Patent ID: 7769834

Claim:
In a computer network environment wherein a plurality of more than two proxies can intercommunicate over a network, wherein each of the proxies comprises a network-connected electronic device or software running on a network-connected electronic device, a method for selecting a pair of proxies on the network among the plurality of more than two proxies, comprising: receiving, at a first proxy, a request to initiate a connection; modifying the request to initiate a connection to include a probe message; sending the modified request into the network; receiving, at a second proxy, the modified request; and determining, at the second proxy, whether or not to respond to the first proxy with a probe response message indicating an invitation to pair with the first proxy, wherein the determination is made based on configuration information available at the second proxy, wherein the determination comprises: determining intermediate proxies, intermediate proxies being proxies that are not closest to a client or a server for a transaction; determining whether one or more of the intermediate proxies can be treated as a local peer; determining bandwidth bottlenecks along a path from a client, a client-side proxy, the intermediate proxies, a server-side proxy and a server; and determining whether any of the one or more of the intermediate proxies should be treated as a local peer based on the determination of bandwidth bottlenecks along the path.