Patent ID: 7505408

Claim:
A method of automatically applying a quality of service treatment to a bidirectional network data flow, comprising the steps of: receiving at a first device the bidirectional network data flow comprising at least one outbound message element that is associated with a particular quality of service treatment value, wherein the first device is one of one or more devices; creating and storing in a particular memory a particular quality of service value in association with information identifying the bidirectional network data flow, wherein the particular quality of service value is derived from the quality of service treatment value associated with the at least one outbound message element; receiving a request for a quality of service value for an inbound message element from a second device of the one or more devices, wherein the inbound message element is associated with the bidirectional network data flow, wherein the second device is distinct from the first device; and providing the particular quality of service value to the second device.