Systems and methods for predictive user location and content replication

Abstract

A Multi-access Edge Computing (“MEC”) controller may predict locations for a tracked UE at different future times, and may also predict content that the tracked UE may request at the different future times. The predictions may be based on MEC controller computing probabilities for the tracked UE being at the different locations at the different future times, and/or probabilities for the content that the tracked UE is likely to request at the different locations and/or future times. The MEC controller may identify a MEC device that provides extremely low latency service and/or optimally serves a network area that includes a predicted location. The MEC controller may issue a prefetch message to the MEC device that causes the MEC device to prefetch predicted content that the tracked UE is likely to request at the future time the tracked UE is likely to reach the predicted location.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device comprising:
 one or more processors configured to:
 monitor geographical location information of a particular user equipment “UE”); 
 determine, based on the monitored geographical location, that a probability of the particular UE being moved from a first geographical region to a second geographical region exceeds a threshold probability; 
 select, based on determining that the probability exceeds the threshold probability, a particular Multi-access Edge Computing (“MEC”) device, out of a plurality of MEC devices; and 
 instruct the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache particular content, wherein the selected particular MEC device further intercepts a request for the particular content from the particular UE and provides the particular content to the particular UE based on the request. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the request is received from the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the second geographical region. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine that a likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content, at a time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region, exceeds a threshold likelihood,   wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content is based on the determination that the threshold likelihood is exceeded by the likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content at the time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region.   
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the particular content includes a first portion that is accessed by the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the first geographical region, wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content includes instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache a second portion of the particular content. 
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein selecting the particular MEC device includes:
 determining performance information associated with a plurality of candidate MEC devices, including the particular MEC device,
 wherein the performance information includes performance information for each respective candidate MEC device, of the plurality of candidate MEC devices, for services provided by each respective candidate MEC device to a set of UEs located within the second geographical region, 
 wherein the particular MEC device is selected out of the plurality of candidate MEC devices based on the determined respective performance information for each candidate MEC device of the plurality of candidate MEC devices. 
   
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 5 , wherein the performance information includes latency information associated with services provided by each respective candidate MEC device to the set of UEs located within the second geographical region,
 wherein selecting the particular MEC device further includes determining that the particular MEC device is associated with a lowest measure of latency out of the plurality of candidate MEC devices.   
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:
 determine, based on the monitored geographical location, a particular location within the second geographical region; and   select the particular content based on a measure of relatedness of the particular content to the particular location within the second geographical region.   
     
     
         8 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing a plurality of processor-executable instructions to:
 monitor geographical location information of a particular user equipment (“UE”);   determine, based on the monitored geographical location, that a probability of the particular UE being moved from a first geographical region to a second geographical region exceeds a threshold probability;   select, based on determining that the probability exceeds the threshold probability, a particular Multi-access Edge Computing (“MEC”) device, out of a plurality of MEC devices; and   instruct the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache particular content, wherein the selected particular MEC device further intercepts a request for the particular content from the particular UE and provides the particular content to the particular UE based on the request.   
     
     
         9 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the request is received from the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the second geographical region. 
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of processor-executable instructions further include processor-executable instructions to:
 determine that a likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content, at a time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region, exceeds a threshold likelihood,   wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content is based on the determination that the threshold likelihood is exceeded by the likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content at the time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the particular content includes a first portion that is accessed by the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the first geographical region, wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content includes instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache a second portion of the particular content. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein selecting the particular MEC device includes:
 determining performance information associated with a plurality of candidate MEC devices, including the particular MEC device,
 wherein the performance information includes performance information for each respective candidate MEC device, of the plurality of candidate MEC devices, for services provided by each respective candidate MEC device to a set of UEs located within the second geographical region, 
 wherein the particular MEC device is selected out of the plurality of candidate MEC devices based on the determined respective performance information for each candidate MEC device of the plurality of candidate MEC devices. 
   
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the performance information includes latency information associated with services provided by each respective candidate MEC device to the set of UEs located within the second geographical region,
 wherein selecting the particular MEC device further includes determining that the particular MEC device is associated with a lowest measure of latency out of the plurality of candidate MEC devices.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 8 , wherein the plurality of processor-executable instructions further include processor-executable instructions to:
 determine, based on the monitored geographical location, a particular location within the second geographical region; and   select the particular content based on a measure of relatedness of the particular content to the particular location within the second geographical region.   
     
     
         15 . A method, comprising:
 monitoring geographical location information of a particular user equipment (“UE”);   determining, based on the monitored geographical location, that a probability of the particular UE being moved from a first geographical region to a second geographical region exceeds a threshold probability;   selecting, based on determining that the probability exceeds the threshold probability, a particular Multi-access Edge Computing (“MEC”) device, out of a plurality of MEC devices; and   instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache particular content, wherein the selected particular MEC device further intercepts a request for the particular content from the particular UE and provides the particular content to the particular UE based on the request.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the request is received from the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the second geographical region. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 determining that a likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content, at a time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region, exceeds a threshold likelihood,   wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content is based on the determination that the threshold likelihood is exceeded by the likelihood of the particular UE requesting the particular content at the time that corresponds to the particular UE being located within the second geographical region.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the particular content includes a first portion that is accessed by the particular UE while the particular UE is located within the first geographical region, wherein instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache the particular content includes instructing the selected particular MEC device to obtain and cache a second portion of the particular content. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein selecting the particular MEC device includes:
 determining latency information associated with a plurality of candidate MEC devices, including the particular MEC device,
 wherein the latency information includes latency information for each respective candidate MEC device, of the plurality of candidate MEC devices, for services provided by each respective candidate MEC device to a set of UEs located within the second geographical region, 
 wherein the particular MEC device is selected out of the plurality of candidate MEC devices based on the determined respective latency information for each candidate MEC device of the plurality of candidate MEC devices. 
   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 15 , the method further comprising:
 determining, based on the monitored geographical location, a particular location within the second geographical region; and   selecting the particular content based on a measure of relatedness of the particular content to the particular location within the second geographical region.