Patent ID: 9419885
Filing Date: 2016-08-16
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method, comprising: receiving, by a maintenance intermediate point (MIP) in a circuit, an in-band packet from an initiating maintenance end point (MEP) in the circuit, the in-band packet including a loopback request and a time to-to-live value, wherein: in response to determining that the time-to-live value has expired and that the in-band packet includes the loopback request, entering, by the MIP, a loopback mode during which in-band packets received by the MIP from the initiating MEP are looped back towards the initiating MEP; while operating in loopback mode, receiving, by the MIP, a second in-band packet including a second time-to-live value and a cease loopback request; and in response to determining that the second time-to-live value has expired and that the second in-band packet includes the cease loopback request, ceasing, by the MIP, loopback mode, after which in-band packets received by the MIP from the initiating MEP are forwarded towards the end MEP.