Patent ID: 7827303

Claim:
A method performed by a network agent including a listening process and a servicing process, and operating according to a protocol layer above the data link layer in the Open System Interconnection Reference (OSI) Model, comprising: receiving a first connect request from a first source agent on a rendezvous port, wherein the receiving is performed by the listening process; negotiating a number of a first transaction port with the first source agent, wherein the negotiating is performed by the listening process; creating the servicing process for a first connection associated with the first connection request; requesting a second connection to a destination agent from the rendezvous port, wherein the requesting is performed by the servicing process; negotiating a number of a second transaction port with the destination agent, wherein the negotiating is performed by the servicing process; communicating the number of the second transaction port to the listening process from the servicing process; receiving a third connection request from a second source agent by the listening process on the rendezvous port; negotiating a number of a third transaction port with the second source agent, wherein the negotiating is performed by the listening process; comparing the number of the third transaction port to the number of the second transaction port received by the listening process from the servicing process; indicating that a loop is detected if the number of the third transaction port matches the number of the second transaction port received from the servicing process; wherein the indicating that the loop is detected comprises setting a loop-detected indicator; and wherein the network agent is a protective proxy further configured to refuse connections or to issue a protocol error message when a subsequent connection request is received and the loop-detected indicator is set.