform when the MEC platform determines that the request signal matches the platform neighbor information.

14. The MEC device according to claim 13, wherein the MEC device further comprises a storage medium configured to store a plurality of first data pieces, each of the first data pieces corresponding to a first access record, a plurality of second data pieces being stored in a second storage medium of the another MEC platform, each of the second data pieces corresponding to a second access record, and the MEC platform further comprises the following steps:

establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by another MEC platform;

communicating with the another MEC platform to determine whether any of the first data pieces is the same as any of the second data pieces when the rest of a storage space of the storage medium is equal to or larger than a default size; and

selectively deleting at least one of the first data pieces by the MEC platform according to the first access records and the second access records when one of the first data pieces is determined as the same as one of the second data pieces.

15. The MEC device according to claim 14, wherein one of the first access records has a first access number of one of the first data pieces in a default time interval and one of the second access records has a second access number of one of the second data pieces in the default time interval, wherein, when selectively deleting the at least one of the first data pieces according to the first access records and the second access records, the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

determining whether there is any repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces;

obtaining a sum of the first access number of a first repeated data piece in the first data pieces and the second access number of a second repeated data piece in the second data pieces and replacing the first access number of the first repeated data piece with the sum when the first repeated data piece and the second repeated data piece are determined as the same; and

deleting one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having a least first access number of the first data pieces.

16. The MEC device according to claim 14, wherein the first access record has a first last-access-time-point of each piece of first data pieces, the second access record has a second last-access-time-point of each piece of second data pieces, and the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

determining whether there is a repeated data piece in both of the first data pieces and the second data pieces by the MEC platform;

comparing the first last-access-time-point of a first repeated data piece with the second last-access-time-point of a second repeated data piece when the first repeated data piece in the first data pieces is determined as being the same as the second repeated data piece in the second data pieces;

replacing the value of the first last-access-time-point with the value of the second last-access-time-point when the first last-access-time-point of the first repeated data piece is determined as being earlier than the second last-access-time-point of the second repeated data piece; and

deleting the one of the first data pieces, with said one of the first data pieces having an earliest least first last-access-time-point of the first data pieces.

17. The MEC device according to claim 13, wherein the first BS is configured to communicate with a terminal device, the MEC platform further performs steps comprising:

establishing neighbor relationship with another MEC platform according to a confirmation signal provided by another MEC platform;

obtaining a second load information of the another MEC platform, wherein the second load information corresponds to loads of at least one second processor of the another MEC platform or corresponding to loads of at least one second memory of the another MEC platform; and

providing the second load information to a SON server.