Patent ID: 8054750

Claim:
A method for a measurement test related to measuring network performance, comprising: accessing performance statistics that are tracked by one or more responders and the performance statistics include selection metrics; receiving, at a virtual responder, accessed real responder selection metrics from polling of the one or more real responders; storing, at the virtual responder, the real responder selection metrics received from the one or more real responders; receiving, at the virtual responder, a first control message that is associated with a measurement test for measuring network performance by a sender device; in response to receiving the first control message, using the virtual responder to determine an available real responder from among the one or more real responders to perform the measurement test for measuring network performance associated with the first control message, wherein the determination of the available real responder is based on the stored real responder selection metrics; selecting, at the virtual responder, the available real responder from the one or more real responders; based on the selecting of the available real responder, sending contact information of the selected real responder from the virtual responder to the sender device; and sending, to the selected real responder by the virtual responder, a second control message, that includes information to configure the selected real responder to have the measurement test for measuring network performance by the sender device.