Patent ID: 7107061

Claim:
A method for controlling overload in a telecommunications system having a limited resource, wherein the limited resource is used by the telecommunications system to service traffic, the method comprising: making a first determination as to whether a usage load of the limited resource exceeds an overload threshold, wherein the overload threshold represents an overload state of the limited resource; blocking all of the traffic for a first time interval if the overload threshold has been exceeded; making a second determination as to whether the usage load continues to exceed the overload threshold; blocking the traffic for a second time interval if the usage load continues to exceed the overload threshold, wherein the second time interval is defined by adding a third time interval to the first time interval, so that traffic is blocked for an incrementally increasing amount of time to reduce the usage load of the limited resource; determining whether the usage load crosses a second threshold, wherein the second threshold represents a non-overload state of the limited resource; and reducing an amount of time during which the traffic is blocked if the usage load exceeds the second threshold; wherein the reduction occurs at a rate matching the incremental increase.