Patent ID: 7911961

Claim:
A method for handling an overload condition in a communication network, comprising: calculating a per active source call target rate by a core signaling network element for an edge signaling network element; sending the per active source call target rate by the core signaling network element to the edge signaling network element, when a processor occupancy of the core signaling network element exceeds a predefined high threshold within a measurement interval, wherein the per active source call target rate is used by the edge signaling network element in an overload control that throttles signaling traffic; and deactivating the overload control by instructing the edge signaling network element to stop throttling the signaling traffic if the processor occupancy of the core signaling network element drops below a predefined low threshold within the measurement interval, wherein the predefined low threshold is calculated by multiplying a predefined low watermark factor, β, with a predefined target processor occupancy parameter, PO e , and where the predefined high threshold is calculated by multiplying a predefined high watermark factor, α, with the predefined target processor occupancy parameter, PO e .