Patent ID: 7536436

Claim:
At a message source that is network connectable along with one or more other computer systems, including a destination computer system, to a network, the message source and the destination computer system having synchronized clock rates, a method for reliably exchanging messages with the destination computer system, the method comprising: an act of adding at least an interaction ID and TTL value to a message, the interaction ID identifying a message interaction between the message source and the destination computer system and the TTL value indicating when the message is to expire; an act of beginning a countdown timer for the message, the countdown timer having a duration of the TTL value; an act of transmitting the message to the destination computer system; an act of detecting expiration of a retransmission interval corresponding to the message; an act of determining if the message requires acknowledgment; an act of determining that the message does not require acknowledgement; an act of determining that the countdown timer has expired; an act of indicating that the message no longer requires acknowledgement; and an act of terminating any retransmissions of the message.