Patent ID: 7965638

Claim:
A policer for enforcing limits on service level agreement (SLA) applied service traffic rates in a network switch coupled to a network, said network switch adapted to receive a plurality of incoming traffic flows over one or more communication links, comprising: a connection database adapted to store a plurality of rate parameters, including one or more desired rate thresholds, corresponding to a connection ID associated with a received packet; a random number generator operative to generate a current random number for each received packet, wherein said current random number is calculated by randomly either incrementing or decrementing a previous random number by a predetermined unit each received packet cycle, wherein said random number generator is seeded with an initial value; means for calculating a randomized rate threshold as a sum of one of said desired rate thresholds and said current random number thereby generating over time a plurality of rate thresholds scattered around said desired rate threshold; and a policing calculator operative to calculate on a per packet basis a policing decision in accordance with said received packet, said plurality of rate parameters, received packet size and said calculated randomized rate threshold.