Patent ID: 8730814

Claim:
A connection controller to communicate, in an Information Element in connection setup signaling for establishing a network connection between endpoint network elements in a communication network, connection monitoring control information for causing the endpoint network elements and one or more intermediate network elements traversed by the network connection to establish, responsive to the connection monitoring control information in the connection setup signaling and during connection setup while the network connection is being established, a series of Operations Administration and Maintenance Continuity Check (OAM-CC) segments for monitoring a plurality of segments of the network connection, the plurality of segments of the network connection together comprising the entire network connection, each OAM-CC segment comprising an OAM-CC source and an OAM-CC sink, at least one of the OAM-CC source and the OAM-CC sink of at least one OAM-CC segment being established at an intermediate network element, wherein the connection controller communicates connection monitoring control information by transmitting connection monitoring control information through a transmitter, receiving connection monitoring control information through a receiver, or both transmitting connection monitoring control information through a transmitter and receiving connection monitoring control information through a receiver.