Patent ID: 7570590

Claim:
A method for a network element to respond to a maximum bitrate request of user equipment of a subscriber, the method comprising: receiving a requested maximum bitrate attribute value; determining if a maximum bitrate limit of the subscriber is equal to or greater than a value of a lowest valued member of a set of available maximum bitrate values; offering to provide requested communication services in association with an offered maximum bitrate, if the maximum bitrate limit of the subscriber is equal to or greater than the value of the lowest valued member of the set of available maximum bitrate values, the offered maximum bitrate value being equal to a value of a member of an allowable subset of the set of available maximum bitrate values, the allowable subset consisting of members of the set of available maximum bitrates that have values less than or equal to the maximum bitrate limit, and the offered maximum bitrate being equal to a value of a member of the allowable subset that is greater than or equal to, the lower of the requested maximum bitrate value and the maximum bitrate limit, or has the highest value of the subset; and declining the requested communications service if the maximum bitrate limit of the subscriber is not equal to or greater than the value of lowest valued member of the set of available maximum bitrate values.