System and method of detecting overload in a service control point of a telecommunications network

Abstract

A service control point ( ) includes an overload control system ( ) that determines an overload rating ( ) for an intelligent processing unit ( ). The overload control system ( ) includes a latency estimator ( ) that requests and receives a latency ( ) for a service logic interpreter ( ). A queue depth store ( ) receives a queue depth ( ) from the service logic interpreter ( ). A common memory ( ) stores the latency ( ) and the queue depth ( ) in memory mapped files. A load estimator ( ) determines the overload rating ( ) in response to the latency ( ) and the queue depth ( ). The load estimator ( ) compares the overload rating ( ) to a previous overload rating and issues an internal problem report if a difference is detected. A TCAP interface ( ) and a service logic program ( ) assess the overload rating ( ) to determine if incoming service requests should be passed on to the service logic interpreter ( ), rerouted, or discarded. The load estimator ( ) provides the overload rating ( ) to an overload server ( ). The overload server ( ) determines a system wide overload rating in response to the overload rating ( ) received from a plurality of intelligent processing units ( ). The overload server ( ) compares the system wide overload rating to a previous system wide overload rating and, upon detecting a difference, issues an internal problem report and provides the new system wide overload rating to a provisioning system ( ).