Application-level data communication switching system and process for automatic detection of and quality of service adjustment for bulk data transfers

This invention relates generally to computer networks and more particularly to handling bulk data transfers and network switches and nodes. In a data communication switch, process and apparatus for tracking the number of data bytes associated with data flow that is part of a session and automatically lowering the priority given to the transmission of the remainder of a flow once a certain threshold has been reached that indicates that the flow is part of a bulk e-mail or other bulk file transfer.