Patent ID: 8010691

Claim:
A method, comprising: (a) receiving a media stream at a source device and inserting into the media stream a first tag indicating content of the media stream and the source device providing the first tag, wherein the media stream is sent from the source device through a network to a desired destination; (b) in response to a network device receiving the media stream prior to the desired destination: (b.1) identifying and reporting the first tag within the received media stream, (b.2) selectively inserting into the media stream a second tag indicating content of the media stream and the network device providing the tag, (b.3) creating a tag stack comprising the first tag and the second tag in the media stream, and (b.4) selectively forwarding the media stream with the tag stack through the network toward the desired destination; and (c) in response to the desired destination including the network device receiving the media stream: (c.1) identifying a value of each of the first tag and the second tag of the tag stack within the received media stream; (c.2) comparing the identified value of at least one of the first tag and the second tag to an expected tag value; and (c.3) in the event that the comparison indicates a match, delivering the media stream to a user interface.