Abstract:
Disclosed herein are a Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) method in an MPLS network and a data structure of a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) OAM packet for TCM. When data are provided to users through an LSP path comprising multiple network provider in an MPLS network, the method makes it possible to independently measure LSP performance at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level, detect quality degradation of ingress signals by measuring performance of a preceding network, and newly measure the performance quality at the current network regardless of the performance quality of the preceding network.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2007-73531, filed on Jul. 23, 2007 and Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-120335, filed on Dec. 1, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) technology in a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, and more particularly, to a TCM method for detecting the exact location of an area where an error has occurred by newly measuring performance quality of a network, regardless of the performance quality measured in a preceding network to make clear what is responsible for the error when performance of a Label Switched Path (LSP) is degraded or an error occurs. 
     This work was supported by the IT R&amp;D program of MIC/IITA[2006-S-064-01, “BcN Network Engineering”]. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) is a technology that has been applied to Optical Transport Hierarchy (OTH) apparatuses. The technology can perform quality monitoring at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level. Totally, there are six levels of TCM. TCM 1  is used by users, and TCM 2  is used by a service provider, while the remaining TCM 3  to TCM 6  are used by a network provider. 
     An OTH apparatus includes an optical domain and a digital domain. The digital domain adopts a TCM function. The digital domain is composed of an Optical Channel Transport Unit (OTU), an Optical Channel Data Unit (ODU), and an Optical Channel Payload Unit (OPU). TCM information is carried in an overhead of the ODU and it is formed of a total of 18 bytes, three bytes per TCM. The OTH apparatus independently stores a Trail Termination Source Identifier (TTSI) value for a section to be monitored in a TCM, and monitors desired sections at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level, respectively. 
     Meanwhile, the performance of TCM is measured by checking parity errors. A transmitter calculates parities for payload of an ODU, which is OPU, based on Byte Interleaved Parity 8 (BIP-8), and transmits the result carried in a corresponding TCM byte of the next frame. In the mean time, a TCM receiver measures performance by calculating parities for the received OPU, and comparing the value transmitted carried in the next frame with the BIP-8 value stored in the transmitter. The performance in a desired section is monitored independently on the part of the network provider, the service provider, and the users in the above-described method. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     When a service provider provides a Label Switched Path (LSP) to users through a plurality of network providers in a packet network, e.g., a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, and an error occurs in a specific network, it has been difficult for users and the service provider to find out exactly where performance degradation has occurred. 
     Since conventional MPLS technology can hardly detect where performance degradation has occurred when the performance degradation has occurred in a specific network or on the part of users, it is required to develop a method that can easily detect performance degradation and accurately detecting the location of a network that has provided a cause for the performance degradation. 
     To resolve the above problem, it is required to develop a means for exactly detecting the location of performance degradation as well as monitoring performance at the levels of users, a service provider, and a network provider by using a frame format such as Continuity Verification (CV) or Fast Failure Detection (FFD) among MPLS Operation and Maintenance (OAM) packets recommended by ITU-T Y.1711, when performance is degraded in the MPLS LSP. 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for performing TCM by using a MPLS Operation and Maintenance (OAM) packet in an MPLS network. In the method, a BIP-16 parity of a received TCM packet is calculated. Then, it is determined whether there is an error by comparing the calculated BIP-16 parity with a BIP-16 parity stored in the received TCM packet. A value of ‘0’ or ‘1’ in an incoming error field allocated to a service provider level is set based on a determination result on the presence of an error. Then, a BIP-8 parity of the received TCM packet is calculated and the calculated BIP-8 parity is stored in a service provider TCM BIP-8 field of the received TCM packet. When the calculated BIP-8 parity is stored in a service provider TCM BIP-8 field of the received TCM packet, the TCM parity is transmitted from the service provider level. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The above and other aspects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) packet using ‘Reserved’ bytes of an ITU-T Y.1711 MPLS OAM packet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a TCM section for an MPLS Label Switched Path (LSP) at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a user level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart describing an ingress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart describing an egress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a flowchart describing an ingress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is a flowchart describing an egress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 10  illustrates a TCM packet processing method in a network provider section in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, when an error occurs. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Exemplary embodiments of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 
     In order to clearly describe the present invention, the descriptions of well-known functions and elements are omitted. Like numeral references denote like element throughout the accompanying drawings. 
     It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being “connected” to the other element, it can be directly connected to the other element or it can be electrically connected with an element interleaved therebetween. Also, it will be understood that when an element is referred to as “including” the other elements, it can further include other elements. 
     Throughout the specification, a module denotes a unit of a predetermined function or processing a predetermined operation. The module can be embodied as hardware, software, or combination thereof. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM) packet using ‘Reserved’ bytes of an ITU-T Y.1711 MPLS OAM packet in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a Continuity Verification (CV) packet among Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Operation and Maintenance (OAM) packets utilizes reserved three bytes as bytes for Tandem Connection Monitoring (TCM). Hereinafter, a frame structure of an MPLS OAM packet for TCM will be described specifically. 
     In the CV packet among MPLS OAM packets, a function type code point field  110  comprises one byte to indicate performance capability of the packet. ITU-T Y.1711 currently defines and uses 00 to 07Hex values. In the present invention, a 08Hex value is additionally defined and used to indicate performance capability for TCM. 
     To utilize the “Reserved” three bytes  120  for TCM capability, one byte  121  is used for checking the Byte Interleaved Parity 8 (BIP-8) value of a service provider, and another one byte  122  is used for checking the BIP-8 value of a network provider. The other one byte is used to indicate presence of an incoming error (IE) for the checks, one bit  123  or  124  for each incoming error check. 
     The remaining 40 bytes of the CV packet utilize what is recommended by the Y.1711 without any change. 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a TCM section for an MPLS Label Switched Path (LSP) at a user level, a service provider level, and a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
       FIG. 2  shows TCM sections for each level. A user TCM  201  is defined between customer equipments (CE)  200  and  210  to perform monitoring in a user section. A service provider TCM  202  is defined between provider equipments (PE)  220  and  230 . A network provider (NP) TCM A  203 , an NP TCM B  204 , and an NP TCM C  205  are defined between provider equipments  220  and  221 , between provider equipments  222  and  223 , and between provider equipments  224  and  230 , respectively, to monitor presence of an error and performance of each network provider and figure out in which network an error and performance degradation have occurred. 
     The TCM is executed at a TCM point  241  between the customer equipment  200  and the provider equipment  220  and at a TCM point  244  between the provider equipment  230  and the customer  210 , which are between a subscriber device and a network provider device. Also, TCM for each network provider is executed between the networks, which is at TCM points  242  and  243 . 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a user level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , packets are created in the structure of MPLS TCM packets specifically defined as shown in  FIG. 1  to perform TCM in the MPLS LSP user level. In the structure of MPLS TCM payload, a 08Hex value is newly defined to indicate that an MPLS OAM packet includes a TCM capability and stored in a function type field  301 . A Label Switched Path (LSP) Trail Termination Source Identifier (TTSI)  306  stores an address for a customer equipment (CE) A  300 . Herein, the address system follows ITU-T Y.1711. A BIP-16  308  stores a result obtained by performing the following calculation onto the other bytes except the three octets allocated for TCM.
 
