Patent ID: 7903662

Claim:
A method for detecting sequence mismatch defects associated with a virtual concatenation (VCAT) group including a plurality of path members, the VCAT group being associated with a VCAT sink, the method comprising: obtaining a first set of a plurality of sequence numbers by the VCAT sink from the VCAT group at a first time, wherein the sequence number of each VCAT group path member is dynamically obtained during a polling cycle associated with the VCAT sink to form the first set; obtaining a second set of a plurality of sequence numbers associated with the VCAT group by the VCAT sink at a second time, the second time being before the first time, the second set of sequence numbers being obtained from the VCAT group, and wherein the sequence number of each VCAT group path member is dynamically obtained during a polling cycle associated with the VCAT sink to form the second set; determining by the VCAT sink whether a first sequence number of the first set of sequence numbers is invalid, including comparing the first sequence number against the second set of sequence numbers to determine if the first sequence number matches any of the second set of sequence numbers; and identifying by the VCAT sink the first sequence number as having a sequence mismatch defect if it is determined that the first sequence number is invalid and does not match any of the second set of sequence numbers.