Patent ID: 8675659

Claim:
A method of communicating signaling information in a telecommunications signaling network, comprising: receiving, in a first processor, a first message encoding signaling information from a source component, the first message including a plurality of portions; incrementally performing decode and analysis operations on portions of the first message until it is determined that a decoded portion identifies a destination component, or until it is determined that the decoded portion includes information suitable for deriving an identity for the destination component, or until all portions of the plurality of portions are decoded, wherein incrementally performing decode and analysis operations on portions of the first message comprises: selecting a portion in the plurality of portions of the first message that has not been decoded; decoding the selected portion in the plurality of portions of the first message, determining whether the decoded selected portion identifies a destination component, and determining whether the decoded selected portion includes information that is suitable for use in deriving an identity of the destination component in response to determining that the decoded selected portion does not identify the destination component; performing application level routing operations using contextual information derived from the decoded selected portion to identify the destination component in response to determining that the decoded selected portion includes information suitable for deriving an identity for the destination component; encoding the signaling information contained in the decoded selected along with a remainder of the first message into a second message; and sending the second message encoding the signaling information to the identified destination component.