BIP-16=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)
 
     To perform TCM at the user level using the above formed MPLS TCM packets, a TCM frame is added to the customer equipment A  300  and extracted in a customer equipment  310  and received. A byte parity for the received frame is calculated and compared with a BIP-16 transmitted from the customer equipment A  300  of the transmitter to acquire a difference. 
     As a result, when no error or performance degradation is detected in a network of a network provider A  320 , a network of a network provider B  321 , and a network of a network provider C  322 , the BIP-16 value calculated in the customer equipment B  310  and the BIP-16 value transmitted by being carried on a TCM frame are the same. However, when there is an error or performance degradation in the network of the network provider A  320 , the network of the network provider B  321 , and the network of the network provider C  322 , the two values are different from each other. Eventually, it is possible to detect the presence of an error and performance degradation in the network of the network provider A  320 , the network of the network provider B  321 , and the network of the network provider C  322  at the user level, too. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     The service provider leases a network from a network provider and provides an MPLS LSP to subscribers. TCM at the service provider level, which is service provider TCM, is carried out between a provider equipment A  220  and a provider equipment B  230 , which is a service provider section. 
     The provider equipment A  220  stores a BIP-8 value  302  allocated to the service provider TCM within a TCM packet frame transmitted from the customer equipment A  300  and information needed for incoming error  304 . The provider equipment B  230  checks the BIP-8 value stored in the provider equipment A  220  and an incoming error bit to monitor performance in the service provider section. Herein, as shown in  FIG. 1 , one octet is allocated to the BIP-8  302  for the service provider TCM, and one bit is allocated to the incoming error  304 . 
     The service provider TCM is executed in the provider equipment A  220 . To be specific, the provider equipment A  220  checks the TCM packet received from the customer equipment A  300  to see if there is an error. Herein, the error detection is executed in the same method as the TCM operation method at the user level, which is described with reference to  FIG. 2 . 
     First, a BIP-16 value of a received packet is calculated based on the following equation.
 
