Methods, systems, and computer program products for dynamically adjusting load sharing distributions in response to changes in network conditions
First Claim
1. A method for dynamically load sharing signaling messages among mated signaling destinations in response to changes in network operating conditions, the method comprising:
- (a) defining a group of signaling destinations as a load sharing (LS) group;
(b) assigning each member of the LS group a nominal load sharing weight (LSW) and a maximum load sharing weight threshold (MWT);
(c) in response to a LS group member becoming unavailable to receive signaling message traffic, distributing the LSW associated with the unavailable member among the remaining available members in a manner such that the MWT thresholds associated with each of the remaining available members are not exceeded; and
(d) load sharing received signaling message traffic destined for a member of the LS group in accordance with each available group member'"'"'s LSW.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A signaling network routing node, such as a signaling system 7 (SS7)/Internet protocol (IP) gateway, is adapted to perform global title translation (GTT) or other processing on received signaling messages and route the signaling messages to a member of a load sharing group using a threshold-based weighted load sharing algorithm. In the event that one of the signaling destinations in the load sharing group becomes unavailable, signaling message traffic is redistributed evenly among the remaining available members of the load sharing group in a manner such that a maximum load sharing weight threshold value associated with each group member is not exceeded. If a load sharing group member becomes unavailable, and the resulting recalculated load sharing weights of the remaining available members sum to less than 100%, then load sharing weights for the group are normalized, and a maximum message rate capacity threshold associated with each group member is used to determine whether the discarding of messages is required.
-
Citations
39 Claims
-
1. A method for dynamically load sharing signaling messages among mated signaling destinations in response to changes in network operating conditions, the method comprising:
-
(a) defining a group of signaling destinations as a load sharing (LS) group;
(b) assigning each member of the LS group a nominal load sharing weight (LSW) and a maximum load sharing weight threshold (MWT);
(c) in response to a LS group member becoming unavailable to receive signaling message traffic, distributing the LSW associated with the unavailable member among the remaining available members in a manner such that the MWT thresholds associated with each of the remaining available members are not exceeded; and
(d) load sharing received signaling message traffic destined for a member of the LS group in accordance with each available group member'"'"'s LSW. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A system for load sharing signaling messages and dynamically adjusting load sharing distribution weights in response to changes in network operating conditions, the system comprising:
-
(a) a first communications module for receiving a signaling message that is destined for a signaling destination, which is a member of a load sharing group;
(b) a load sharing function for;
(i) maintaining load sharing weight (LSW) assignment information for each member of the load sharing group;
(ii) maintaining maximum load sharing weight threshold (MWT) information for each member of the load sharing group;
(iii) dynamically adjusting LSW assignments in response to a change in availability status of a group member such that the resulting LSW for each available group member does not exceed the associated MWT for each member; and
(iv) selecting a member of the load sharing group to receive the signaling message; and
(c) a second communications module for communicating the signaling message to the selected member of the load sharing group. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
-
-
39. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions embodied in a computer-readable medium for performing steps comprising:
-
(a) defining a group of signaling destinations as a load sharing (LS) group;
(b) assigning each member of the LS group a nominal load sharing weight (LSW) and a maximum load sharing weight threshold (MWT);
(c) in response to a LS group member becoming unavailable to receive signaling message traffic, distributing the LSW associated with the unavailable member among the remaining available members in a manner such that the MWT thresholds associated with each of the remaining available members are not exceeded; and
(d) load sharing received signaling message traffic destined for a member of the LS group in accordance with each available group member'"'"'s LSW.
-
Specification