DYNAMIC NETWORK TRANSPORT SELECTION

• US 20080165711A1
• Filed: 01/07/2007
• Published: 07/10/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Wyld, Jeremy
• Granted Patent: US 7,840,685 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

A method for dynamic network transport selection is described. An indication from a user of a client device is received, to fetch over a data network media of a predefined type. One of a number of network transport physical layers in the client device is automatically assigned, based on a number of stored, ranked media types and network transport physical layer types, for use in fetching the media over the data network. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method for dynamic network transport selection, comprising:

receiving an indication from a user of a client device, to fetch, over a data network, media of a predefined type; and

automatically assigning, based on a plurality of stored, ranked media types and a plurality of stored, ranked network transport physical layer (NTPL) types, one of a plurality of network transport physical layers (NTPLs) in the client device, for use in fetching the media over the data network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically assigning is further based on a determined throughput of each of the plurality of NTPLs in the client device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically assigning is further based on a determined pattern of the user'"'"'s usage of the client device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the automatically assigning is further based on determining the highest ranked combination of one of the media types and one of the NTPL types.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the stored, ranked media types based on determining whether an application program, that is accessing one of the media types in the client device, is running in background or foreground.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

updating the stored, ranked media types based on determining that the user has started to repeatedly request work from an application program that remains in the foreground.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the stored, ranked NTPL types based on determining that the client device has traveled outside a WLAN hotspot.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating the stored, ranked media types based on determining that the user historically runs a particular application program in the client device at a certain time interval of the day.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the media types refer to video, audio, email, and text chat.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the network transport physical layer types refer to a wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and a cellular telephone technology.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

changing an existing NTPL assignment that is being used for fetching the media over the data network, in response to an application coming to foreground that has a higher ranked media type.

12. An apparatus comprising:

a portable, handheld computer having

an application,

an operating system,

first and second network transport physical layer (NTPL) devices, the application to run on the operating system and access a data network via any one of the first and second NTPL devices at a time, and

a selector to select one of the first and second NTPL devices, to service a request from a user of the application for network access, based on a media type of the request.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the media type is video stream.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the media type is IP telephony.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the media type is Web page.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 wherein the selector is to select a fast NTPL device to start download of a top portion of a Web page requested by the user, and a slow NTPL device to start download of a lower portion of the Web page.

17. An article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-readable medium that stores instructions which, when executed by a processor in a client device, perform dynamic network transport selection by selecting one of a plurality of network transport physical layers (NTPLs) of the client device, to service a network access request generated in the client device, wherein the NTPLs have different throughput specifications, and/or different usage costs for a user of the client device, and wherein the selecting is based on the type of media to be downloaded by the request.

18. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the request refers to any one of a plurality of types of media to be downloaded, the plurality of types of media comprise video stream, audio stream, email message, voicemail message, and text chat.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the request refers to any one of a plurality of types of media to be downloaded, the selecting being further based on a stored ranking of the plurality of types of media and a stored ranking of the NTPLs.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the stored rankings of the plurality of types of media and the NTPLs can be modified or overridden by user command.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the selecting is further based on applying a plurality of rules that consider the following:

whether an application is in foreground or background;

type of interaction between the user and an application that is in foreground;

monetary cost of network access using one of the NTPLs; and

historical pattern of usage of the client device by the user.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 17 wherein the machine-readable medium stores further instructions that make up an operating system program, and wherein the instructions for dynamic network transport selection are developed by the same entity who developed the operating system program.

23. A client device comprising:

first means for accessing media from a server through a data network;

second means for accessing the media from the data server through the data network, wherein the client device can access the media via either the first means or the second means one at a time; and

means for ranking the first and second means, ranking a plurality of media types, and selecting the first means or the second means for accessing the media, based on the rankings.