Patent ID: 7284053
Filing Date: 2007-10-16
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for loadbalancing in a network environment, comprising: a loadbalancer operable to receive a primary create request from an end user for a communications link provided by a network node and to communicate a response to the end user in order to establish a communication session, the loadbalancer identifying a selected one of a plurality of network nodes to facilitate the communication session based on a number of packet data protocol (PDP) contexts associated with one or more of the network nodes, wherein the loadbalancer is further operable to receive a secondary request associated with the primary request, the loadbalancer inspecting the secondary request in order to determine whether the secondary request necessitates an additional PDP context, and wherein the loadbalancer may use the primary and secondary requests to assign a weight value for a corresponding selected one of the network nodes, wherein port-level filtering is invoked after the response is communicated to the end user such that separate data and signal pathways are established between the end user and the selected network node.