Patent ID: 7221946

Claim:
In a wireless communication network that comprises a first portable system providing a current information output service at a current quality level to a user, a method for allocating a resource of a second system external to the first portable system to provide improved quality of service to the user, the method comprising: establishing a wireless communication link between the first portable system and the second system; determining whether utilizing a resource of the second system in conjunction with the first portable system will provide the current information output service to the user at a higher quality level than the current quality level, wherein said determining comprises determining whether the second system has access to information encoded using a lower loss encoding technique than used to encode information to which the first portable system has access; and if it is determined that utilizing the resource of the second system in conjunction with the first portable system will provide the current information output service to the user at a higher quality level, then allocating the resource of the second system for such utilization.