Patent ID: 7738382

Claim:
A method for operating a network device comprising a multi-rate multi-precedence policer, said method comprising: providing a plurality of packet precedence levels; providing a token bucket for each of said packet precedence levels; receiving a packet comprising a precedence level; determining a credit available in the token bucket associated with said received packet's precedence level; determining a policer operation for said received packet based on the token bucket associated with said received packet's precedence level, wherein determining a policer operation comprises determining whether to keep, drop, or remark said received packet; and upon receipt of said received packet having precedence j and length L, if token counts T(j)−L>=0, changing token counts T(k) for all k<=j; wherein said received packet affects traffic measured by said token bucket associated with said received packet's precedence level and all token buckets associated with precedence levels below said received packet's precedence level.