Patent ID: 8204982

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a plurality of middlebox detection modules in a server; using the plurality of middlebox detection modules to determine, by use of a processor, if a middlebox exists on a path between a first communicating entity of a network and a second communicating entity of the network, a first middlebox detection module of the plurality of middlebox detection modules being used is a standalone middlebox detection module that does not download middlebox detection software to a client device, a second middlebox detection module of the plurality of middlebox detection modules including a client-resident portion that is downloaded to the client device and executed on the client device to gather middlebox detection information from the client device; and aggregating results produced by the plurality of middlebox detection modules to determine from the aggregate results if the middlebox exists on the path between the first communicating entity and the second communicating entity.