Patent ID: 7058837

Claim:
A method for providing a message-time-ordering facility, the method comprising: initiating said message-time-ordering facility for a message at a sender system, wherein said initiating includes setting a delay variable to zero; sending said message to a receiver system in response to said initiating, wherein said sending includes: marking said message with a first departure time-stamp responsive to a sender system clock; and transmitting said message to said receiver system; receiving said message at said receiver system including delaying the processing of said message until the time on a receiver system clock is greater than said first departure time-stamp and recording a time associated with said delaying the processing of said message in said delay variable; sending a response to said message to said sender system in response to said receiving said message including: marking said response with a second departure time-stamp responsive to said receiver system clock if said delay variable is equal to zero; and transmitting said response to said sender system; and receiving said response at said sender system including delaying the processing of said response if said delay variable is equal to zero until the time on said sender system clock is greater than said second departure time-stamp and recording a time associated with said delaying the processing of said response in said delay variable.