This article may be too technical for most readers to understand.(March 2012) |
Usage Parameter Control (UPC) and Network Parameter Control (NPC) are functions that may be performed in a computer network. UPC may be performed at the input to a network "to protect network resources from malicious as well as unintentional misbehaviour".[1] NPC is the same and done for the same reasons as UPC, but at the interface between two networks.
UPC and NPC may involve traffic shaping, where traffic is delayed until it conforms to the expected levels and timing, or traffic policing, where non-conforming traffic is either discarded immediately, or reduced in priority so that it may be discarded downstream in the network if it would cause or add to congestion.