Dynamic provisioning of a gateway role to user devices
A system and method of optimizing a mobile traffic network are provided. A local network group comprising a plurality of user devices is created. One of the plurality of the user devices is selected to act as a gateway for the remaining user devices of the local network group. The selected user device is provisioned to act as a gateway for the local network group. A message is sent to the plurality of user devices of the local network group to route communication through the selected user device via a short range wireless communication technology.
1. A computing device configured to optimize a mobile traffic network, the computing device comprising:
a processor;
a network interface communicatively coupled to the processor and configured to enable communications with the mobile traffic network;
a storage device;
a provisioning application stored in the storage device, wherein execution of the provisioning application by the processor configures the computing device to perform acts comprising:
monitoring a network status for a plurality of geolocations, wherein each of the plurality of geolocations are associated with a respective at least one base station of the mobile traffic network;
determining that there is network congestion at a geolocation of the plurality of geolocations based on the monitoring of the network status; and
in response to determining that there is network congestion at the geolocation, performing acts including:
creating a local network group of user devices that are located in the geolocation based on a determination that the user devices are within the scope of short range wireless communication of each other;
selecting one of the user devices to act as a gateway for communications from the remaining user devices of the local network group to the mobile traffic network;
provisioning the selected user device to act as the gateway for the communications made from the remaining user devices of the local network group to the mobile traffic network; and
sending a message to the user devices of the local network group to route communication through the selected user device via a short range wireless communication technology;
wherein the selection of the user device to act as a gateway is based on:
receiving, from each user device of the local network group, a data including a status information of the user device, from a self-monitoring application of the user device, respectively:
determining, for each user device of the local network group, a competence score based on its status information; and
selecting a user device of the local network group with a highest competence score; and
wherein the provisioning of the selected user device to act as a gateway for the local network group comprises: sending a provisioning message to the self-monitoring application of the selected user device to perform a virtualized network function (VNF) of the gateway for the local network group.
2. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the status information of each user device in the local network group is based on the following parameters:
a short range technology capability;
an available processing power of the user device;
an available memory of the user device;
a signal strength to a base station of the mobile traffic network; and
an available supply power of the user device.
3. The computing device of claim 2 , wherein execution of the provisioning application further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising: for each user device in the local network group:
assigning a score to each parameter based on a magnitude of each parameter, respectively;
weighting each score based on an importance of each corresponding parameter; and
calculating the competence score by summing the weighted scores of all parameters of the user device.
4. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the creation of the local network group is based on user devices in the geolocation that are within a short range wireless communication technology range of each other.
5. The computing device of claim 4 , wherein the short range wireless communication technology is based on at least one of: Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT), Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, Bluetooth, ultra-wideband (UWB), and wireless USB.
6. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein execution of the provisioning application further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising: upon determining that a single user device cannot handle all the user devices in the local network group, selecting a second user device to support the selected user device such that both user devices act as a gateway for the local network group.
7. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the act of sending the message to the user devices of the local network group to route communication through the selected user device via the short range wireless communication technology comprises:
sending the message to the selected user device via a cellular connection using the network interface between the mobile traffic network and the selected user device; and
relaying the message to the remaining user devices in the local network group by the selected user device via the short range wireless communication technology.
8. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein the provisioned user device is an internet of things (IoT) device.
9. The computing device of claim 1 , wherein execution of the provisioning application further configures the computing device to perform acts comprising: upon determining of a failure of the provisioned selected user device, selecting and provisioning another user device to act as a gateway.
10. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality of sequences of instructions which, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform a method of optimizing a mobile traffic network, the method comprising:
monitoring a network status for a plurality of geolocations, wherein each of the plurality of geolocations are associated with a respective at least one base station of the mobile traffic network;
determining that there is network congestion at a geolocation of the plurality of geolocations based on the monitoring of the network status; and
in response to determining that there is network congestion at the geolocation, performing acts including:
creating a local network group of user devices that are located in the geolocation based on a determination that the user devices are within the scope of short range wireless communication of each other;
selecting one of the user devices to act as a gateway for communications from the remaining user devices of the local network group to the mobile traffic network;
provisioning the selected user device to act as the gateway for the communications made from the remaining user devices of the local network group to the mobile traffic network; and
sending a message to the user devices of the local network group to route communication through the selected user device via a short range wireless communication technology;
wherein the selection of the user device to act as a gateway is based on:
receiving, from each user device of the local network group, a data including a status information of the user device, from a self-monitoring application of the user device, respectively:
determining, for each user device of the local network group, a competence score based on its status information; and
selecting a user device of the local network group with a highest competence score; and
wherein the provisioning of the selected user device to act as a gateway for the local network group comprises: sending a provisioning message to the self-monitoring application of the selected user device to perform a virtualized network function (VNF) of the gateway for the local network group.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the status information of each user device in the local network group is based on the following parameters:
a short range technology capability;
an available processing power of the user device;
an available memory of the user device;
a signal strength to a base station of a mobile traffic network; and
an available supply power of the user device.
12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising, for each user device in the local network group:
assigning a score to each parameter based on a magnitude of each parameter, respectively;
weighting each score based on an importance of each corresponding parameter; and
calculating the competence score by summing the weighted scores of all parameters of the user device.
13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising: upon determining that a single user device cannot handle all the user devices in the local network group, selecting a second user device to support the selected user device such that both user devices act as a gateway for the local network group.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein sending the message to the user devices of the local network group to route communication through the selected user device via the short range wireless communication technology comprises:
sending the message to the selected user device via a cellular connection between the mobile traffic network and the selected user device; and
relaying the message to the remaining user devices in the local network group by the selected user device via the short range wireless communication technology.