Patent ID: 7200673

Claim:
A method for use by a first node on a network in communicating with a second node on the network, said method comprising the steps of: the first node on the network receiving a data packet over the network from the second node on the network, the data packet including a network identifier for the second node and a Time-To-Live (TTL) field that has a value, wherein the value of the TTL field for the data packet indicates a maximum additional number of hops that could have been made by the data packet; the first node sending a probe packet addressed to the network identifier for the second node, wherein the probe packet also includes a TTL field, and wherein an initial value for the TTL field of the probe packet is set based on the value for the TTL field of the data packet; the first node receiving a response packet from a third node on the network, in response to the probe packet, wherein the first, second and third nodes are different nodes on the network; the first node obtaining a geographic location for the third node based on node identification information in the response packet; and the first node transmitting geographic-specific information over the network to the second node based on the geographic location obtained.