Techniques for Avoiding Redundant Transmissions of Data During Multimedia Mobile Phone Communications

• US 20090275310A1
• Filed: 05/02/2008
• Published: 11/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Sunley, Matthew N., Fletcher, Benjamin J.
• Granted Patent: US 8,346,218 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• 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: H04W 28/06 Optimizing the usage of the radio link, e.g. header compression, information sizing , discarding information system modifying transmission characteristic according to link quality by modifying frame length H04L1/0007; dynamic adaptation of the packet size for flow control or congestion control H04L47/365
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and computer product for avoiding redundant data transmissions during communication via multimedia mobile phones. In operation, a sending party inquires whether intended for transmission data already resides in a mobile phone of a receiving party Depending on a content of the response from the receiving party, the sending party transmits the data or a request for displaying the already available data.

Claims

1. A method of communicating data using multimedia mobile phones, the method comprising:

(a) during outgoing transmissions including graphical/video data;

sending an identifier of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

determining whether the receiving mobile phone contains portions of the data; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone contains portions of data, responding to the determining by;

retrieving available portions of the data at the receiving mobile phone; and

sending only absent/missing portions of the data to the receiving mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone does not contain the data, sending the entire data to the receiving mobile phone; and

(b) during outgoing transmissions resulting from a sending mobile phone 100A transmitting an outgoing requests for graphical/video data;

sending a checksum of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

in response to determining that the sending mobile phone contains portions of the data;

retrieving available portions of the data at the sending mobile phone; and

providing absent portions of the data to the requesting mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the requesting mobile phone does not possess the data, sending the data to the requesting mobile phone.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(a) at a sending party, during a transmission of the data to a receiving party;

transmitting an inquiry of whether a receiving party already has the data;

if the receiving party already has the data, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party; and

in determination that the receiving party does not have the data, transmitting the data to the receiving party;

(b) at the receiving party, in a response to the transmission from the sending party;

responding to the inquiry; and

(c) at a requesting party, during a download of the data from a website;

responding to an inquiry of whether the data already resides at the requesting party; and

in determination that the data resides at the requesting party, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party, otherwise downloading the data from the website.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the inquiries comprise an identifier of the data, the identifier selected from the group consisting of a checksum of a file of the data, a name of the file of the data, a template used to organize/format the data, and textual or symbolic description of the data; and

the data includes at least one of digitized voice, text, graphics, and video information, or a combination thereof.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing at least a portion of communications using a Short Message Service (SMS) communication protocol.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting step further comprises:

determining a checksum of a file of the data;

transmitting to a server containing a registry of files saved at the receiving party an inquiry of whether the receiving party has a file having the same checksum;

receiving a response to the inquiry from the server; and

making the determination based on a context of the response.

6. A multimedia mobile phone, comprising:

a memory storing codes of software components of the phone, including of a program decreasing an amount of redundant transmissions of data, and codes of files of the data; and

a processor executing said codes to perform functions including;

(a) during outgoing transmissions including graphical/video data;

sending an identifier of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

determining whether the receiving mobile phone contains portions of the data; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone contains portions of data, responding to the determining by;

retrieving available portions of the data at the receiving mobile phone; and

sending only absent/missing portions of the data to the receiving mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone does not contain the data, sending the entire data to the receiving mobile phone; and

(b) during outgoing transmissions including requests for graphical/video data;

sending a checksum of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

in response to determining that the sending mobile phone contains portions of the data;

retrieving available portions of the data at the sending mobile phone; and

providing absent portions of the data to the requesting mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the requesting mobile phone does not possess the data, sending the data to the requesting mobile phone.

7. The mobile phone of claim 6, said codes further enabling the phone to perform the functions of:

(a) when operating as a sending party, during a transmission of the data to a receiving party;

transmitting an inquiry of whether a receiving party already has the data;

if the receiving party already has the data, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party; and

in determination that the receiving party does not have the data, transmitting the data to the receiving party;

(b) when operating as the receiving party, in a response to the transmission from the sending party;

responding to the inquiry; and

(c) when operating as a requesting party, during a download of the data from a website;

responding to an inquiry of whether the data already resides at the requesting party; and

in determination that the data resides at the requesting party, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party, otherwise downloading the data from the website.

8. The mobile phone of claim 7, wherein:

the data includes at least one of digitized voice, text, graphics, and video information, or a combination thereof; and

the inquiries comprise an identifier of the data, the identifier selected from the group consisting of a checksum of a file of the data, a name of the file of the data, a template used to organize/format the data, and textual or symbolic description of the data.

9. The mobile phone of claim 7, wherein the functions further include performing at least a portion of communications using a Short Message Service (SMS) communication protocol.

10. The mobile phone of claim 7, wherein, during the transmitting step, the functions further include:

determining a checksum of a file of the data;

transmitting to a server containing a registry of files saved at the receiving party an inquiry of whether the receiving party has a file having the same checksum;

receiving a response to the inquiry from the server; and

making the determination based on a context of the response.

11. A computer readable medium having a computer program product for communicating data using multimedia mobile phones, said computer readable medium comprising computer program code for:

(a) during outgoing transmissions including graphical/video data;

sending an identifier of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

determining whether the receiving mobile phone contains portions of the data; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone contains portions of data, responding to the determining by;

retrieving available portions of the data at the receiving mobile phone; and

sending only absent/missing portions of the data to the receiving mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the receiving mobile phone does not contain the data, sending the entire data to the receiving mobile phone; and

(b) during outgoing transmissions including requests for graphical/video data;

sending a checksum of the data to a receiving mobile phone;

in response to determining that the sending mobile phone contains portions of the data;

retrieving available portions of the data at the sending mobile phone; and

providing absent portions of the data to the requesting mobile phone; and

in response to determining that the requesting mobile phone does not possess the data, sending the data to the requesting mobile phone.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, said program code further comprising code for:

(a) performing, at a sending party during a transmission of the data to a receiving party, the functions of;

transmitting an inquiry of whether a receiving party already has the data;

if the receiving party already has the data, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party; and

in determination that the receiving party does not have the data, transmitting the data to the receiving party;

(b) performing, at the receiving party in a response to the transmission from the sending party, the functions of;

responding to the inquiry; and

(c) performing, at a requesting party, during a download of the data from a website, the functions of;

responding to an inquiry of whether the data already resides at the requesting party; and

in determination that the data resides at the requesting party, retrieving and displaying the data at the receiving party, otherwise downloading the data from the website.

13. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising:

computer program code for performing at least a portion of communications using a Short Message Service (SMS) communication protocol.

14. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for:

communicating the data including at least one of digitized voice, text, graphics, and video information, or a combination thereof; and

transmitting said inquiries comprising an identifier of the data, the identifier selected from the group consisting of a checksum of a file of the data, a name of the file of the data, a template used to organize/format the data, and textual or symbolic description of the data.

15. The computer readable medium of claim 11, further comprising computer program code for performing, during the transmitting step, the steps of:

determining a checksum of a file of the data;

transmitting to a server containing a registry of files saved at the receiving party an inquiry of whether the receiving party has a file having the same checksum;

receiving a response to the inquiry from the server; and

making the determination based on a context of the response.