Patent ID: 8200830

Claim:
A method for dynamically detecting gateway load conditions at a mobility management entity (MME) in a communication network including a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) and a plurality of serving gateways (SGWs), each of the serving gateways for communicating with the MME and with one or more PGWs, the method comprising: sending, by the MME, a first session establishment request from the MME to a first SGW, the first session establishment request configured to be further sent from the first SGW to a first PGW; sending, by the MME, a second session establishment request from the MME to the first SGW, the second session establishment request configured to be further sent from the first SGW to a second PGW; sending, by the MME, a third session establishment request from the MME to a second SGW, the third session establishment request configured to be further sent from the second SGW to the first PGW; sending, by the MME, a fourth session establishment request from the MME to the second SGW, the fourth session establishment request configured to be further sent from the second SGW to the second PGW; receiving a plurality of corresponding session establishment responses from one of the first SGW and the second SGW, the responses including information relating to whether a session can be established with a PGW in combination with an SGW, the responses providing information relating to a failure in the ability to establish a session with a combined SGW and PGW; and from rules relating to success or failure of PGW-SGW combinations, and in response to the information relating to a failure of at least one PGW-SGW combination, determining whether the failure is at the PGW or the SGW, the method thus determining from information relating to failures of combinations of SGWs and PGWs whether the failure is located at a PGW, whether the failure is located at a SGW, or whether the failure is at both a PGW and a SGW.