Patent ID: 8904039

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, comprising: at a server of a network comprising a non-static collection of machines: receiving an information request through an interface provided by the server, the information request specifying a type of information to be collected from the non-static collection of machines; in response to the information request, sending a request message to a first machine of a message propagation path formed by a plurality of machines currently coupled to the network, wherein the request message specifies the type of information to be collected, wherein the request message is propagated along the message propagation path from the first machine, through one or more intermediate machines of the message propagation path, to a second machine of the message propagation path, and wherein, during the propagation of the request message from the first machine to the second machine, the request message accumulates respective local result information available to each machine along the message propagation path before being forwarded to a next machine along the message propagation path; and receiving a report message from the second machine, wherein the report message is generated by the second machine based on at least the result information accumulated in the request message received by the second machine, wherein each of the first machine and the one or more intermediate machines has performed a statistical evaluation of the accumulated result information in the request message to determine whether to continue the propagation of the request message to another machine along the propagation path and to determine whether to report currently accumulated result information to the server.