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AssigneeCisco Technology, Inc.
InventorsJames Fraser Testa, Eyal Oren, Earl T. Cohen
Estimating the term…
Token buckets are used in a computer or communications system for controlling rates at which corresponding items are processed. The number of tokens in a token bucket identifies the amount of processing that is available for the corresponding item. Instead of storing the value of a token bucket as a single value in a single memory location as traditionally done, the value of a token bucket is stored across multiple storage locations, such as in on-chip storage and in off-chip storage (e.g., in a memory device). An indication (e.g., one or more bits) can also be stored on chip to identify whether or not the off-chip stored value is zero and/or of at least of a certain magnitude such that it may be readily determined whether there are sufficient tokens to process an item without accessing the off-chip storage.
A method for maintaining a particular number of tokens in a token bucket for use in processing items by a particular machine, the particular number of tokens being stored among a plurality of different storages, said storages including a primary storage and a secondary storage, the primary storage including a primary storage token value, the secondary storage including a secondary storage token value, the particular number of tokens including the primary storage token value plus the secondary storage token value, the method comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
An apparatus, comprising:
A method for forwarding packets based on token buckets, the method comprising:
An apparatus for forwarding packets based on token buckets, the apparatus comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.