Patent ID: 7619971

Claim:
A method for allocating excess bandwidth of an output among a plurality of network users, the method comprising: receiving, at a packet forwarding device, a plurality of packets associated with a plurality of network users for forwarding to an output, the plurality of packets including a packet associated with a first network user; determining whether the received packet is one of: a committed information rate (CIR) packet for which bandwidth is guaranteed at the output and a non-CIR packet for which bandwidth is not guaranteed at the output; maintaining, in the packet forwarding device, a count of non-CIR packets sent for the first network user, wherein maintaining the count of non-CIR packets for the first network user includes maintaining a count of non-CIR packets sent for the first network user prior to receiving the plurality of packets; and in response to the packet received for the first network user being a non-CIR packet: incrementing the count; in response to the count having a predetermined relationship with respect to a threshold level, preventing the non-CIR packet from being forwarded to the output; and in response to the count not having the predetermined relationship with respect to the threshold level, allowing the non-CIR packet received for the first network user to be forwarded to the output.