Patent ID: 6618356
Filing Date: 2003-09-09
Classification: H04L,H04Q

Abstract:
A method to be used in a telecommunication network by a data traffic policer (POL) for policing data traffic on a data communication link (L), said data traffic including one or more data packets, each one of said data packets being part of a lower order data flow and said lower order data flow being part of a higher order data flow, whereby said each one of said data packets is associated to a lower order identifier (VCA1, VCA2, VCB1, VCB2) that identifies said lower order data flow and to a higher order identifier that identifies said higher order data flow, said method comprising the steps of:upon reception a data packet of one of said data packets by said policer (POL), determining said lower order identifier (LOI) being associated to said data packet; and checking a conformance of said data packet according to predefined lower order conformance rules (LOC(LOI)) being associated to said lower order identifier (LOI) and providing thereby a lower order conformance result (LOCR) of said data packet being any one of lower order conforming) and lower order non-conforming, characterized in that said method further includes determining said higher order identifier (HOI) being associated to said data packet; and checking a conformance of said data packet according to predefined higher order conformance rules (HOC(HOI)) being associated to said higher order identifier (HOI) and providing thereby a higher order conformance result (HOCR) of said data packet being any one of higher order conforming and higher order non-conforming; and in the event when said lower order conformance result (LOCR) is lower order non-conforming but said higher order conformance result (HOCR) is higher order conforming, declaring said data packet as being conforming, whereby said data packet whilst being transmitted uses some left-over resources within said higher order data flow.