Patent ID: 8542590

Claim:
A method performed by a device associated with a long term evolution (LTE) network, the method comprising: receiving, by the device and from a user device, a request to access the network; retrieving, responsive to the request, information with respect to a traffic condition and processing capacity, associated with each of a plurality of server devices, stored in a data structure associated with each of the plurality of server devices, wherein the data structure includes: information associated with a maximum potential loading capacity, and information associated with an as-configured loading capacity, wherein the maximum potential loading capacity and the as-configured loading capacity differ; determining, based on a first indicator in the data structure, one or more server devices for which an elapsed time associated with the traffic condition and the processing capacity does not exceed a threshold amount of time; determining, based on a second indicator in the data structure, at least one server device for which the elapsed time associated with the traffic condition or the processing capacity exceeds the threshold amount of time; sending, by the device and to the at least one server device, a query to obtain information associated with a current traffic condition and processing capacity; identifying, by the device and based on the retrieved information and the obtained information, a particular server device, of the plurality of server devices, via which to establish a communication session with the user device based on a determination that the particular server device has a reserve processing capacity that is greater than a respective reserve processing capacity associated with each other of the plurality of server devices, wherein the reserve processing capacity is based on the traffic condition and processing capacity associated with the particular server device; and sending, by the device and to the particular server device, an instruction to establish the communication session that enables the particular server device to establish the communication session via which the user device is to access the network.