Patent ID: 8018953

Claim:
A method of updating a routing table, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: sending a first data packet to a particular router, wherein the particular router is always selected only from a set of routers that the first data packet has not already visited; wherein the particular router is associated with a first actual time that is a shortest time among all times associated with routers in the set of routers; wherein the first actual time has been updated with a previous actual time taken for a previous data packet to travel to a previous destination indicated by the previous data packet; receiving a second data packet that indicates a second actual time taken for the first data packet to travel to a destination indicated by the first data packet; wherein the destination indicated by the first data packet is the same as the previous destination indicated by the previous data packet; wherein the second data packet is sent from the destination indicated by the first data packet; updating the first actual time based on the second actual time; and updating the routing table based on information contained in the second data packet; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.