Patent ID: 7725939

Claim:
A method for determining the best connection or path for a router to transmit traffic to a specific destination on a network, wherein a path on a network includes a plurality of independent segments that are coupled together via links, and wherein the volume of users on the network defines the network load, comprising: analyzing the amount of network load; analyzing link availability to determine the specific links to traverse, wherein said analyzing the link availability comprises: analyzing traffic load on the specific link pathway, wherein the traffic load is the volume of users on the specific link; and analyzing the availability of the network; and at a service bureau remote from the router: monitoring the router to determine whether a volume of network traffic passing through the router is increasing abnormally; if the volume of the network traffic is determined to be increasing abnormally, identifying the network traffic as being abnormal network traffic; monitoring the abnormal network traffic; determining whether a volume of the abnormal network traffic is greater than a predetermined traffic threshold; and if the volume of the abnormal network traffic is determined to be greater than the predetermined traffic threshold, identifying the abnormal network traffic as being the problematic network traffic; and inhibiting the router from broadcasting a network address of the second network device to the first network device by redirecting the network traffic to a null network device having a null address, said null network device receiving the network traffic and providing no response to the first network device, and wherein, upon determining that the network traffic no longer comprises abnormal network traffic, the service bureau enables the router to again broadcast the network address of the second network device to the first network device and to exchange the network traffic with the first network device.