DISTRIBUTED MANAGEMENT OF KEEP-ALIVE MESSAGE SIGNALING FOR MOBILE NETWORK RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND OPTIMIZATION

• US 20120110173A1
• Filed: 11/01/2011
• Published: 05/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Inventors: Luna, Michael, Tervahauta, Mikko
• Granted Patent: US 8,326,985 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/145 avoiding end of session, e.g. keep-alive, heartbeats, resumption message or wake-up for inactive or interrupted session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• 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 76/25 Maintenance of established connections

Abstract

Systems and methods for distributed management of keep-alive message signaling for mobile network resource conservation and optimization are disclosed. In one aspect, embodiments of the present disclosure include a method, which may be implemented on a system, of monitoring rates of data communications with a mobile device, sending a periodic message to indicate operational state to the mobile device in response to a decrease in the rates of data communications with the mobile device, sending subsequent periodic messages to indicate operational state to the mobile device at increasing intervals between the subsequent periodic messages to decrease a number of periodic messages sent over the wireless network, and acknowledging to the mobile device that the subsequent periodic messages will be sent at increased intervals, or in a manner that conserves use of the mobile network.

Claims

1. A system for optimizing resources used for keep-alive message signaling in a mobile network, the system, comprising:

a local proxy on a mobile device;

a proxy server coupled to a content source, the proxy server being able to communicate over the mobile network with the local proxy on the mobile device;

wherein, the proxy server detects a rate of content change at the content source;

wherein, the proxy server sets or adjusts timing of keep-alive messages sent to the mobile device based on the rate of content change.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein, the timing includes a time interval value between the keep-alive messages that is proportional to the rate of the content change at the content source.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein, the local proxy detects a rate of polling requests directed to the content source.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein, the timing is determined at least in part by the rate of polling requests directed to the content source.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the timing is determined in part based on time-criticality or time-sensitivity of content provided by the content source.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the timing is determined in part based on criticality of an application that is requesting the content provided by the content source.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein indication about the timing is communicated to the mobile device with at least some of the keep-alive messages.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein indication about the timing is communicated to the mobile device with a message communicating data.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein, indication about the timing is communicated to the mobile device with a cache-related message including, one or more of, an updated cache entry for updating a cache entry on the mobile device, and an invalidating message indicating expiration or irrelevance of the cached entry.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy server sends the keep-alive messages over SMS when a radio on the mobile device is not activated.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the proxy server sends the keep-alive messages over a signaling or control channel when a radio on the mobile device is not activated.

12. A method for timing keep-alive messages used in a wireless network, the method, comprising:

monitoring rates of data communications between a mobile device and a proxy server;

sending a keep-alive message to the mobile device in response to a decrease in the rates of data communications between the mobile device and the proxy server;

sending subsequent keep-alive messages to the mobile device at increasing intervals between the subsequent keep-alive messages to decrease a number of keep-alive messages sent over the wireless network.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising, sending, by the proxy server, the keep-alive message to the mobile device after communication with the mobile device has been dormant for a time period due to the decrease in the rates of data communications.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein, the rate of communication is determined from a rate of content polls at the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising,

detecting a content change rate at which a content at a source changes,

wherein, the content at the source is polled by the mobile device;

wherein, the rate of communication is determined using the content change rate.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, the content change rate is detected by the proxy server.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein, the determining the rate of communication includes determining an average rate of communication and a standard deviation for the average rate.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein, the increasing intervals between the subsequent keep-alive messages is determined using the average rate of communication and the standard deviation of the average rate.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising, indicating to the mobile device that the subsequent keep-alive messages will be sent at increased intervals to decrease the number of keep-alive messages used to signal operational status.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein, the indicating to the mobile device that the subsequent keep-alive messages will be sent at increased intervals includes sending indications of intervals with one or more of the subsequent keep-alive messages.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein, the indicating to the mobile device that the subsequent keep-alive messages will be sent at increased intervals includes sending indications of intervals with acknowledgements or responses to content polls.

22. The method of claim 19, further comprising, sending an indication of timing of the subsequent keep-alive messages with a cache-related message.

23. The method of claim 13, wherein, the rate of content polls is determined for content polls directed to one resource.

24. The method of claim 13,

wherein, the content polls include polls directed to multiple resources with different polling rates;

wherein when the keep-alive message is sent, is determined using a smallest polling interval among the different polling rates.

25. A system for distributed management of periodic messages used to indicate operational state in a wireless network, the system, comprising:

means for, monitoring rates of data communications with a mobile device;

means for, sending a periodic message to indicate operational state to the mobile device in response to a decrease in the rates of data communications with the mobile device;

means for, sending subsequent periodic messages to indicate operational state to the mobile device at increasing intervals between the subsequent periodic messages to decrease a number of periodic messages sent over the wireless network;

means for, acknowledging to the mobile device that the subsequent periodic messages will be sent at increased intervals.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein, the mobile device has a local cache, wherein, the acknowledging to the mobile device regarding the increased intervals occurs in a cache-related message sent to the mobile device regarding one or more cache entries stored in the local cache.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein, the cache-related message includes a cache invalidation message.

28. The system of claim 25, further comprising, means for, increasing the intervals between the subsequent periodic messages in a multiplicative fashion.

29. A machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed by a processor causes the processor to perform a method for adjusting timing of a keep-alive message, the method, comprising:

determining an initial value for a time interval between keep-alive messages based on a rate of content polls on a mobile device;

monitoring subsequent rates of communications between the mobile device and a proxy server;

dynamically adjusting the initial value of the time interval to an updated value based on the rate of communication.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising, sending, by the proxy server, a keep-alive message to the mobile device after communication with the mobile device has been dormant for a time period;

wherein the updated value is user configurable.