Patent ID: 7760706

Claim:
A method for message transfer part (MTP) load sharing SS7 signaling message traffic in a telecommunications network, the method comprising: at a network routing node: (a) receiving a signaling message addressed to a first destination point code; (b) determining whether a routing label in the signaling message indicates route-on-point-code-subsystem number; and (c) in response to determining that the routing label indicates route-on-point-code-subsystem-number: (i) determining, by performing a lookup using the first destination point code, whether the first destination point code is associated with an MTP level 3 load sharing group including a plurality of different SS7 point codes associated with a plurality of different destinations; (ii) in response to determining that the first destination point code is associated with an MTP level 3 load sharing group, selecting, based on relative load sharing weights assigned to the point codes, one of the point codes in the MTP level 3 load sharing group as a second destination point code for the signaling message, and (iii) routing the signaling message using the second destination point code.