Network assisted navigation for interactive applications

1 . A device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

receiving source information and destination information from a user device;

receiving information defining a plurality of interactive applications from the user device, wherein the plurality of interactive applications includes a video conferencing application and a gaming application;

retrieving subscription information for a user associated with the user device;

determining, using network information of a mobility network, user preferences of a user of the user device, the source information, and the destination information, a navigation path from a source to a destination, the navigation path selected to enable continuous use of the plurality of interactive applications with the user device on the mobility network during a journey from the source to the destination in accordance with the subscription information indicating a level of service exceeding a threshold, wherein the network information includes distance information corresponding to a respective distance between the user device and each of a plurality of base stations from the source to the destination, wherein the user preferences are obtained via a mapping application on the user device and based on monitoring a behavior of the user, wherein the user preferences include a preference for avoiding tolls roads, wherein the user preferences include a preference for an ecologically friendly route, wherein the user preferences indicate that the user prefers to leave a freeway one exit before a closest exit to the destination and take surface streets for a remainder of the journey, and wherein the determining of the navigation path comprises identifying, based on the distance information, a frequency band that will be used by the user device to connect to at least one of the plurality of base stations during the journey; and

communicating, based on the determining of the navigation path, navigation path information to the user device.

2 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving key performance indicator (KPI) information for components of the mobility network; and

determining the navigation path based at least in part on the KPI information.

3 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving updated current KPI information;

modifying the navigation path based on the updated current KPI information to determine an updated navigation path; and

communicating updated navigation path information about the updated navigation path to the user device.

4 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the receiving KPI information comprises:

receiving current KPI information for the components of the mobility network; and

retrieving historical KPI information for the mobility network.

5 . The device of claim 2 , wherein the operations further comprise:

retrieving maintenance information for the mobility network;

receiving outage information for the mobility network; and

determining the navigation path to avoid a maintenance operation of the mobility network and an outage of the mobility network.

6 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining quality of service (QoS) requirements of the plurality of interactive applications; and

determining the navigation path based at least in part on the QoS requirements.

7 . The device of claim 6 , wherein the operations further comprise:

designating a bearer of the mobility network to support the plurality of interactive applications during the journey; and

based on the QoS requirements, determining a quality of service class identifier (QCI) for the bearer.

8 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

identifying gNodeB devices of the mobility network that the user device will traverse during the journey;

estimating respective communication time for interaction between the user device and respective gNodeB devices;

identifying possible quality of service reductions for usage of the plurality of interactive applications at each respective communication time; and

determining the navigation path based at least in part on the possible quality of service reductions.

9 . The device of claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:

determining quality of service (QoS) requirements of the plurality of interactive applications;

determining the navigation path based at least in part on the QoS requirements; and

reconfiguring one or more components of the mobility network to maintain a predetermined QoS for the plurality of interactive applications during the journey.

10 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the operations further comprise:

designating first network components to provide the plurality of interactive applications to the user device over the mobility network;

identifying a reduction in QoS available for the plurality of interactive applications; and

designating second network components to provide the plurality of interactive applications to the user device over the mobility network, the second network components selected to maintain the predetermined QoS for the plurality of interactive applications.

11 . A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:

receiving, at a mobility network, a request for navigation information from a user device, the user device attached to the mobility network for communication services, the navigation information for a journey of the user device from a source to a destination;

receiving application identification information for a plurality of interactive applications to be used with the user device on the journey of the user device, wherein the plurality of interactive applications includes a video conferencing application and a gaming application;

retrieving subscription information for a user associated with the user device;

determining quality of service (QoS) requirements for the plurality of interactive applications;

determining a navigation path for the journey satisfying the request for navigation information, wherein the determining the navigation path is based on the QoS requirements for the plurality of interactive applications, the subscription information indicating a level of service exceeding a threshold, user preferences of the user, and network information, wherein the network information includes distance information corresponding to a respective distance between the user device and each of a plurality of base stations from the source to the destination, wherein the user preferences are obtained via a mapping application on the user device and based on monitoring a behavior of the user, wherein the user preferences include a preference for an ecologically friendly route, wherein the user preferences indicate that the user prefers to leave a freeway one exit before a closest exit to the destination and take surface streets for a remainder of the journey, and wherein the determining of the navigation path comprises identifying, based on the distance information, a frequency band that will be used by the user device to connect to at least one of the plurality of base stations during the journey; and

communicating, based on the determining of the navigation path, navigation path information to the user device.

