Patent ID: 7680050

Claim:
A method, comprising: establishing, by a network device, a plurality of paths in a network; sending, by the network device, a plurality of reflector packets on each of the plurality of paths, where the plurality of reflector packets include a first type of packet used to determine timing-related information and a second type of packet used to perform at least one control-related function, and where at least one first type of packet and at least one second type of packet are sent on each of the plurality of paths; receiving, by the network device, responses on each of the plurality of paths in response to the plurality of reflector packets; analyzing, by the network device, response times associated with the responses to the first type of packets; analyzing, by the network device, the responses to the second type of packets to determine a state of network resources; selecting, by the network device, one of the plurality of paths based on a comparison of the response times associated with the responses to the first type of packets to a threshold and based on the state of network resources; and initiating, by the network device, a data transfer on the selected path.