Patent ID: 7894455

Claim:
A signalling gateway for connecting a first network to a second network, the signalling gateway comprising: a control element operable to receive a message from the first network, the message including destination information; and a routing key interpreter operable to read the destination information and assign a routing key to the received message based upon the read destination information, wherein if the assigned routing key corresponds to a predetermined value that is not a destination, the control element is operable to forward the message to one of a first entity on the first network and a second entity on the second network in accordance with a distribution rule associated with the predetermined value, wherein each of the first entity and the second entity has an associated weight and an associated priority, and the control element is operable to: select one of the first entity or the second entity having the highest priority; forward a plurality of messages to the selected entity in accordance with the associated weight; select one of the first entity or the second entity having the next highest priority; store a distribution control value including a total weight associated with each entity selected; and when the distribution control value exceeds a selected threshold, reset the distribution control value and select one of the first entity or the second entity having the highest priority.