MOBILE DEVICE DNS OPTIMIZATION

• US 20120324094A1
• Filed: 06/14/2011
• Published: 12/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lookout Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Lookout Incorporated
• Inventors: Wyatt, Timothy Micheal, Anbalagapandian, Anbu, Mandal, Ayan
• Granted Patent: US 8,738,765 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/37 E-mail addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/38 Telephone uniform resource identifier [URI]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0876 Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

When a mobile device interacts with a network service, synchronous DNS resolution can significantly impact user experience due to lossy or moderate-high latency conditions. Network services that rely on low-TTL DNS records for failover require a client to frequently resolve the service'"'"'s host name. It is undesirable to block on these frequent resolutions. In an implementation, user activity on a mobile device is monitored to determine whether the user is engaged in an activity that would contact a server. If such an activity is in progress, then DNS requests to resolve the server'"'"'s host name are periodically generated to make sure the server'"'"'s IP address is cached. In an implementation, if a request to communicate with a server fails, the DNS cache expires the entry for that server so that a new DNS request can resolve the server'"'"'s IP address in case the server'"'"'s IP address has changed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a monitoring module at a mobile device, mobile device user activity to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in an activity that would trigger a call by an application program to contact at least one target server;

periodically generating a domain name system (DNS) request to resolve a host name associated with the at least one target server; and

at the mobile device, receiving an address corresponding to the host name in response to the DNS request, wherein the address is to be stored in a cache at the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring module is internal to an operating system of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the monitoring module is external to an operating system of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 comprising:

detecting a launch of the application program;

determining that after a prior launch of the application program, the application program called the at least one target server; and

based on the determination, determining that the user is engaged in the activity that would trigger the call by the application program to contact the at least one target server.

5. The method of claim 1 comprising:

upon detecting the call by the application program to contact the at least one target server, resolving the host name associated with the target server locally via the cached address.

6. The method of claim 5 comprising:

determining that the application program is unable to contact the at least one target server via the cached address; and

based on the application program being unable to contact the at least one target server via the cached address, expiring the cached address.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one target server is a first target server, the call is a first call, the DNS request is a first DNS request, and the method further comprises:

detecting a launch of the application program;

determining that after a prior launch of the application program, the application program called the first target server and a second target server, different from the first target server;

based on the determination, determining that the user is engaged in the activity that would trigger the first call by the application program to contact the first target server and a second call by the application program to contact the second target server; and

prior to the first and second calls being triggered and while the user is engaged in the activity, periodically generating the first DNS request to resolve the host name associated with the first target server, and periodically generating a second DNS request to resolve a host name associated with the second target server.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the address comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) address.

9. A method comprising:

determining, by a monitoring module at a mobile device, that an application program is unable to connect to a target server using an Internet Protocol (IP) address stored in a cache at the mobile device; and

based on the application program being unable to connect to the target server using the cached IP address, expiring the cached IP address to generate a DNS lookup request to re-resolve a host name associated with the target server.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the monitoring module is internal to an operating system of the mobile device.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the monitoring module is external to an operating system of the mobile device.

12. A method comprising:

monitoring, by a first application program at a mobile device, mobile device user activity to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in an activity that would trigger a request for the first application program to contact a server for evaluation of the request;

prior to the request being triggered and while the user is engaged in the activity, periodically generating a domain name system (DNS) lookup request to resolve a host name associated with the server;

at the mobile device, receiving an Internet Protocol (IP) address corresponding to the host name in response to the DNS lookup request, wherein the IP address is to be stored in a cache at the mobile device; and

upon detecting the request, intercepting the request and attempting, by the first application program, to contact the server via the cached IP address for evaluation of the request.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein if the user is not engaged in the activity, not periodically generating the DNS lookup request to resolve the host name.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of prior to the request being triggered and while the user is engaged in the activity, periodically generating a DNS lookup request includes generating the DNS lookup request after a threshold time period has elapsed, wherein the threshold time period is different from a time-to-live (TTL) value associated with the cached IP address.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the threshold time period is about 5 minutes.

16. The method of claim 12 comprising:

determining that the first application program is unable to contact the server via the cached IP address; and

based upon the first application program being unable to contact the server using the cached IP address, expiring the cached IP address and generating a DNS lookup request to re-resolve the host name.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of monitoring, by a first application program at a mobile device, mobile device user activity to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in activity that would trigger a request comprises:

determining whether a prior request has been triggered within a threshold rolling time period.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the threshold rolling time period is about 5 minutes.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of monitoring, by a first application program at a mobile device, mobile device user activity to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in an activity that would trigger a request comprises:

identifying an application program in a foreground of the mobile device.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein the step of monitoring, by a first application program at a mobile device, mobile device user activity to determine whether the mobile device user is engaged in an activity that would trigger a request comprises:

determining whether a display of the mobile device is in an active state.

21. A method comprising:

intercepting, by a first application program at a mobile device, a request intended for a second application program on the mobile device;

attempting, by the first application program, to connect to a server for evaluation of the request via an Internet Protocol (IP) address stored in a cache at the mobile device and associated with a host name of the server;

determining that the first application program is unable to connect to the server using the cached IP address; and

based upon the first application program being unable to connect to the server using the cached IP address, expiring the cached IP address to generate a DNS lookup request to re-resolve the host name.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein when the cached IP addressed is expired, a time-to-live (TTL) value associated with the cached IP address has yet to elapse.

23. The method of claim 21 wherein the expiring the cached IP address is independent of a time-to-live (TTL) value associated with the cached IP address.