Patent ID: 8018955

Claim:
A gateway in a communication network comprising: a proxy instance residing in the gateway that inspects packets received from at least one mobile node to detect information regarding setup of a media stream and information regarding a level of quality of service (QoS) of an existing media stream, wherein the gateway is in communication with a media server and provides packet routing and session management for the at least one mobile node, the media stream using a first access technology; an inline service residing in the gateway and in communication with the proxy instance that: responsive to detection of the information regarding the level of QoS, provides dynamic changes to the QoS by re-negotiating a session with a first mobile node to adjust media stream parameters, the first mobile node having mobile node characteristics and being associated with a user identity, responsive to detection of the information regarding setup of the media stream, monitors the media stream for information indicating that the user identity has changed associations to a second mobile node having different mobile node characteristics and handover information indicating that the media stream has changed to use a second access technology associated with a handover of the either of the first mobile node or second mobile node from the first access technology to the second access technology, and manages transcoding; and a digital signal processor (DSP) residing in the gateway and in communication with the inline service that transcodes at a direction of the inline service, including changing media stream parameters to provide a dynamic upgrade or downgrade of QoS level and converting the media stream from a first format received from the media server to a second format sent to either the first mobile node or second mobile node based at least in part on the information indicating user identity change including the characteristics of whichever of the first mobile node or second mobile node the user identity is associated with and the handover information including characteristics of whichever of the first access technology or second access technology the media stream is using.