Patent ID: 8037186

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of routing service requests, comprising: receiving, by a first candidate host, a service request, wherein the first candidate host is operable to service the service request; discovering a plurality of candidate hosts operable to respond to the service request; obtaining latency data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of candidate hosts, wherein the latency data corresponds to at least one of a network latency, a redirection latency and a service latency; obtaining latency data associated with the first candidate host; determining whether the service request should be serviced by the first candidate host or routed to one or more of the plurality of candidate hosts, wherein the determination is based on a probabilistic distribution of the first candidate host and each of one or more of the plurality of candidate hosts corresponding to the latency data associated with the first candidate host and the latency data corresponding to one or more of the plurality of candidate hosts; and in response to the determination of whether the service request should be serviced by the first candidate host or routed to one or more of the plurality of candidate hosts, servicing the service request by the first candidate host.