Patent ID: 7809128

Claim:
A method for per-session traffic rate policing in a media gateway, the method comprising: (a) receiving voice over IP (VoIP) packets at a media gateway that performs media switching and that is controlled by and for which call control and call control signaling is performed by a media gateway controller separate from the media gateway; (b) determining, in the media gateway, whether each VoIP packet is associated with an existing VoIP session in the media gateway; (c) applying, in the media gateway, per-session traffic rate policing policies to the packets determined to be associated with the existing sessions in the media gateway, wherein each per session traffic rate policing policy limits a traffic rate for packets received by the media gateway for a session that is being processed by the media gateway; and (d) in response to determining that a packet violates one of the per-session traffic rate policing policies, discarding the packet at a component within the media gateway.