Location-aware application based quality of service (QOS) via a broadband access gateway

1. One or more circuits supporting access to multimedia information by an access device, using location-aware quality of service management in a communication network, the one or more circuits comprising:

at least one processor operatively coupled to interface circuitry for communicating over the communication network, the at least one processor operable to, at least:

receive information identifying one or both of the access device and a user;

determine an approximate current location of the access device;

access at least one user-defined quality of service criterion based upon the information identifying one or both of an access device and a user;

accept a request for delivery of identified multimedia information;

using the approximate current location of the access device, determine a first available bandwidth at the approximate current location of the access device;

adjust at least one parameter of the identified multimedia information to conform to the first available bandwidth at the approximate current location of the access device and to conform to the at least one user-defined quality of service criterion to provide a first quality of service level upon delivery of the identified multimedia information to the user;

subsequently, following a location change of the access device in the communication network, determine a new location of the access device;

determine a second available bandwidth at the new location of the access device, the second available bandwidth being different from the first available bandwidth; and

adjust the at least one parameter of the identified multimedia information to conform to the second available bandwidth and to the at least one user-defined quality of service criterion to provide a second quality of service level upon delivery of the identified multimedia information to the user that is different from the first quality of service level.

2. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein multimedia information comprises one or more of streaming video, broadcast video, voice, digital data, text, digitized audio, digitized still images, digitized video, and/or digitized music.

3. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the interface circuitry communicates wirelessly over the communication network using a protocol compliant with the BLUETOOTH V1.2 or compatible personal area network (PAN) specification.

4. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the interface circuitry communicates wirelessly over the communication network using an unlicensed frequency band.

5. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the interface circuitry communicates wirelessly over the communication network at a frequency of approximately 2.4 gigahertz.

6. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the interface circuitry is compliant with one or more of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 a, 802.11 b, 802.11 g, and/or 802.11 n standards.

7. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the communication network comprises one or more of a digital subscriber line (DSL) network, a cable network, a satellite network, a cellular network, and/or the Internet.

8. The one or more circuits according to claim 7 , wherein the cellular network comprises one or more of a global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, a time division multiple access (TDMA) network, a code division multiple access (CDMA) network, and/or a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network.

9. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the information identifying a user comprises one or more of a member identifier, a user name, an administrative identifier, and/or a credit card number.

10. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the information identifying the access device comprises one or more of an electronic serial number, an Internet protocol (IP) address, a media access control (MAC) address, information identifying a make of the access device, and/or information identifying a model of the access device.

11. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one user-defined quality of service criterion comprises one or more of a bit rate, a bandwidth, a spatial resolution, a measure of gray scale levels, a color depth, a frame rate, a measure of dropped frames, a cost of usage, a measure of distortion of an audio signal, and/or a delivery delay.

12. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the access device comprises one of the following: a mobile multimedia handset, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a personal computer (PC), a digital scanner, a digital camera, a printer, headphones, or a pointing device.

13. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the user is notified of an inability to deliver the identified multimedia information to the user in accordance with the at least one user-defined quality of service criterion.

14. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the user is permitted to select one or both of a form and a level of degradation due to the adjustment of the at least one parameter.

15. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one user-defined quality of service criterion is transmitted to a gateway by the access device.

16. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one parameter comprises one of a bit rate and a level of compression.

17. The one or more circuits according to claim 1 , where the multimedia information comprises a real-time media stream.