Patent ID: 6473402
Filing Date: 2002-10-29
Classification: H04Q

Abstract:
A method for synchronizing operation of a plurality of service control points (SCPs) in a load sharing group, comprising the steps of:maintaining, by each SCP, respective controls lists for the plurality of SCPs, each controls list identifies controls which are active at the corresponding SCP; generating a new control by any one SCP of the plurality of SCPs in the load sharing group; at the any one SCP, updating the controls list corresponding to itself to add the new control and sending an add control signal which identifies the new control to all other SCPs of the plurality of SCPs in the load sharing group; at each of the other SCPs, updating the controls list corresponding to the any one SCP, that each maintains, to add the identified new control; at the any one SCP of the plurality of SCPs in the load sharing group, updating the maintained controls list corresponding to itself to remove an existing control therein and sending a remove control signal which identifies the existing control to the other SCPs of the plurality of the SCPs in the load sharing group; and at each of the other SCPs, updating the controls list corresponding to the any one SCP, that each maintains, to remove the identified existing control; wherein the step of generating the new control includes receiving, by the any one SCP, a query which results in the any one SCP being overloaded; and further comprising routing, based on the respective controls lists for the other SCPs that are maintained by the any one SCP, the query to an available SCP of the other SPCs which does not have an active control corresponding to the query;and wherein the plurality of SCPs are interconnected by a communications link, by which the add control signal and the remove control signal are sent from the any one SCP to the other SCPs in the load sharing group; and wherein the query is routed from the any one SCP over the communications link to the available SCP; and wherein individual controls in the controls lists are identified by a global title address and translation type, and each query includes respective indications for the global title address and the translation type.