def send_rpc(self, dest, method, params,
                 block=True, timeout=None):
        if self.context is None:
            LOG.error('send_rpc to {} when not connected'.format(dest))
            return

        id_ = str(uuid.uuid1())

        body = {
            'method': method,
            'id': id_,
            'params': params
        }

        socket = self.context.socket(zmq.REQ)

        if dest[0] == '@':
            address = 'ipc://@/var/run/minemeld/{}:rpc'.format(
                dest[1:]
            )
        else:
            address = 'ipc:///var/run/minemeld/{}:rpc'.format(
                dest
            )

        socket.connect(address)
        socket.setsockopt(zmq.LINGER, 0)
        socket.send_json(body)
        LOG.debug('RPC sent to {}:rpc for method {}'.format(dest, method))

        if not block:
            socket.close(linger=0)
            return

        if timeout is not None:
            # zmq green does not support RCVTIMEO
            if socket.poll(flags=zmq.POLLIN, timeout=int(timeout*1000)) != 0:
                result = socket.recv_json(flags=zmq.NOBLOCK)

            else:
                socket.close(linger=0)
                raise RuntimeError('Timeout in RPC')

        else:
            result = socket.recv_json()

        socket.close(linger=0)

        return result