Patent Document ID: 10142203
Application ID: 15047795
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for Ethernet fault management implemented by an Ethernet node, the method comprising: responsive to receiving a first control packet in a sequence of control packets from a remote node which is a Maintenance End Point (MEP) and the Ethernet node is a corresponding MEP, providing a copy of the first control packet to software executed on a processor in the Ethernet node; analyzing the first control packet in the software to determine present objects comprising Type-Length-Value (TLV) objects and associated offsets for each TLV object, and programming hardware at the Ethernet node using the software, the programming is based on the remote node and the determined present objects and the associated offsets in the first control packet and the programming configures the hardware to expect each TLV object at its associated offset in subsequent control packets, and wherein the hardware is separate from the processor; and utilizing the hardware at the Ethernet node to process the subsequent control packets in the sequence of control packets from the remote node based on the programming.