12 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

designating a bearer of the mobility network to support the plurality interactive applications during the journey;

based on the QoS requirements, determining a quality of service class identifier (QCI) for the bearer; and

communicating the QCI for the bearer to radio access network devices of the mobility network for communication of information of the plurality of interactive applications between the user device and the radio access network devices of the mobility network.

13 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving updated information about QoS metrics in the mobility network during the journey;

modifying the navigation path based on the updated information about QoS metrics in the mobility network, to determine an updated navigation path; and

communicating updated navigation path information about the updated navigation path to the user device.

14 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the receiving updated information about QoS metrics comprises:

receiving current key performance indicator (KPI) information for components of the mobility network on the navigation path for the journey.

15 . The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 14 , wherein the receiving current KPI information comprises:

receiving information about dropped calls, number of failed calls and number of connected users during a designated time period.

16 . A method, comprising:

receiving, by a processing system including a processor, a request to use a plurality of interactive applications on a user device attached to a mobile network, the plurality of interactive applications requiring a high quality of service on a persistent connection with the mobility network, wherein the plurality of interactive applications includes a video conferencing application and a gaming application;

determining, by the processing system, quality of service (QoS) requirements for the plurality of interactive applications;

retrieving, by the processing system, subscription information for a user associated with the user device;

determining, by the processing system, a navigation path from a source location to a destination location, wherein the determining the navigation path is based on the QoS requirements for the plurality of interactive applications, the subscription information indicating a level of service exceeding a threshold, user preferences of the user, and network information, wherein the network information includes distance information corresponding to a respective distance between the user device and each of a plurality of base stations from the source location to the destination location along each of a plurality of navigation paths, wherein the user preferences are obtained via a mapping application on the user device and based on monitoring a behavior of the user, wherein the user preferences include a preference for avoiding tolls roads, wherein the user preferences indicate that the user prefers to leave a freeway one exit before a closest exit to the destination location and take surface streets for a remainder of a journey from the source location to the destination location, wherein the determining of the navigation path comprises identifying, based on the distance information, a frequency band that will be used by the user device to connect to at least one of the plurality of base stations during the journey from the source location to the destination location, and wherein the navigation path is included in the plurality of navigation paths; and

communicating, by the processing system, navigation path information to the user device, the navigation path information cooperating with the mapping application of the user device to provide graphical travel directions to the user device to travel on the navigation path, the navigation path selected to enable continuous use of the plurality of interactive applications by the user of the user device.

17 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

creating, by the processing system, a dedicated bearer to carry data traffic of the plurality of interactive applications in the mobility network.

18 . The method of claim 16 , comprising:

monitoring, by the processing system, QoS for the plurality of interactive applications; and

reconfiguring, by the processing system, one or more components of the mobility network to maintain a predetermined QoS for the plurality of interactive applications during the continuous use of the plurality of interactive applications by the user of the user device.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the gaming application includes a virtual reality (VR) game, and wherein the plurality of interactive applications includes an audio streaming application.

20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

determining, by the processing system, that a handover involving the user device from a first base station of the plurality of base stations to a second base station of the plurality of base stations is desirable for load balancing as between the first base station and the second base station;

determining, by the processing system and based on the navigation path, that the user device is connected to the first base station for less than a threshold amount of time; and

suppressing, by the processing system and based on the determining that the user device is connected to the first base station for less than the threshold amount of time, the handover to reduce a risk of a dropped connection involving the user device and an interruption to an interactive application of the plurality of interactive applications.