ELECTRONIC DEVICES FOR RECEIVING PUSHED DATA

• US 20100069127A1
• Filed: 09/15/2008
• Published: 03/18/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Fiennes, Hugo
• Granted Patent: US 9,521,625 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/574
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3293 by switching to a less power-consuming processor, e.g. sub-CPU
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3296 by lowering the supply or operating voltage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0241 where no transmission is received, e.g. out of range of the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0264 by selectively disabling software applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0274 by switching on or off the equipment or parts thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/028 switching on or off only a part of the equipment circuit blocks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/38 triggered by timers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/02 Data link layer protocols
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Mobile devices such as cellular telephones are provided that communicate with wireless networks. Cellular telephone network equipment may communicate with a cellular telephone over a data connection. The cellular telephone may have an internet protocol (IP) address that allows data to be provided to the cellular telephone over the data connection. To conserve resources and release unused IP addresses, the cellular telephone network equipment may deactivate inactive data connections after a period of inactivity. A baseband processor within a mobile device may periodically send User Datagram Protocol (UDP) keep-alive packets over the data connection to ensure that the data connection remains active. The keep-alive packets may be directed to a packet sink server or may be associated with a black hole route. An applications processor in the telephone may remain in sleep mode during keep-alive packet transmission to conserve power.

Claims

1. A method of using a wireless mobile device that has a baseband processor and an applications processor to receive push data from a remote service over a data connection between the wireless mobile device and cellular network equipment, comprising:

placing the applications processor in a sleep mode to conserve power in the wireless mobile device; and

while the applications processor is in the sleep mode, sending a keep-alive packet over the data connection using the baseband processor.

2. The method defined in claim 1 wherein sending the keep-alive packet comprises sending a User Datagram Protocol keep-alive packet with the baseband processor.

3. The method defined in claim 1 wherein sending the keep-alive packet comprises sending the keep-alive packet to an internet protocol address in the keep-alive packet that is associated with a black hole route using the baseband processor.

4. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the wherein sending the keep-alive packet comprises sending the keep-alive packet to an internet protocol address in the keep-alive packet that is associated with a packet sink server.

5. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the cellular network equipment is configured to deactivate the data connection with the mobile device after a given period of inactivity, the method further comprising:

repeatedly sending the keep-alive packet using the baseband processor so that the data connection is inactive only for less than the given period.

6. The method defined in claim 5 wherein the wherein using the baseband processor to transmit the keep-alive packet comprises using the baseband processor to transmit a User Datagram Protocol keep-alive packet.

7. The method defined in claim 5 further comprising:

configuring the mobile device by providing the mobile device with a keep-alive packet internet protocol (IP) address to which the baseband processor transmits the keep-alive packet.

8. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

while the data connection is active, waking up the applications processor to receive push data when the push data is available.

9. The method defined in claim 1 further comprising:

while the data connection is active and the applications processor is in the sleep mode, receiving a notification over the data connection that informs the mobile device of incoming push data.

10. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the mobile device has an associated internet protocol (IP) address with which data is received over the data connection.

11. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the remote service comprises a push email service, the method further comprising receiving push email over the data connection at the mobile device.

12. The method defined in claim 1 wherein the cellular network equipment is configured to deactivate the data connection with the mobile device after a given time period of inactivity, the method further comprising:

more frequently than once per the given time period, using only the baseband processor to transmit the keep-alive packet.

13. A mobile device that wirelessly communicates with cellular network equipment to receive data from a remote service, comprising:

an applications processor that runs user applications on the mobile device; and

a baseband processor, wherein the baseband processor is configured to transmit keep-alive packets to the cellular network equipment while the applications processor is in a sleep mode and without assistance from the applications processor.

14. The mobile device defined in claim 13 further comprising a display on which a given application that is implemented on the applications processor displays information for a user of the mobile device.

15. The mobile device defined in claim 14 wherein the display comprises a touch screen display.

16. The mobile device defined in claim 13 wherein the baseband processor is configured to transmit the keep-alive packets periodically to the cellular network equipment over a data connection to prevent the cellular network from deactivating the data connection.

17. The mobile device defined in claim 16 wherein the baseband processor is configured to transmit User Datagram Protocol keep-alive packets.

18. The mobile device defined in claim 13 wherein the baseband processor is configured to transmit the keep-alive packets to prevent the cellular network equipment from deactivating a data connection between the cellular network equipment and the mobile device, the baseband processor being further configured to receive a notification that indicates when the data is available for receipt over the data connection.

19. A method for operating a cellular telephone, comprising:

establishing a data connection between the cellular telephone and cellular telephone network equipment, wherein the cellular telephone has an associated IP address with which data transmitted over the data connection is provided to the cellular telephone; and

while the established data connection is present, sending a User Datagram Protocol packet from a baseband processor in the cellular telephone to ensure that the cellular telephone network equipment will not deactivate the data connection.

20. The method defined in claim 19 further comprising:

placing an applications processor in the cellular telephone in a sleep mode to conserve power, wherein sending the User Datagram Protocol packet comprises sending a keep-alive packet over the data connection to maintain activity on the data connection while the applications processor is in the sleep mode.

21. The method defined in claim 20 wherein a server communicates with the cellular telephone network equipment and wherein sending the keep-alive packet comprises sending the keep-alive packet to the server and, at the server, receiving the keep-alive packet without transmitting any response over the data connection to the cellular telephone.