Patent ID: 7305464

Claim:
A system on a computer for optimizing communications between a first network device and a second network device connected through a plurality of nodes associated with a communications network, comprising: a route determination module having a route tracing algorithm, wherein the route tracing algorithm is operable to determine a last common node from the first network device traversed by at least two data packets sent from the first network device, wherein the route determination module further comprises at least two route tracing test destinations located within the communications network, wherein the route determination module is operable to send a route tracing test data packet from the first network device to the at least two route tracing test destinations and trace a respective route taken by each respective route tracing test data packet, wherein the last common node is a node furthest from the first network device that is common between each route; and a throughput testing module for transmitting data traffic between the first network device and the last common node, the throughput testing module having a throughput algorithm operable, based on transmitted data traffic, for determining a set of transmission variable values for the first network device associated with a maximum transmission capacity between the first network device and the last common node, wherein the throughput testing module further comprises at least two sets of test transmission variable values, wherein the throughput testing module is further operable to transmit a throughput testing test data packet to the last common node and measure a corresponding transmission capacity when the first network device is configured with each of the at least two sets of test transmission variable values, wherein the throughput algorithm is further operable to analyze each of the at least two sets of test transmission variable values and the corresponding-transmission capacity and determine the set of transmission variable values associated with the maximum transmission capacity.