Patent ID: 8582444

Claim:
A method of detecting a faulty network element in a network, the network comprising at least a plurality of first network elements having a first network element type, and at least a plurality of second network elements having a second network element type, the method comprising: a) selecting one of the plurality of first network elements and one of the plurality of second network elements; b) attempting to set up a connection between said selected first network element and said selected second network element; c) repeating steps a) and b) for further selected first and second network elements; d) for each of the plurality of first network elements and for each of the plurality of second network elements, counting a number of connections that are released as a result of a fault; for each of the plurality of first network elements and for each of the plurality of second network elements, counting a total number of released connections; and e) for a particular one of the first or second network elements: self-determining a ratio of connections released in said particular network element as a result of a fault to total released connections in said particular network element; and based on said ratio, self-determining whether said particular network element is faulty.