Method, receiving device and transmitting device for determining the fastest message path without clock synchronisation

Secured transport protocols normally measure the round-trip delay in order to derive therefrom when messages should be repeated. Typical examples of such secured transport protocols are Transmission Control Protocol, according to IETF RFC 793 and Stream Control Transmission Protocol, according to IETF RFC 2960. An inference about the one-way delay from the determined round-trip delay is generally not possible. If multiple message paths exist for a transmitter to transmit the messages to the receiver, then it can be advantageous to send the messages via that message path which transmits the message to the receiver the quickest. Thus the transmitter must have available information on which message path is the quickest. According to the invention, a clock synchronisation of the transmitter and the receiver is not necessary for the above. The invention is based on the principle that, in order to determine the fastest message path the absolute delay times for the various message paths need not be known, but that it is sufficient to transmit a message on each path under evaluation and to determine the fastest message path, by means of the sequence of receipt.