Patent ID: 8862732

Claim:
A method of controlling bandwidth utilization of a network subscriber, comprising: using a first token bucket associated with a network subscriber to regulate bursty traffic, the first token bucket having a first capacity B 1 for first tokens, each first token authorizing the network subscriber to transmit a unit of data, the first tokens added to the token bucket at a first rate R 1 ; monitoring a subscriber's bandwidth utilization by using a second token bucket, the second token bucket having a second capacity B 2 for second tokens, the second tokens being added to the second token bucket at a second rate R 2 , wherein said second token bucket has a capacity B 2 that is at least about 100 times larger than the first capacity B 1 of the first token bucket; evaluating the amount of a subscriber's transmissions during a predetermined time period using the second token bucket; determining that the subscriber's bandwidth utilization exceeds a predetermined threshold during a predetermined time period; and enforcing a new level of service for the subscriber.