Multicast/Broadcast Service over Heterogeneous Networks

Mobile and wireless communication has been evolved from the basic model for providing point-to-point (PtP) voice centric services into more complicated service provision technologies with point-to- multipoint (PtM) transmission mode, such as MBMS in 3GPP and BCMCS in 3GPP2. On the other hand, the evolution of mobile and wireless communication has also resulted in a large number of wireless technologies such as UMTS cellular network, WiMAX and WLAN. As a result, issues related to multicast/broadcast service over heterogeneous networks will be more complex, interesting and valuable. In this paper, we propose a solution aimed to provide seamless and ubiquitous support for multicast/broadcast service on heterogeneous accesses. Additionally, a vertical handover policy named PtM First for multicast resource management in heterogeneous networks is demonstrated.