Patent ID: 7492715

Claim:
For use in a telecommunication network, a telecommunication node configured to control overload conditions in a distributed processing environment, said telecommunication node comprising: processing nodes, each said processing node including: a load monitor configured to monitor a loading factor for said respective processing node and produce real-time loading factor information, and a call processor configured to process signaling messages; and signaling nodes connected to receive said real-time loading factor information from each of said processing nodes, said signaling nodes further connected to receive said signaling messages and provide said signaling messages to said processing nodes, each said signaling node including: a load information list including said real-time loading factor information for each of said processing nodes, an overload policy list including programmable overload reaction policies for each of said processing nodes, said overload reaction policies controlling overload conditions of said processing nodes based on said real-time loading factor information, and a load distributor configured to select one of said processing nodes to process one of said signaling messages based on said real-time loading factor information for each of said processing nodes and said overload reaction policies for each of said processing nodes, wherein each said processing node further includes an overload policies controller configured to update said programmable overload reaction policies and provide said updated programmable overload reaction policies to said signaling nodes.