Patent · US Active

Layer-2 path tracing

US11991070B2 · kind B2 · utility

0Cited by
5References
20Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJan 4, 2022
Grant dateMay 21, 2024
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 11, 2042

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L2012/4629
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A system for layer-2 path tracing is provided. During operation, the system can send, from an originating device, a layer-2 trace packet with a packet type in a layer-2 header of the layer-2 trace packet. The packet type can indicate the trace packet to be a tracing packet. The system can then receive a layer-2 response packet from a respective participating device, which supports layer-2 path tracing, on a path to a target device of the trace packet. Subsequently, the system can obtain, from a payload of the response packet, trace information of a forward path to the participating device traversed by the trace packet and a reverse path from the participating device traversed by the response packet. The trace information can identify one or more layer-2 devices along the forward and reverse paths, and include one or more layer-2 identifiers corresponding to the identified one or more layer-2 devices.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.