Methods to improve overload protection for a home subscriber server (HSS)

• US 9,535,762 B2
• Filed: 05/28/2010
• Issued: 01/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Qiu, Chaoxin, Khan, Arshad, Sheth, Niral
• Primary Examiner(s): CONAWAY, JAMES E
• Application Number:
  US12/789,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20110295996A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,412 Days
• Field of Search: 709/224
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2458 Modification of priorities while in transit

Abstract

A system and methodology that facilitates improving performance of a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) during overload conditions, by embedding a unique Application Session Identifier (app session ID) within multiple requests associated with a single call processing session is provided. Moreover, the system includes an overload protection component that identifies whether an incoming request is associated with previously processed requests based in part of the app session ID embedded within the incoming request. When the HSS is overloaded, the incoming requests that initiate a new call processing session and are not associated with previously processed requests are rejected/dropped before incoming requests that are associated with requests that have been previously processed.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

forwarding requests associated with call processing sessions to a server of a network that stores subscriber data associated with subscribers of the network for processing by the server, comprising not storing respective identifier data of the requests associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server;

in response to detection of a first overload condition associated with the server, storing the respective identifier data of the requests associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server after the detection of the first overload condition;

receiving a request associated with a call processing session, wherein the request is to be directed to the server,

in response to detection of a second overload condition associated with the server, determining whether identifier data of the respective identifier data has been previously stored for a previous request associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, and

in response to determining that the identifier data has been previously stored for the previous request associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, forwarding the request to be processed by the server comprising assigning a priority to the request based on an amount of previous requests associated with the call processing session that have been processed by the server, wherein a first request associated with a first call processing session comprising a first amount of processing of previous requests associated with the first call processing session processed by the server is assigned a higher priority than a second request associated with a second call processing session comprising a second amount of processing of previous requests associated with the second call processing session processed by the server, and wherein the second amount is lower than the first amount.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the request includes an attribute value pair that specifies the identifier data.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to determining that the identifier data has not been previously stored for previous requests, comprising the previous request, associated with the call processing session that have been processed by the server, preventing the forwarding of the request to be processed by the server.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request by utilizing a diameter protocol.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the preventing the forwarding of the request to be processed by the server comprises rejecting the request.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority assigned to the request is further based upon a type of the request.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the priority assigned to the request is further based upon a type of client from which the request was received.

8. A method, comprising:

forwarding, by a system comprising a processor, requests associated with call processing sessions to a server of a network that stores subscriber data associated with subscriber identities subscribed to the network for processing by the server, comprising not storing respective identifier data contained within the requests associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server;

in response to detection of a first overload condition associated with the server, storing, by the system, the respective identifier data contained the requests associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server after the detection of the first overload condition;

receiving, by the system, a request associated with a call processing session, wherein the request is directed to the server;

in response to detection of a second overload condition associated with the server, determining, by the system, whether identifier data of the respective identifier data has been previously stored for a previous request associated with the call processing session that has been previously processed by the server; and

in response to determining that the identifier data has been previously stored for the previous request associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, forwarding, by the system, the request for processing by the server comprising assigning a priority to the request based on an amount of previous requests associated with the call processing session that have been processed by the server, wherein a first request associated with a first call processing session comprising a first amount of processing of previous requests associated with the first call processing session processed by the server is assigned a higher priority than a second request associated with a second call processing session comprising a second amount of processing of previous requests associated with the second call processing session processed by the server, and wherein the second amount is lower than the first amount.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

in response to determining that the identifier data has not been previously stored for the previous request associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, performing, by the system, no action with respect to the forwarding the request for processing by the server.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving includes receiving the request via the network by employing a diameter protocol.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the priority assigned to the request is further based upon a type of the request.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the priority assigned to the request is further based upon a type of client from which the request was originated.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the request includes an attribute value pair that specifies the identifier data.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the request by utilizing a diameter protocol.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

processing communication messages associated with call processing sessions, wherein the processing the communication messages comprises not recording respective identifier data contained within the communication messages associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server;

in response to detecting a first overload condition associated with the server, recording the respective identifier data contained within the communication messages associated with the call processing sessions that have been processed by the server after the detecting of the first overload condition;

receiving a communication message associated with a call processing session;

in response to detecting a second overload condition associated with the server, determining whether identifier data of the respective identifier data has been previously recorded for a previous communication message associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server; and

in response to determining that the identifier data has been previously recorded for the previous communication message associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, forwarding the communication message to be processed by the server comprising assigning a priority to the communication message based on an amount of previous communication messages associated with the call processing session that have been processed by the server, wherein a first communication message associated with a first call processing session comprising a first amount of processing of previous communication messages associated with the first call processing session processed by the server is assigned a higher priority than a second communication message associated with a second call processing session comprising a second amount of processing of previous communication messages associated with the second call processing session processed by the server, and wherein the second amount is lower than the first amount.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise, in response to determining that the identifier data has not been previously recorded for the previous communication message associated with the call processing session that has been processed by the server, not performing the forwarding of the communication message to be processed by the server.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the not performing the forwarding of the communication message to be processed by the server comprises rejecting the communication message.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the communication message by utilizing a diameter protocol.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the priority assigned to the communication message is further based on a type of the communication message.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the priority assigned to the communication message is further based on a type of client from which the communication message was received.