Methods and apparatus for overload control of prioritized message flows in a state machine execution environment

A state machine, comprising:

• a memory containing a flow graph associated with a system that provides a flow control mechanism, wherein said flow control mechanism defines a plurality of states and one or more transitions between said plurality of states, wherein one or more tokens circulate within said flow graph and execute functions during said one or more transitions between said states;
• and
• at least one processor, coupled to the memory, said at least one processor operative to:
• parse one of said tokens to extract one or more predefined information elements;
• assess an overload status of said system;
• and
• selectively discard one or more of said tokens based on said assessed overload status and a closeness measure indicating how close said token is to placing said system in a quiescent state.

A method for prioritizing message flows in a state machine execution environment, wherein said state machine execution environment employs a flow graph associated with a system that provides a flow control mechanism, wherein said flow control mechanism defines a plurality of states and one or more transitions between said plurality of states, wherein one or more tokens circulate within said flow graph and execute functions during said one or more transitions between said states, said method comprising:

• parsing one of said tokens to extract one or more predefined information elements;
• assigning a priority to said token based on said extracted information elements and a state occupancy of said token, wherein said assigned priority controls an order in which said token is processed;
• assessing an overload status of said system;
• and
• selectively discarding one or more of said tokens based on said assigned priority, a closeness measure indicating how close said token is to placing said system in a quiescent state, and said assessed overload status.