Patent ID: 8514871

Claim:
A method of operating network devices for distribution of data packets over a network, the method comprising: detecting, based on first content of a first data packet, that a file associated with the first data packet can be presented at a predetermined level of quality by a destination device coupled to the network if the first data packet is not received by a receiver of the destination device; identifying the first data packet as discard-eligible based on the first content, wherein the first data packet is associated with a first class-of-service and a first priority level; determining a relative importance of the first content of the first data packet to presentation of the file by the destination device as compared to an importance of at least one discard-eligible data packet associated with the first class-of-service; marking the first data packet with one of a plurality of different levels of discard-eligibility to indicate the relative importance of the first content within the first class-of-service; selectively discarding the first data packet from a first queue comprising a first plurality of data packets associated with the first class-of service and the first priority level responsive to a comparison of the marking of the first data packet with a marking of a second data packet of a second queue comprising a second plurality of data packets associated with a second class-of-service and a second priority level that are not represented in the first queue, wherein the second queue does not include data packets having the first class-of-service and the first priority level; and dynamically increasing a buffer size allocated to the second queue for incoming data packets based on an available bandwidth in the first queue after selectively discarding the first data packet from the first queue, wherein the first priority level is lower than the second priority level, and wherein the first class-of-service is associated with packet traffic having a first delay sensitivity and the second class-of-service is associated with packet traffic having a second delay sensitivity different than the first delay sensitivity, and wherein the detecting, the identifying, the determining, and the marking are performed by an encoder, and wherein the selectively discarding and the dynamically increasing are performed by a router.