BIP-16=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)
 
     When the BIP-16 value of the received packet comes out, it is compared with a BIP-16 value  308  stored in the received packet, and it is determined whether the two values are the same. 
     When the two values are the same, it is determined that no error has occurred and ‘0’ is stored in the incoming error bit  304  reserved for the service provider. When the two values are not the same, it is determined that an error has occurred and ‘1’ is stored in the incoming error bit  304 . When the occurrence of an error is determined based on the BIP-16 value and either ‘0’ or ‘1’ is stored in the incoming error bit  304 , a BIP-8 value is calculated. The acquired BIP-8 value is stored in a packet to see if an error occurs in the service provider TCM  202 . 
     The BIP-8 value is calculated based on the following equation, and it is stored in a service provider TCM BIP-8  302 .
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     After the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  stores the value, the packet is transmitted. 
     Meanwhile, the provider equipment B  230  receives the TCM packet transmitted through the network provided by the network provider. When the TCM packet is received, the incoming error bit  304  allocated to the service provider is checked. When the value stored in the incoming error bit  304  is ‘1’, it is determined that an error has occurred before the packet is received by the service provider. 
     When the value stored in the incoming error bit  304  is ‘0’, it is determined that no error has occurred before the packet is received by the current service provider. 
     After the decision for the incoming error bit is made, a BIP-8 value for the received TCM packet is calculated based on the following equation.
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     The acquired value is compared with the value stored in the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  of the received TCM packet. 
     When the two BIP-8 values are the same, there are two cases. First, when the incoming error value  304  is ‘0’, it means that packets without an error are received from the customer equipment A  300  and transmitted without an error in the service provider section. When the incoming error value  304  is ‘1’, it means that an error is detected in the packets received from the customer equipment A  300  but the packets are transmitted without an error in the service provider section. 
     When the two BIP-8 values are not the same, it means that there is an error occurring while the TCM packets are transmitted. Therefore, it can be presumed that performance is degraded in the network provider section. In the same method, performance in the service provider section can be monitored. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a structure for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     To execute the TCM in the network provider section, one octet of a network provider TCM BIP-8  303  is used among three octets allocated for the TCM in a TCM packet, and one bit is used to set up an incoming error bit  305 , just as in the service provider TCM operation. 
     The network provider A  320  checks the received TCM packet transmitted from the customer equipment A  300  by using a BIP-16 value to see if there is an error. When there is an error detected in the received packet, the incoming error bit  305  for the network provider is set to ‘1’. When no error is detected, the incoming error bit is set to ‘0’ and stored, and a BIP-8 value is calculated based on the following equation, just as in the TCM at the service provider. The BIP-8 value is stored in the network provider TCM BIP-8  303  in the TCM packet.
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)⊕LSP TTSI⊕padding⊕BIP-16
 
     Also, a provider equipment  512  receiving a TCM packet transmitted through a network calculates a BIP-8 value for the received TCM packet and compares the acquired BIP-8 value with the BIP-8 value of a BIP-8  308  of a TCM packet transmitted from a provider equipment  511 . 
     When the two values are the same, it is determined that there is no performance degradation or an error in the section of the network provider A  320  and the packet is transmitted to another network provider B  321  that is adjacent to the network provider A  320 . However, when an error is detected or the incoming error bit is set to ‘1’, it is reported to a network management device operated by the network provider that an error has occurred in the network provider  320  or an error signal is inputted from a customer equipment. 
     Meanwhile, another network provider B  321  checks the parities of a TCM packet received from the network provider A  320  to measure performance in the section of a network provider TCM B  541 . In short, a BIP-8 value is calculated for the inputted TCM packet and it is compared with the BIP-8 value carried on the TCM packet. Then, it is checked whether there is an incoming error. When it turns out that there is an error, the incoming error bit for the network provider is set to ‘1’. Subsequently, the BIP-8 value is re-calculated, stored and transmitted to a provider equipment  522 . When there is no error, the incoming error bit is set to ‘0’ and stored, and the calculated BIP-8 value remains unchanged. 
     In the network B  321 , a receiver of the provider equipment  522  calculates a BIP-8 value for the TCM packet transmitted from a provider equipment  521  and compares the calculated BIP-8 value with a BIP-8 value stored in the packet. When the two values are the same, it is regarded that no error has occurred in the section of a network provider TCM B  541 . When an incoming error bit is ‘1’, it is determined that an error has occurred in the network of the network provider A  520  or in a network before the network of the network provider A  520 . 
     However, when the two BIP-8 values are not the same, it is determined that an error has occurred in the section of the network provider TCM B  541 . 
     As described above, it is possible to detect a BIP-8 error occurring in each section by independently executing TCM function for each network provider, and it is also possible for the network providers to know whether the error has occurred in their own network or an erroneous signal is inputted by using the incoming error bit. 
       FIG. 6  is a flowchart describing an ingress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 6  shows how a packet is processed in a provider equipment  511 . 
     In operation S 610 , TCM at the service provider level begins with receiving a TCM packet from a customer equipment. 
     When the TCM packet is received, in operation S 620 , a BIP-16 value of the received TCM packet is calculated. The BIP-16 value is calculated as the following equation.
 
