Patent ID: 8032619

Claim:
A network of one or more interconnected computer systems forming an environment information server, the server comprising: a server controller; a network connection connected to said server controller; an environment information database connected to said server controller configured to store data for one or more network environments; and a request handler connected to said server controller configured to process user requests received through said network connection, wherein the environment information server (1) periodically polls the one or more network environments (2) maintains the environment information database with a list of available network environments and network information for connecting to each network environment, and (3) updates the environment information database with changes in the available network environments, wherein said request handler exchanges data with said environment information database and returns, in response to a received request, an environment report, wherein the environment report comprises: information characterizing the one or more network environments selectable by the user for connection, the information characterizing each network including user count information that indicates the current number of clients connected to the environment and the maximum number of clients allowed to be connected to the environment; client system dependent data derived by applying information from the environment information database to network information received from the client system, and latency information for a particular network environment estimated relative to a sample user to estimate latency relative to the requesting user.