Patent ID: 7984141

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving, at a local node in a communications network from a remote node in the communication network, a unicast request message for a particular video service, wherein the request message is associated with point-to-point protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) exchanges involving the local node, and wherein an initial evaluation occurs for identifying a processing capacity in terms of a number of sessions that can be supported by the local node, and wherein a weight is determined for the local node based on the processing capacity; determining a load metric that indicates a current processing load at the local node, wherein an operating system residing in the local node is configured to track central processing unit (CPU) utilization as a percentage of total CPU capacity and memory usage, and wherein the operating system is queried for a current utilization rate, which is used to determine an average utilization rate for the local node; determining a response delay time, for responding to the request message, based on the load metric, the weight, and a scaling factor that increases the response delay time; and sending, after the response delay time, a response message that indicates the local node is able to provide the particular service for the remote node.