Maintain Persistent Connections Between Servers and Mobile Clients

• US 20140068038A1
• Filed: 08/28/2012
• Published: 03/06/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Talwar, Mohit, Brook, Peter Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 9,756,089 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1083 In-session procedures
• 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: H04W 4/21 for social networking applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes iteratively waiting for a time interval; sending a keep-alive message from a first computing device to a second computing device; and incrementing a current value of the time interval when the first computing device receives from the second computing device a response to a current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration, until the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration; and setting the current value of the time interval to a previous value of the time interval from an immediately-previous iteration.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

iteratively;

waiting for a time interval;

sending a keep-alive message from a first computing device to a second computing device; and

incrementing a current value of the time interval when the first computing device receives from the second computing device a response to a current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration; and

setting the current value of the time interval to a previous value of the time interval from an immediately-previous iteration.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the first computing device is a mobile client associated with a user of a social network; and

the second computing device is a server associated with the social network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising

selecting an initial value for the time interval.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein incrementing the current value of the time interval comprises

adding a constant value to the current value of the time interval.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein incrementing the current value of the time interval comprises

doubling the current value of the time interval.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising

iteratively:

waiting for the time interval;

sending the keep-alive message from the first computing device to the second computing device; and

decrementing the current value of the time interval when the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device receives from the second computing device the response to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising

periodically sending keep-alive messages from the first computing device to the second computing device at each time interval to maintain a persistent connection between the first computing device and the second computing device.

8. One or more computer-readable non-transitory storage media embodying software that is operable when executed to:

iteratively;

wait for a time interval;

send a keep-alive message from a first computing device to a second computing device; and

increment a current value of the time interval when the first computing device receives from the second computing device a response to a current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration; and

set the current value of the time interval to a previous value of the time interval from an immediately-previous iteration.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein:

the first computing device is a mobile client associated with a user of a social network; and

the second computing device is a server associated with the social network.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the software is further operable when executed to select an initial value for the time interval.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein increment the current value of the time interval comprises

add a constant value to the current value of the time interval.

12. The media of claim 8, wherein increment the current value of the time interval comprises

double the current value of the time interval.

13. The media of claim 8, wherein the software is further operable when executed to

iteratively:

wait for the time interval;

send the keep-alive message from the first computing device to the second computing device; and

decrement the current value of the time interval when the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device receives from the second computing device the response to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration.

14. The media of claim 8, wherein the software is further operable when executed to

periodically send keep-alive messages from the first computing device to the second computing device at each time interval to maintain a persistent connection between the first computing device and the second computing device.

15. A first computing device comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory coupled to the processors comprising instructions executable by the processors, the processors operable when executing the instructions to;

iteratively;

wait for a time interval;

send a keep-alive message from the first computing device to a second computing device; and

increment a current value of the time interval when the first computing device receives from the second computing device a response to a current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration; and

set the current value of the time interval to a previous value of the time interval from an immediately-previous iteration.

16. The first computing device of claim 15, wherein:

the first computing device is a mobile client associated with a user of a social network; and

the second computing device is a server associated with the social network.

17. The first computing device of claim 15, wherein the processors are further operable when executing the instructions to

select an initial value for the time interval.

18. The first computing device of claim 15, wherein increment the current value of the time interval comprises

add a constant value to the current value of the time interval.

19. The first computing device of claim 15, wherein increment the current value of the time interval comprises

double the current value of the time interval.

20. The first computing device of claim 15, wherein the processors are further operable when executing the instructions to

iteratively:

wait for the time interval;

send the keep-alive message from the first computing device to the second computing device; and

decrement the current value of the time interval when the first computing device does not receive from the second computing device any responses to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration,

until the first computing device receives from the second computing device the response to the current keep-alive message sent during the current iteration.