Patent ID: 8583821

Claim:
A method of classifying, at a wireless access point (AP), streaming media data, the method comprising: determining, at the wireless AP, that a device communicatively coupled to a wireless network of the wireless AP is a media server, wherein determining that the device is a media server includes monitoring, at the wireless AP, packets received at the wireless AP to detect data patterns in the packets indicative of (i) requests for streaming media data sent to a media server, or (ii) streaming media data sent from a media server; in response to determining that the device is a media server, generating, at the wireless AP, a first rule to identify packets transmitted to or from the device; utilizing, at the wireless AP, the first rule to detect a streaming media data request received at the wireless AP and destined for the device determined to be a media server; in response to detecting the streaming media data request, generating, at the wireless AP, a second rule to identify streaming media data packets transmitted by the device responsive to the streaming media data request; and receiving, at the wireless AP, streaming media data packets transmitted by the device responsive to the streaming media data request; identifying, at the wireless AP, the streaming media data packets using the first rule; determining, at the wireless AP, whether a superset rule supersedes the second rule; if it is determined that no superset rule supersedes the second rule, classifying, at the wireless AP, the streaming media data packets as high priority using the second rule; and if it is determined that the superset rule supersedes the second rule, classifying, at the wireless AP, the streaming media data packets as high priority using the superset rule and without using the second rule.