Method and system for rate adaptive allocation of resources

1. A method for serving content, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a mobile unit, the first message including a request for content and an indication to use an adaptive guaranteed bitrate (AGBR) bearer to transmit the content to the mobile unit;

generating a second message based on the first message, the second message including at least device information associated with the mobile unit, an application identifier, a guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication and information associated with the AGBR, the application identifier triggering a subscriber lookup based on the GBR request indication, the device information and the information associated with the AGBR;

generating the requested content such that the content is configured to be transmitted over the AGBR bearer;

sending the requested content to a first network entity; and

sending the second message to a second network entity.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first message includes at least one of information associated with an application and the device information associated with the mobile unit.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving at least one of information associated with an application and the device information associated with the mobile unit from a network device.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first message includes at least one of an application identifier (ID) and a device ID used to determine at least one of the information associated with the application and the device information associated with the mobile unit.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining the AGBR bearer will be used to transmit the content to the mobile unit based on a Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI) associated with the first message, wherein

the QCI is the indication to use the AGBR bearer, and

a value of the QCI is undefined in a communications standard.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein

generating the requested content includes generating a plurality of individually addressable content segments based on the device information, the information associated with the AGBR bearer, and a content quality, and

sending the requested content includes sending at least one of the plurality of content segments.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second message includes a Universal Resource Locator (URL).

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the second message includes device dependent bitrate information, and

the device dependent bitrate information is mapped to the information associated with the AGBR.

9. A method for indicating an adaptive guaranteed bitrate (AGBR) bearer, the method comprising:

receiving, at a server, a first message from a content server, the first message including an application identifier and a guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication;

retrieving, by the server, subscriber and device information based on the application identifier and the GBR request indication; and

sending, by the server, a second message to a serving gateway, the second message including a Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI), the QCI indicating to use the AGBR bearer for delivering content to a mobile unit.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein

the subscriber information includes a QoS class indicator, and

a bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the QoS class indicator.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein

the guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication includes a guaranteed bitrate, and

a target bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the guaranteed bitrate.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein when a quality control indicator indicating the AGBR bearer is a QCI field in the second message, the QCI field is set to an undefined value.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein

the subscriber information includes device information, and

a bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the device information.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the QCI further indicates an AGBR scheduling algorithm.

15. A network node for indicating an adaptive guaranteed bitrate (AGBR) bearer, the network node comprising:

a server configured to,

receive a first message from a content server, the first message including an application identifier and a guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication;

retrieve subscriber and device information based on the application identifier and the GBR request indication; and

send a second message to a serving gateway, the second message including a Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI), the QCI indicating to use the AGBR bearer for delivering content to a mobile unit.

16. The network node of claim 15 , wherein

the subscriber information includes a QoS class indicator, and

a bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the QoS class indicator.

17. The network node of claim 15 , wherein

the guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication includes a guaranteed bitrate, and

a target bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the guaranteed bitrate.

18. The network node of claim 15 , wherein when a quality control indicator indicating the AGBR bearer is a QCI field in the second message, the QCI field is set to an undefined value.

19. The network node of claim 15 , wherein

the subscriber information includes device information, and

a bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is based on the device information.

20. The network node of claim 15 , wherein the QCI further indicates an AGBR scheduling algorithm.

21. A method for generating an adaptive guaranteed bitrate (AGBR) bearer, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a first network entity, the first message including a Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI), the QCI indicating to use the AGBR bearer for delivering content to a mobile unit;

generating the AGBR bearer based on the QCI and a default guaranteed bitrate (GBR) setting; and

generating a second message based on the first message, the second message including at least device information associated with the mobile unit, an application identifier, a guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication and information associated with the generated AGBR, the application identifier triggering a subscriber lookup based on the GBR request indication, the device information and the information associated with the generated AGBR.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein

the QCI is the indication to use the AGBR bearer, and

a value of the QCI is undefined in a communications standard.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the default GBR setting is a non-conversational streaming setting associated with the communications standard.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein

the first message includes a guaranteed bitrate, and

a target bitrate associated with the AGBR bearer is the guaranteed bitrate.

25. The method of claim 21 , wherein the QCI further indicates an AGBR scheduling algorithm.

26. The method of claim 21 , further comprising sending the second message to a second network entity, wherein the first network entity is configured to perform a policy charging and rules function, and

the second network entity is configured to communicate with the mobile unit over a wireless interface.

27. A method for delivering content, the method comprising:

receiving a first message from a mobile unit, the first message including a request for content;

generating a second message based on the first message, the second message including an application identifier and a guaranteed bitrate (GBR) request indication;

generating the requested content such that the content is configured to be transmitted over an adaptive guaranteed bitrate (AGBR) bearer;

sending the requested content to a first network entity;

sending the second message to a second network entity;

receiving the second message by the second network entity;

retrieving subscriber and device information based on the application identifier and the GBR request indication;

sending a third message to the first network entity, the third message including a Quality of Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI), the QCI indicating to use the AGBR bearer for delivering the content to the mobile unit;

generating the AGBR bearer based on the QCI and a GBR setting;

associating the content with the AGBR bearer;

sending a fourth message and the content to a fourth network entity, the fourth message including the QCI;

scheduling the mobile unit on the AGBR bearer based on the QCI; and

communicating the content to the mobile unit based on the schedule.