Propagating a query in a network by applying a delay at a node

摘要

A query is propagated from a querying node to a destination node in a network of connected nodes. At least one of the nodes is designated as a delay node. The query is transmitted 4.1 from the querying node to one or more connected nodes. Each node which receives the query retransmits the query 4.4 to a connected node the first time that the query is received. The receiving and retransmitting of the query is repeated for each node receiving the query until the query is received at the destination node 4.5. At each node which is designated as a delay node a delay is applied 4.3 prior to retransmitting. The network may be a federated database made up of a number of interconnected databases and the delay nodes may be non-trusted nodes.