Method and apparatus for tracing a virtual connection

A method for tracing a virtual circuit comprising;

• receiving a designation of one or more element types to be inserted in a vendor specific information portion of a trace transit list at a trace originating node, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• transmitting a request message toward a trace terminating node, said request message having the trace transit list including vendor specific information octets with the designated element types;
• and
• receiving an acknowledge message from the trace terminating node, said acknowledge message including the trace transit list copied from the request message to the acknowledge message by the trace terminating node.

A network switch for connecting a virtual circuit comprising:

• a trace transit list parser that identifies one or more element types present in a vendor specific information portion of a trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a trace generator that adds the element types identified by the trace transit list parser, said element types being added to vendor specific information octets in a trace transit list of a request message;
• a request message transmitter that transmits the request message toward a trace terminating node;
• a trace modifier that modifies the element types identified by the trace transit list parser, said element types being modified in the vendor specific information octets in the trace transit list of an acknowledge message;
• a acknowledge message transmitter that transmits the acknowledge message toward a trace originating node.

A network switch for connecting a virtual circuit comprising:

• a trace option store that holds a designation of one or more element types to be inserted in vendor specific information octets of a trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a trace generator that adds the element types designated in the trace option store, said element types being added to the vendor specific information octets of the trace transit list of a request message;
• and
• a request message transmitter that transmits the request message toward a trace terminating node.

A program, embodied in data signals on a computer readable medium, for tracing a virtual circuit, said program comprising:

• a first segment for receiving a request message from a trace originating node, said request message including a trace transit list, said trace transit list including one or more element types in a vendor specific information portion of the trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a second segment for adding the one or more element types to the vendor specific information portion of the trace transit list;
• a third segment for transmitting the request message toward a trace terminating node;
• and
• a fourth segment for receiving an acknowledge message from the trace terminating node, said acknowledge message including the trace transit list copied from the request message to the acknowledge message by the trace terminating node.

A program, embodied in data signals on a computer readable medium, for tracing a virtual circuit, said program comprising:

• a first segment for receiving a designation of one or more element types to be inserted in a vendor specific information portion of a trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a second segment for transmitting a request message toward a trace terminating node, said request message having the trace transit list including vendor specific information octets with the designated element types;
• and
• a third segment for receiving an acknowledge message from the trace terminating node, said acknowledge message including the trace transit list copied from the request message to the acknowledge message by the trace terminating node.

A network switch for connecting a virtual circuit comprising:

• means for receiving a request message from a trace originating node, said request message including a trace transit list, said trace transit list including one or more element types in a vendor specific information portion of the trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• means for adding the one or more element types to the vendor specific information portion of the trace transit list;
• means for transmitting the request message toward a trace terminating node;
• and
• means for receiving an acknowledge message from the trace terminating node, said acknowledge message including the trace transit list copied from the request message to the acknowledge message by the trace terminating node.

A network switch for connecting a virtual circuit comprising:

• means for receiving a designation of one or more element types to be inserted in a vendor specific information portion of a trace transit list at a trace originating node, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• means for transmitting a request message toward a trace terminating node, said request message having the trace transit list including vendor specific information octets with the designated element types;
• and
• means for receiving an acknowledge message from the trace terminating node, said acknowledge message including the trace transit list copied from the request message to the acknowledge message by the trace terminating node.

A connection oriented network for connecting a virtual circuit from a trace originating node to a trace terminating node, the network comprising a network switch that further comprises:

• a trace transit list parser that indentifies one or more element types present in a vendor specific information portion of a trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a trace generator that adds the element types identified by the trace transit list parser, said element types being added to vendor specific information octets in a trace transit list of a request message;
• a request message transmitter that transmits the request message toward the trace terminating node;
• a trace modifier that modifies the element types identified by the trace transit list parser, said element types being modified in the vendor specific information octets in the trace transit list of an acknowledge message;
• a acknowledge message transmitter that transmits the acknowledge message toward the trace originating node.

A connection oriented network for connecting a virtual circuit from a trace originating node to a trace terminating node, the network comprising a network switch that further comprises:

• a trace option store that holds a designation of one or more element types to be inserted in vendor specific information octets of a trace transit list, wherein at least one of said element types is a node level call processing latency element, a network level call processing latency element, an egress physical port identifier element, an ingress physical port identifier element, an ingress logical port identifier element, or a time stamp element;
• a trace generator that adds the element types designated in the trace option store, said element types being added to the vendor specific information octets of the trace transit list of a request message;
• and
• a request message transmitter that transmits the request message toward the trace terminating node.