Patent ID: 8307077

Claim:
A method for estimating an upload speed of a first host of a plurality of hosts, the method comprising: successively pairing the first host of the plurality of hosts with other hosts of the plurality of hosts until the first host is paired with an individual host that has a download speed that is higher than the upload speed of the first host, wherein: the successively pairing comprises causing the first host and the other hosts to exchange bandwidth probes to determine upload speeds of the other hosts, and the individual host is determined to have the download speed that is higher than the upload speed of the first host when an individual bandwidth probe sent from the first host to the individual host is slower than another individual bandwidth probe sent from the individual host to the first host; and responsive to the first host being paired with the individual host, taking a speed of the individual bandwidth probe sent from the first host to the individual host as an estimate of the upload speed of the first host.