Patent ID: 8493847

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for regulating network data traffic in a network equipment device, the method comprising: assigning a plurality of rate buckets to a network interface port in the network equipment device, wherein the network interface port is configured to receive network data traffic comprising packets, and wherein the plurality of rate buckets comprise at least a first rate bucket and a second rate bucket that are related hierarchically; accepting the network data traffic comprising the packets into the first rate bucket that are received via the network interface port; determining if an amount of the network data traffic in the first rate bucket exceeds a rate bucket threshold for the first rate bucket that defines an amount of network data traffic that the first rate bucket can receive; and if the amount of the network data traffic in the first rate bucket exceeds the rate bucket threshold, passing the received packets of the network data traffic in the first rate bucket that exceed the rate bucket threshold to the second rate bucket within the hierarchy.