This image uses a series of stops or stations positioned along a loop in order to illustrate the sequence of TCP states visited by a client TCP. These stations appear is light blue ovals, connected by blue arrows moving in a clockwise direction.

The first stop appears at the top of the loop, and is a blue oval labeled "CLOSED." From here, it is indicated that the "Client application initiates a TCP connection." A blue arrow, labeled "Send SYN," travels clockwise to the next station, an oval labeled "SYN_SENT." An arrow labeled "Receive SYN & ACK, send ACK" travels clockwise to the next station, labeled "ESTABLISHED." An arrow labeled "Send FIN" travels clockwise to the next station, directly below the first on our loop, which is labeled "FIN_WAIT_1." An arrow labeled "Receive ACK, send nothing" travels clockwise to the next station, labeled "FIN_WAIT_2." An arrow labeled "Receive FIN, send ACK" travels to the next station, labeled "TIME_WAIT." An arrow labeled "Wait 30 seconds" travels clockwise and returns to the first station, labeled "CLOSED."