code: public double getLatencyFactor()
    {
      long now = CurrentTime.currentTime();
  
      long decayPeriod = 60000;
  
      long delta = decayPeriod - (now - _lastSuccessTime);
  
      // decay the latency factor over 60s
      
      if (delta <= 0)
        return 0;
      else
        return (_latencyFactor * delta) / decayPeriod;
    }
docs: Returns the latency factory