Patent ID: 8681639

Claim:
A method for finding a source failure node in a traceable network, comprising: determining a possible source failure node according to a leaf node that has an exception, wherein said possible source failure node is the node that is most likely to cause said exception; calculating a minimum candidate leaf node set, wherein the calculating comprises determining a node set that satisfies a condition selected from the group of s . t ⁢ ⋃ min ⁡ [ L ] c ∈ L ⊆ C ⁢ R c = P e , s . t ⁢ ⋃ min ⁡ [ M ] d ∈ M ⊆ D ⁢ Rd = Sa , and ⁢ ⁢ s . t ⁢ ⋃ min ⁡ [ K ] f ∈ K ⊆ F ⁢ Rf = Sb ; selecting a leaf node in said minimum candidate leaf node set as a target node to receive an investigation result corresponding to said target node, wherein said investigation result indicates whether said target node has said same exception as said possible source failure node; receiving said investigation result corresponding to said target node and updating said traceable network according to said investigation result; and returning to said step of determining a possible source failure node, if it can not be verified according to said updated traceable network that said possible source failure node is causing said exception.