MULTI-STAGED SERVICES POLICING

1 . A multi-staged services policer comprising:

one or more processors;

a downstream services policer; and

an upstream services policer to:

receive a traffic unit;

analyze said traffic unit;

based on said analysis, transmit said traffic unit to said downstream services policer; and

receive feedback from said downstream services policer.

2 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 wherein said feedback from said downstream services policer is an indication of available bandwidth.

3 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 wherein at least one of said services policers polices at an application layer granularity.

4 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 wherein at least one of said services policers polices at a data link layer granularity.

5 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 wherein said traffic unit is a Frame Relay frame.

6 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 wherein said traffic unit is a Internet protocol packet.

7 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 , wherein the upstream services policer is to use the feedback from the downstream services policer to cause the first upstream services policer to modify analysis of further traffic units received by the first upstream services policer.

8 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 7 , wherein receiving the traffic unit comprises receiving a first traffic unit, and wherein the upstream services policer is a first upstream services policer that analyzes the first traffic unit according to a first policy, the multi-staged services policer further comprising:

a second upstream services policer to receive second traffic units, analyze the second traffic units according to a second policy, and based on the analysis according to the second policy, transmit the second traffic units to the downstream services policer,

wherein the feedback received by the first upstream services policer from the downstream services policer is in response to receipt of the second traffic units from the second upstream services policer.

9 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 , wherein receiving the traffic unit comprises receiving a first traffic unit, and wherein the downstream services policer is a first downstream services policer, and the upstream services policer is a first upstream services policer to analyze the first traffic unit according to a first policy, and wherein the multi-staged services policer further comprises:

a second upstream services policer to receive second traffic units, analyze the second traffic units according to a second policy, and based on the analysis of the second traffic units, transmit the second traffic units to the first downstream services policer;

a second downstream services policer; and

a third upstream services policer to receive third traffic units, analyze the third traffic units according to a third policy, and based on the analysis of the third traffic units, transmit the third traffic units to the second downstream services policer,

wherein the first, second, and third policies are for different types of traffic units.

10 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 , wherein the downstream services policer includes a first of the processors, and the upstream services policer includes a second of the processors.

11 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 1 , wherein the downstream and upstream services policers are executable on the one or more processors.

12 . A method of handling traffic units comprising:

receiving, by an upstream services policer, a first traffic unit;

analyzing, by the upstream services policer, said first traffic unit according to a first policy;

based on said analysis, transmitting, by the upstream services policer, said first traffic unit to a downstream services policer;

processing, by the downstream services policer, the first traffic unit according to a second policy; and

receiving, by the upstream services policer, feedback from said downstream services policer to cause the upstream services policer to modify analysis by the upstream services policer of further received traffic units.

13 . The method of claim 12 further comprising:

receiving, by the upstream services policer, a second traffic unit;

analyzing, by the upstream services policer, said second traffic unit differently from the analyzing of the first traffic unit in light of said feedback; and

based on said analysis of said second traffic unit, transmitting said second traffic unit to said downstream services policer.

14 . A computer readable storage medium containing computer-executable instructions which, when executed by a processor in an upstream services policer that is upstream of a downstream services policer, cause the processor to:

receive a first traffic unit;

analyze said first traffic;

based on said analysis, transmit said first traffic unit to said downstream services policer;

receive feedback from said downstream services policer;

receive a second traffic unit;

in response to the received feedback, analyze said second traffic unit differently from analysis of said first traffic unit; and

based on said analysis of said second traffic unit, transmit said second traffic unit to said downstream services policer.

15 . A multi-staged services policer comprising:

one or more processors;

a downstream services policer; and

a first upstream services policer to:

receive a first traffic unit;

analyze said first traffic unit according to a first policy for a first class of service;

based on said analysis, transmit said first traffic unit to said downstream services policer; and

a second upstream services policer to:

receive a second traffic unit;

analyze said second traffic unit according to a second policy for a second class of service;

based on said analysis of said second traffic unit, amend said second traffic unit resulting in an amended traffic unit including an amendment, where said amendment may be interpreted by said downstream services policer, wherein said amendment indicates said second traffic unit as being a traffic unit for the first class of service rather than the second class of service; and

transmit said amended traffic unit to said downstream services policer.

16 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 15 , wherein the downstream services policer is to send feedback information to the first upstream services policer in response to the amended traffic unit, wherein the first upstream services policer responds to the feedback information by modifying analysis of further traffic received by the first upstream services policer.

17 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 15 , wherein the downstream services policer affords a higher priority to traffic units received from the second upstream services policer than to traffic units received from the first upstream services policer.

18 . A multi-staged services policer comprising:

one or more processors;

a first services policer to police traffic units according to a first policy for a first class of service;

a second services policer to police traffic units according to a second policy for a second class of service;

a third services policer receiving output from each of said first services policer and said second services policer, wherein the third services policer affords a higher priority to traffic units received from the first services policer than to traffic units received from the second services policer.

19 . The multi-staged services policer of claim 18 , wherein the third services policer sends feedback information to the second services policer in response to traffic units received from the first services policer, wherein the second services policer modifies analysis of further traffic units received by the second services policer in response to the feedback information.