METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REDUCING TRANSMISSION OF REDUNDANT DATA

• US 20110307540A1
• Filed: 06/10/2010
• Published: 12/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: MARTIN, Daryl Joseph
• Granted Patent: US 10,142,157 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5651 Reducing the amount or size of exchanged application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers

Abstract

A method and system for reducing protocol headers sent over a wireless network are described. The method includes receiving at a proxy server, from a mobile device, a protocol request device addressed to a remote system. The protocol request including defined headers and an enable-caching indicator. The proxy server stores at least one of the defined headers as cached headers and sends a protocol response to the mobile device identifying the cached headers. Subsequent requests from the mobile device are formatted as abridged requests that exclude the cached headers, thereby reducing the data transmitted. The proxy server adds the cached headers to the abridged requests before forwarding them as unabridged requests to the remote system.

Claims

1. A method for reducing data transmitted between a communications device and a server, the communications device being configured to transmit requests for content from a remote system to the server, wherein the requests conform to a protocol, the method comprising:

receiving at the server a protocol request from the communications device, the protocol request including a plurality of defined headers and an enable-caching indicator;

storing at least one of the defined headers on the server as cached headers; and

sending a protocol response from the server to the communications device, the protocol response identifying the cached headers stored on the server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the protocol response at the communications device and, in response, storing cached header information on the communications device identifying the cached headers stored on the server.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving at the server an abridged protocol request from the communications device, wherein the abridged protocol request excludes the cached headers.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the abridged protocol request is directed to the remote system, the method further comprising:

revising the abridged protocol request to generate an unabridged protocol request by adding the cached headers stored on the server to the abridged protocol request; and

sending the unabridged protocol request to the remote system.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the server an abridged protocol request from the communications device, wherein the abridged protocol request excludes some of the cached headers, and includes at least one of the cached headers;

storing the at least one of the cached headers on the server to create updated cached headers; and

sending a second protocol response from the server to the communications device, the second protocol response identifying the updated cached headers stored on the server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communications device is a mobile device and wherein the mobile device is connected to the server over at least one wireless network.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to receipt of the protocol request containing the enable-caching indicator, determining which of the plurality of defined headers to store as the cached headers.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the protocol request includes a static header indicator indicating which of the defined headers are cacheable, and wherein determining which of the plurality of defined headers to store includes storing the defined headers based on the static header indicator.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the protocol request includes a no-cache header indicating which of the defined headers are not to be cached, and wherein determining which of the plurality of defined headers to store includes storing all the defined headers except those indicated in the no-cache header.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the server is a proxy server or an application server.

12. A method for reducing data transmitted between a communications device and a server, the communications device being configured to transmit requests for content from a remote system to the server, wherein the requests conform to a protocol, the method comprising:

transmitting from a communications device to a server a protocol request, the protocol request including a plurality of defined headers and an enable-caching indicator;

receiving a protocol response from the server, the protocol response identifying at least one of the defined headers as cached headers stored on the server; and

sending a subsequent protocol request to the server as an abridged request excluding the defined headers identified as cached headers.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising storing cached header information on the communications device identifying the cached headers stored on the server.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

determining that the value of one of the defined headers has changed; and

creating an abridged protocol request excluding some of the cached headers and including the one of the defined headers.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the protocol is Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or Wireless Application Protocol (WAP).

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the communications device is a mobile device and wherein the mobile device is connected to the server over at least one wireless network.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the server is a proxy server or an application server.

18. A server for reducing data transmitted in communications with a communications device, the communications device being configured to transmit requests for content from a remote system to the server, wherein the requests conform to a protocol, the server comprising:

a processor;

memory; and

a communications module which, when executed by the processor, configures the processor to

receive a protocol request from the communications device, the protocol request including a plurality of defined headers and an enable-caching indicator,

store in the memory at least one of the defined headers on the server as cached headers, and

send a protocol response to the communications device, the protocol response identifying the cached headers stored in the memory.

19. A communication device configured to reduce data transmitted between the communications device and a server, the communication device comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a communication subsystem for sending and receiving communications with the server; and

a protocol communications module which when executed configures the processor to send requests for content from a remote system to the server, wherein the requests conform to a protocol, and further configures the processor to

transmit to the server a protocol request, the protocol request including a plurality of defined headers and an enable-caching indicator,

receive a protocol response from the server, the protocol response identifying at least one of the defined headers as cached headers stored on the server, and

send a subsequent protocol request to the server as an abridged request excluding the defined headers identified as cached headers.