Communication device and method for controlling communication device

What is this patent about?

’049 is related to the field of network communication and Quality of Service (QoS) management. Specifically, it addresses the challenges of maintaining reliable connections in environments where high-priority traffic, such as voice or video streaming, must compete with standard data packets. In conventional systems, the initial handshake required to establish a connection often defaults to a standard priority, leading to potential delays or failures if the network is congested with higher-priority traffic.

The underlying idea behind ’049 is to proactively elevate the priority of the connection establishment phase based on the specific service being accessed. Rather than waiting for the data phase to apply QoS tags, the system identifies the target service—such as a VoIP or media control command—and applies the corresponding high priority to the initial TCP handshake packets. This ensures that the signaling required to start a high-priority session is not dropped or delayed by the very traffic it is intended to manage.

The claims of ’049 focus on a communication apparatus that includes a recognition unit to identify services provided by external devices and a connection unit that dynamically adjusts packet priority during the connection procedure. The independent claims specifically cover the mechanism where, if a service is recognized as requiring a high priority for data transmission, the apparatus is configured to use that same high priority for the connection establishment packets instead of a default lower priority.

In practice, the invention works by utilizing a discovery protocol, such as SSDP, to map the IP addresses and port numbers of available services on the network to a priority table. When an application attempts to initiate a session, a middleware component or driver intercepts the request and checks the table. If the destination matches a high-priority service, the wireless driver tags the initial synchronization packets with the appropriate WMM (Wi-Fi Multi Media) priority level, ensuring the connection is robust against network load.

This approach differs from prior solutions that only applied QoS to the data payload or relied on static port-based tagging. By integrating service discovery with the link-layer driver, the invention prevents the common problem where a high-priority stream cannot even begin because the initial handshake packets are treated as background traffic. Furthermore, it intelligently reverts to a lower priority if a service is not recognized, preventing the network from being flooded with unnecessary high-priority signaling.