BIP-16=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)
 
     When the BIP-16 value of the received TCM packet is calculated, in operation S 630 , a BIP-16 value stored in the received TCM packet is compared with the calculated BIP-16 value to check if there is an error by checking whether the two BIP-16 values are the same. 
     When the two values are the same, it is regarded that no error has occurred and a ‘0’ value is stored in an incoming error bit  304  allocated to the service provider in operation S 641 . 
     When the two values are different from each other, it is regarded that an error has occurred and a ‘1’ value is stored in the incoming error bit  304  in operation S 640 . 
     When the presence of an error is determined based on the BIP-16 values and either ‘0’ or ‘1’ is stored in the incoming error bit  304 , a BIP-8 value is calculated. The BIP-8 value is stored in the packet to check whether an error occurs in a service provider TCM  202 . 
     The BIP-8 value is calculated based on the following equation, and it is stored in the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  of the packet in operation S 650 .
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     When the calculated value is stored in the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  of the TCM packet, the TCM packet is transmitted in operation S 660 . 
       FIG. 7  is a flowchart describing an egress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a service provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 6  shows how a packet is processed in the provider equipment  532 . Herein, TCM operation at the service provider level is described, and TCM operation at the network provider level will be described with reference to  FIG. 9 . 
     In operation S 710 , the provider equipment  532  receives a TCM packet transmitted through a network of the network provider. 
     When the TCM packet is received, in operation S 720 , an incoming error bit  304  allocated to a service provider is checked. 
     When the value stored in the incoming error bit  304  is ‘1’, it is determined in operation S 740  that an error has occurred in the section of another service provider or a customer equipment before the current service provider. 
     When the value stored in the incoming error bit  304  is ‘0’, it is determined that there is no error before the current service provider. 
     After the decision on the incoming error bit is made, a BIP-8 value for the received TCM packet is calculated based on the following equation.
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     In operation S 750 , the calculated BIP-8 value is compared with a value stored in the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  of the received TCM packet. 
     When the calculated BIP-8 value is the same as the BIP-8 value stored in the service provider TCM BIP-8  302  of the received TCM packet, it signifies two cases. 
     First, when the incoming error bit  304  is ‘0’, it means that a packet without an error is received from the customer equipment A  300  and delivered to the section of a service provider without an error. When the incoming error bit  304  is ‘1’, it means that a packet with an error is received from the customer equipment A  300  but it is delivered to the section of a service provider without an error. 
     When no error occurs in the service provider section, the incoming error bit  304  of the service provider is set to ‘0’ in operation S 770 . 
     When the two BIP-8 values are not the same, it means that an error has occurred in the middle of the TCM packet transmission. Thus, it can be presumed that performance is degraded in the network provider section. When an error occurs in the service provider section, the incoming error bit  304  of the service provider is set to ‘1’ in operation S 780 . 
     In operation S 790 , the TCM packet is transmitted to a customer equipment B  310 . 
     The performance in the service provider section can be monitored in the above described method. 
       FIG. 8  is a flowchart describing an ingress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 8  shows how a TCM packet is processed in the provider equipments  511 ,  521 , and  531 . 
     In operation S 810 , TCM at the network provider level beings with receiving a TCM packet from a preceding customer equipment or another network provider. 
     When the TCM packet is received, in operation S 820 , a BIP-8 value for the received TCM packet is calculated based on the following equation.
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     In operation S 830 , the calculated BIP-8 value is compared with a BIP-8 value stored in the network provider TCM BIP-8  303  of the received TCM packet and it is determined whether an error has occurred or not by checking if the two values are the same or not. 
     When the two BIP-8 values are the same, it is regarded that no error has occurred and a ‘0’ value is stored in an incoming error bit  305  allocated to the network provider in operation S 850 . 
     When the two BIP-8 values are not the same, it means that an error has occurred. In this case, a ‘1’ value is stored in the incoming error bit  305  in operation S 840 . 
     When no error occurs and the ‘0’ value is stored in the incoming error bit  305 , the network provider BIP-8  303  is maintained. When an error occurs and the ‘1’ value is stored in the incoming error bit  305 , the newly calculated BIP-8 value is added to the network provider BIP-8  303  in operation S 860 . 
     When the value for the network provider BIP-8  303  is determined, the TCM packet is transmitted to the network in operation S 870 . 
       FIG. 9  is a flowchart describing an egress signal processing flow for TCM operation at a network provider level in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.  FIG. 9  shows how a TCM packet is processed in the provider equipment  512 ,  522  and  532 . The flow of  FIG. 9  may seem similar to that of  FIG. 7 , but the operation of  FIG. 9  is performed at the network provider level, whereas that of  FIG. 7  is performed at the service provider level. 
     In operation S 910 , the provider equipments  512 ,  522  and  532  receive a TCM packet transmitted through networks of the network providers. 
     When the TCM packet is received, in operation S 920 , an incoming error bit  305  allocated to a network provider is checked. 
     When the value stored in the incoming error bit  305  is ‘1’, it is determined in operation S 940  that an error has occurred in the section of a network provider before the current network provider. 
     When the value stored in the incoming error bit  305  is ‘0’, it is determined that there is no error before the current network provider. Since there is no network provider section prior to the provider equipment  512 , no decision is made for the case. 
     After the decision on the incoming error bit  305  is made, a BIP-8 value for the received TCM packet is calculated based on the following equation.
 
