Detection of active listeners and dynamic provisioning of cell sites for broadcast

摘要

In order to dynamically allocate spectrum resources to broadcast and unicast operations, user equipment (UE) sends a start message to a broadcast multicast tracking application in response to the UE deciding to start receiving a content stream. The start message includes cell site information where the user equipment is located and a channel identification indicating the content stream. The tracking application tracks the number of active listeners to the content stream in the cell and based on the number of active listeners and cell utilization, determines whether to initiate a broadcast. If the broadcast is initiated, the tracking application sends a message to the UE to retune to a broadcast channel. The UE sends a stop message when the UE decides to stop receiving the content stream and the tracking application and determines whether to terminate the broadcast based on the remaining active listeners and the cell utilization.