Patent ID: 7200658

Claim:
A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region comprising the steps of: (a) tracing at least one addressable path having at least five hogs through the network from the client machine to a destination server, said destination server being at a geographic region different from that of said application server, (b) collecting an array of network information that includes at least two network addresses along said at least one addressable path, (c) providing said array of network information to said application server that is to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region, (d) controlling said application server to look up data for each network address along said at least one addressable path to determine the geographic locations of the network addresses along said path, and (e) analyzing the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least one addressable path to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.