Frame based traffic policing for a digital switch

An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of:

• a counter, the counter having a first limit;
• a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is a first cell of a frame;
• and
• a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining a first cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said first cell of a frame to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent cell of said frame to be conforming if the first cell of the frame was conforming else determining said subsequent cell to be non-conforming.

An apparatus for regulating a data communication link, said data communication link receiving cells grouped into frames, the apparatus comprising the elements of:

• a counter, the counter having a first limit;
• a cell detection mechanism, the cell detection mechanism detecting if a received cell is an End-of-Frame cell;
• and
• a traffic policing mechanism, the traffic policing mechanism determining an End-of-Frame cell of a frame to be conforming if the counter is below the first limit else determining said End-of-Frame cell to be non-conforming, the traffic policing mechanism determining a subsequent frame to be conforming if said End-of-Frame cell was conforming else determining said subsequent frame to be non-conforming.