BIP-8=Function type(08Hex)(301)⊕LSP TTSI(306)⊕padding(307)⊕BIP-16(308)
 
     In operation S 950 , the calculated BIP-8 value is compared with a value stored in the network provider TCM BIP-8  303  of the received TCM packet. 
     When the calculated BIP-8 value is the same as the BIP-8 value stored in the network provider TCM BIP-8  303  of the received TCM packet, it signifies two cases. 
     First, when the incoming error bit  305  is ‘0’, it means that a packet without an error is transmitted from the preceding network provider section. When the incoming error bit  305  is ‘1’, it means that a packet with an error is transmitted from the preceding network provider section but it is received in the current network provider section without an error. 
     When no error occurs in the current network provider section, the incoming error bit  305  of the network provider is set to ‘0’ in operation S 970 . 
     When the two BIP-8 values are not the same, it means that an error has occurred in the middle of the TCM packet transmission. Thus, it can be presumed that performance is degraded in the current network provider section. When an error occurs in the network provider section, the incoming error bit  305  of the network provider is set to ‘1’ in operation S 980 . 
     In operation S 990 , the TCM packet is transmitted to the next network provider section or a customer equipment B  310 . 
     The performance in the network provider section can be monitored in the above described method. 
       FIG. 10  illustrates a TCM packet processing method in a network provider section in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, when an error occurs. 
       FIG. 10  exemplarily shows how TCM is operated when an error occurs in any one of network providers, specifically, when an error occurs in the network provider B  1100 . In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a TCM packet inputted from a customer equipment A does not have any error in the section of a network provider A  1000 . 
     Since no error has occurred in the network provider A  1000 , it is assumed that a calculated BIP-8 value is ‘10101010’, just as the network provider BIP-8 1001 is. Since there is no incoming error, a ‘0’ value is stored in the network provider incoming error bit and inputted to the network provider B  1100 . Since an error occurs in the network provider B  1100 , the original TCM packet is not received or another form of a packet different from the original packet, i.e., an errored TCM packet  1101 , is received. Herein, the network provider B  1100  knows that an error has occurred in its network and the packet with the error is transmitted to the next network provider, which is a network provider C  1200 . In the network provider C  1200 , since the ingress signal has an error therein, a ‘1’ value is stored in the incoming error bit  1201 , and a newly calculated BIP-8 value  1201 , which is ‘11110000’, is stored and used in the network of the network provider C  1200 . Meanwhile, since a receiver of a provider equipment  1350  of the network provider C  1200  has an incoming error bit of ‘1’, it is possible to know that the error has occurred in the preceding network and, at the same time, since the calculated BIP-8 value is the same as a value stored in the transmitted TCM packet, the network provider C  1200  can know that the error has not occurred in its network. 
     As described above, the TCM method of the present invention can easily detect the location of a network where performance degradation is originated by informing the cause of the performance degradation to the network provider of the network or an adjacent network provider in an MPLS network, when a performance error has occurred in a specific network provider. Also, the TCM method can provide charging criteria and make sure which part is responsible based on a Service Level Agreement (SLA) agreed between users and a service provider and between a service provider and a network provider. 
     While the present invention has been shown and described in connection with the exemplary embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.