Patent ID: 7424006

Claim:
A communication system comprising: a call control system; and a gateway coupled to the call control system and coupled to a first network node and a second network node wherein the gateway interworks first communications to a first transport format for the first network node and interworks second communications to a second transport format for the second network node; the gateway, responsive to a status change associated with the first network node, transfers a first update message to the call control system wherein the first update message indicates the status change associated the first network node and the first transport format, and responsive to a status change associated with the second network node, transfers a second update message to the call control system wherein the second update message indicates the status change associated with the second network node and the second transport format; the call control system, responsive to receiving the first update message from the gateway, determines a first priority associated with the first update message based on the first transport format, responsive to receiving the second update message from the gateway, determines a second priority associated with the second update message based on the second transport format, and drops either the first update message or the second update message based on the first priority and the second priority.