Patent ID: 7929686

Claim:
A method for prioritizing requests in a communications system, comprising: receiving, at a tangible network node, a first request having a first priority; establishing, at the tangible network node, a first connection with a receiving party, wherein the first connection is placed in a first queue position; associating, at the tangible network node, the first request with the first connection; receiving, at the tangible network node after the first request, a second request having a second priority; establishing, at the tangible network node, a second connection with the receiving party, wherein the second connection is placed in a second queue position lower than the first queue position; associating, at the tangible network node, the second request with the second connection; determining whether the second priority for the second request is higher than the first priority for the first request; and switching the association of the first request with the first connection to the second connection, and the association of the second request with the second connection to the first connection, based on determining that the second priority for the second request is higher than the first priority for the first request, and thereby providing the second request with the first connection placed in the first queue position and the first request with the second connection placed in the second queue position, wherein the switching the association of the first request to the second connection and the association of the second request to the first connection comprises: transmitting a first message associated with the first request through the second connection; and transmitting a second message associated with the second request through the first connection.