Patent ID: 9497129
Filing Date: 2016-11-15
CPC Classification: H04L

Claim Text:
1. A method for providing a self-stretching policer in a Quality of Service (QoS) community including a root node and one or more agent nodes, wherein the self-stretching policer dynamically stretches and withdraws the scope of the policer in the QoS community, the method comprising: maintaining a policer policy in the root node, the policer policy including at least one packet classification rule and corresponding police action; enforcing the policer policy in the root node by taking the corresponding police action if a traffic flow violates the packet classification rule; collecting policer statistics; determining if the traffic flow violates the packet classification rule by being greater than a predetermined threshold based on the collected policer statistics; and if a metric associated with the traffic flow violates the packet classification rule by being greater than the predetermined threshold, transmitting from the root node the policer policy, via one or more policer policy messages, to one or more of the agent nodes, including a given agent node adjacent and upstream to the root node from which the traffic flow is directed, wherein the transmitted policer policy message causes the given agent node to take corresponding police action if a traffic flow, including a short-duration burst traffic, received thereat, violates the packet classification rule of the policer policy message, and wherein the one or more transmitted policer policy messages cause the packet classification rule associated therewith to be dynamically stretched to and withdrawn from each of the one or more agent nodes that received a given policer policy message.