Allocation of baseband unit resources in fifth generation networks and beyond

Abstract

The disclosed technology is directed towards associating a distributed unit (a baseband function) with a radio unit, corresponding to a service area, when the radio unit transitions from an idle state to an active state with respect to serving user equipment. When an idle radio unit receives a message requesting connection from a formerly idle user equipment, or user equipment to be served due to a handover, the message triggers assignment of a distributed unit to the radio unit, whereby the radio unit becomes active to serve the user equipment. If insufficient distributed unit capacity exists, a new distributed unit is dynamically instantiated and assigned to the radio unit. When a radio unit transitions from active to idle, the radio unit is disassociated from the distributed unit. If a distributed unit is not associated with any radio unit, the distributed unit is deactivated to reduce resource consumption.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method, comprising:
 receiving, by network equipment comprising a processor, from a radio unit serving a user equipment, a physical random access channel message transmitted by the user equipment;   in response to determining that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit, directing, by the network equipment, the physical random access channel message to a physical random access channel message handler of the network equipment;   assigning, by the physical random access channel message handler of the network equipment, a distributed unit of the network equipment to the radio unit; and   transmitting, by the distributed unit of the network equipment, a physical random access channel response message to the radio unit for transmission to the user equipment.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the assigning comprises:
 determining that there are no instantiated distributed units available to assign to the radio unit;   instantiating a distributed unit instance resulting in a new instantiated distributed unit; and   assigning the new instantiated distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the assigning comprises:
 identifying an instantiated distributed unit that has available capacity to assign to the radio unit; and   assigning the instantiated distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the physical random access channel message by a network switch of the network equipment. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising determining, by the network switch, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising determining, by the network equipment, via a data structure that maps distributed units to radio units, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the distributed unit comprises a software-defined network function. 
     
     
         8 . Network equipment, comprising:
 a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 receiving, from a radio unit serving a user equipment, a physical random access channel message originated by the user equipment; 
 in response to ascertaining that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit, directing the physical random access channel message to a physical random access channel message handler of the network equipment; 
 allocating, via the physical random access channel message handler, a distributed unit of the network equipment to the radio unit; and 
 sending, via the distributed unit, a physical random access channel response message to the radio unit for transmission to the user equipment. 
   
     
     
         9 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the allocating of the distributed unit comprises:
 ascertaining that there are no instantiated distributed units available to allocate to the radio unit;   instantiating a new distributed unit; and   allocating the new distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         10 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the allocating the distributed unit comprises:
 identifying an active distributed unit that has available capacity to allocate to the radio unit; and   allocating the active distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         11 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the physical random access channel message via a converged access network switch of the network equipment. 
     
     
         12 . The network equipment of  claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise ascertaining, via the converged access network switch, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit. 
     
     
         13 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise ascertaining, using a data table that maps distributed units to radio units, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit. 
     
     
         14 . The network equipment of  claim 8 , wherein the distributed unit comprises a software-defined network function. 
     
     
         15 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of network equipment, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
 receiving, from a radio unit serving a mobile device, a random access channel message transmitted by the mobile device;   in response to determining that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit, dispatching the random access channel message to a random access channel message handler machine of the network equipment;   allotting, by the random access channel message handler machine, a distributed unit of the network equipment to the radio unit; and   returning, by the distributed unit, a random access channel response message to the radio unit for transmission to the mobile device.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the allotting of the distributed unit comprises:
 determining that no executing distributed units are available to allot to the radio unit;   instantiating an executing distributed unit; and   allotting the executing distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the allotting of the distributed unit comprises:
 identifying an executing distributed unit that has available capacity to allot to the radio unit; and   allotting the executing distributed unit to the radio unit.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the receiving comprises receiving the random access channel message by a network switch of the network equipment. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise determining, by the network switch, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of  claim 15 , wherein the operations further comprise determining, using a data table that maps distributed units to radio units, that no distributed unit is currently assigned to the radio unit.