MOBILE NETWORK TRAFFIC COORDINATION ACROSS MULTIPLE APPLICATIONS

• US 20120023190A1
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Published: 01/26/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC))
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Inventors: Backholm, Ari, Luna, Michael, Ylinen, Heikki
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• 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: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42178 by downloading data to substation equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for mobile network traffic coordination across multiple applications are disclosed. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a distributed proxy and cache system, including, a local proxy on a mobile device for intercepting a data request made via a mobile device, and a proxy server coupled to the mobile device and a content server to which the data request is directed. One embodiment includes, delaying transfer of a first data transfer request initiated by a first application until another data transfer request initiated by a second application is detected on the mobile device and transferring, the first data transfer request of the first application and the other data transfer request of the second application a single transfer operation over the network.

Claims

1. A method of coordinating traffic among applications on a mobile device, the method, comprising:

delaying transfer of a first data transfer request initiated by a first application until another data transfer request initiated by a second application is detected on the mobile device;

transferring, the first data transfer request of the first application and the other data transfer request of the second application in a single transfer operation over a network.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

tracking data transfer requests made by the first and second applications on the mobile device;

determining a first timing characteristic of data transfer requests made by the first application and a second timing characteristic of data transfer requests made by the second application;

using the first and second timing characteristics in delaying the transfer of the first data request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, the second application is of higher priority than the first application;

or the second application is more data intensive than the first application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the second application is running in the foreground.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, a user is interacting with the second application and the other data request is initiated in response to the user interaction.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, a user is not interacting with the first application.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, the first and second applications are the same application.

8. The method of claim 1, determining an amount of time with which the first data transfer request is delayed based on whether a response to the first data transfer request has changed.

9. A method of management of application traffic on a mobile device, the method, comprising:

using application behavior of multiple applications on a mobile device to align some of the content requests made by at least a portion of the multiple applications from the mobile device over the network;

wherein, the some of the content requests are aligned by delaying a time at which the some of the content requests would occur without alignment, and transferring the some of the content requests that are delayed in a single transfer operation over the network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, the using the application behavior includes detecting correlation in data transfer time that occurs for a first application as compared to a second application.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein, operation of the first application triggers an operation of the second application.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein, the some of the content request identified for alignment exhibit a correlation in the times at which data transfer occurs.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed to align each of the some of the content requests is determined to optimize a number of content requests able to be aligned in the single transfer operation.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on priority of a specific application making the given content request, or based on the priority of the specific application relative to other applications on the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on amount of data involved in the given content request.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on a nature of data involved in the given content request.

17. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on a status of a specific application making the given content request, the status indicating whether the specific application is operating in the background or foreground on the mobile device.

18. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on a status of a specific application making the given content request, the status indicating whether the specific application is active or inactive.

19. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on usable lifetime of data to be transferred in the given content request.

20. The method of claim 9, wherein the time that is delayed in transfer of a given content request is determined based on network characteristics including available bandwidth or network latency.

21. The method of claim 9, wherein, the time that is delayed is user-configurable.

22. The method of claim 9, wherein, the single transfer occurs when user interaction with the mobile device results in content request needing to be made over the network.

23. A system with a distributed proxy for cross application traffic management in a wireless network, the system, comprising:

a mobile device having a local proxy which detects a first data request made via a first application and a second data request made via a second application;

a proxy server coupled to the mobile device and one or more servers to which the first and second data requests are directed, the proxy server being able to communicate with the local proxy,

wherein, transfer of the first data transfer request made via the first application to the proxy server is delayed by the local proxy until another data transfer request made via the second application is detected;

wherein, the local proxy transfers the first data transfer request and the second data transfer request in a single transfer operation over the network.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein, the first application is configured by a user of the mobile device to be eligible for delayed data transfer requests.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein, the local proxy determines that the second application is of a higher priority relative to the first application.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein, the proxy server is aware of the priority of the first application relative to the second application.

27. A system with a distributed proxy for cross application traffic management in a wireless network, the system, comprising:

a mobile device having a local proxy which detects a first data request made via a first application and a second data request made via a second application;

a proxy server coupled to the mobile device and one or more servers to which the first and second data requests are directed, the proxy server being able to communicate with the local proxy,

wherein, transfer of the first data transfer request made via the first application to the proxy server is delayed by the local proxy until another data transfer request made via the second application is detected by the proxy server;

wherein, the proxy server transfers the first data transfer request and the second data transfer request in a single transfer operation over the network.

28. The system of claim 27, wherein, the proxy server transfers the first data transfer request and the second data transfer request in a single transfer operation over the network when content for the second data request for the second application has changed.

29. A system for management of application traffic on a mobile device, the system, comprising:

means for, using application behavior of multiple applications on a mobile device to align some of the content requests made by at least a portion the multiple applications from the mobile device over the network;

means for, aligning the some of the content requests by delaying a time at which the some of the content requests would occur without alignment;

wherein the time that is delayed in aligning each of the some of the content requests is determined to optimize a number of content requests able to be aligned in the single transfer operation;

means for, transferring the some of the content requests that are delayed in a single transfer operation over the network.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising, means for, determining the time that is delayed based on a status of a specific application making the given content request, the status indicating whether the specific application is in the background or foreground.

31. The system of claim 29, further comprising, means for, determining the time that is delayed based on network characteristics including available bandwidth or network latency.

32. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a processor performs a method of coordinating traffic among applications on a mobile device, the method, comprising:

delaying transfer of a first data transfer request initiated by an application until a second data transfer request initiated by the application is detected on the mobile device;

determining that the second data request is initiated in response to the user interaction;

transferring, the first data transfer request and the second data transfer request of the application a single transfer operation over the network.