Patent ID: 7340523

Claim:
A method of processing a plurality of session initiation dialogs, each session initiation dialog including a respective initial message sent by a source of the session initiation dialog, each initial message including a well-known port identifier used to identify the recipient of the message, the method comprising: receiving the initial message for each of the session initiation dialogs at a dispatcher; at the dispatcher, upon receiving the initial message for each of the session initiation dialogs, (1) selecting one of a plurality of processors to conduct the respective session initiation dialog, and (2) forwarding the initial message to the selected processor; and at each of the processors, upon receiving the initial message of one of the session initiation dialogs from the dispatcher, (1) creating a corresponding response message including a port identifier uniquely associated with the processor to identify a port to which subsequent messages of the session initiation dialog are to be directed, and (2) sending the response message to the source of the initial message to enable subsequent messages of the session initiation dialog to be sent directly to the selected processor.