Methods of bidirectional packet exchange over nodal pathways

A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer readable instructions embodied therein, the computer readable instructions being configured to implement a node relay communication method when executed the node relay communication method comprising;

• a) receiving a description of a flow entry in a packet from another node, the description of the flow entry including an address in a flow, a Flow identifier (ID) of the flow entry, a flow version, an address and port information for one or more other nodes in the flow, and a private key, wherein the address and port information for one or more other nodes in the flow includes an internet protocol (IP) address and port for a next node in the flow;
• b) storing the flow entry and the private key in a database indexed by Flow ID;
• c) receiving a packet, wherein the packet comprises an authentication code and packet data including a packet sequence and a Flow ID of the packet;
• d) performing a look up in the database of a flow entry corresponding to the Flow ID of the packet;
• and
• e) ignoring the packet or forwarding the packet to the IP address of the next node in the flow, depending on the result of the look-up.

A Master server system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory;
• wherein the Master server system is configured to implement the method for node relay communication comprising:
• a) receiving node information from nodes in a network;
• b) determining one or more flow routes between a beginning node and an end node from node information wherein each flow route of the one or more flow routes includes one or more nodes in the network other than the beginning node and the end node;
• c) sending flow route information to one or more nodes, wherein the flow route information includes one or more flow tokens corresponding to each node of one or more nodes in a flow route of the one or more flow routes, and a flow token for the server and wherein each flow token includes a flow identifier (ID), a flow version, a flow private key, an internet protocol (IP) address and a port for a next node and/or an IP address and a port for a previous node.

A Matchmaker server system comprising:

• a processor;
• a memory
• wherein the Matchmaking server system is configured to implement the method for node relay communication comprising;
• a) receiving a request from a client to connect to one or more servers;
• b) requesting one or more flow routes between the client and one or more servers from a master server;
• c) receiving flow route information for one or more flow routes between the client and the one or more servers from the master server, wherein the flow route information for a given flow route of the one or more flow routes includes a flow token for the client, one or more flow tokens corresponding to each relay of one or more relays in the given flow route, and a flow token for the server and wherein each flow token includes a flow ID, a flow version, a flow private key, an internet protocol (IP) address and port for a previous node and/or an IP address and port for a next.