Patent ID: 8108520

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving a request for a generic quality of service level associated with a network connection, wherein the requested generic quality of service level is directed to a generic quality of service application program interface that is coupled to a unified access driver interface, wherein the unified access driver interface and the generic quality of service application program interface operate together to abstract communications access technologies within an apparatus and provide a set of common functions to higher layers regardless of which of a plurality of wireless access protocols is used by lower level layers of a network access architecture of the apparatus; selecting a specific network access driver and a specific quality of service parameter associated with the specific network access driver and based on the generic quality of service parameter; applying the specific quality of service parameter to the network connection via the unified access driver interface; and in response to a system event that necessitates a change to the network connection in accordance with a quality of service policy, modifying the network connection by applying a different specific quality of service parameter to the network connection, wherein the quality of service policy governs the selection of the requested generic quality of service level based on any combination of the requested quality of service level, availability of the requested quality of service level, and a service billing rate associated with the requested generic quality of service level.