Patent ID: 8195143

Claim:
A management unit for allocating network resources to a plurality of multiservice communication devices capable of communicating via a plurality of networks, the management unit comprising: a communication device interface for facilitating a bidirectional data communication with the plurality of multiservice communication devices via a wireless control channel, the bidirectional data communication including outbound control data sent to at least one of the plurality of multiservice communication devices and inbound control data received from at least one of the plurality of multiservice communication devices, wherein the wireless control channel is separate from the communication between the plurality of multiservice communication devices and the plurality of networks; a network interface that receives network resource data from the plurality of networks; and a management processing unit, coupled to the communication device interface and the network interface, that processes the inbound control data and the network resource data and that generates the outbound control data in response thereto, wherein the management processing unit facilities the handoff of a real-time service accessed by the at least one of the plurality of multiservice communication devices via a first network of the plurality of networks to a second network of the plurality of networks, wherein the outbound control data includes cognitive transceiver configuration data for configuring at least one cognitive transceiver of at least one of the plurality of multiservice communication devices in accordance with the second network.