Abstract: A Diameter router is presented for performing load balancing and initial Diameter message routing in an IMS network, where clients in network elements are provisioned with the address of the router and send an initial Diameter request message for a given session to the router. The router selects a server based at least partially on a type of IMS message session, application services, subscriber information, or billing information, and sends a relayed initial Diameter request message to the selected server. The selected server sends an initial Diameter response to the router which then forwards a relayed initial response to the client. Thereafter, the client and the selected server send messages directly to each other for the remainder of the session.

Abstract: A Diameter router (20) is presented for performing load balancing and initial Diameter message routing in an IMS network, where clients in network elements (10) are provisioned with the address of the router and send an initial Diameter request message (41) for a given session to the router. The router selects a server (31) based at least partially on a type of IMS message session, application services, subscriber information, or billing information, and sends a relayed initial Diameter request message (42) to the selected server. The selected server sends an initial Diameter response (43) to the router which then forwards a relayed initial response (44) to the client. Thereafter, the client and the selected server send messages directly to each other for the remainder of the session.