OPTIMIZING TRAFFIC BY CONTROLLING KEEP-ALIVES

• US 20170093735A1
• Filed: 12/09/2016
• Published: 03/30/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Backholm, Ari, Kokhanovskyi, Andrii, Fleming, Michael, Yoon, Sungwook
• Granted Patent: US 9,800,511 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/026 Details of "hello" or keep-alive messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/323 Discarding or blocking control packets, e.g. ACK packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/228 using past power values or information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/267 taking into account the information rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections

Abstract

A system, method and non-transitory computer code for operating a proxy server operating under software to cause the proxy server to access a communication network and to delay, advance or block keep-alives for a client device to improve traffic data flow.

Claims

1-10. -10. (canceled)

11. A method comprising:

at a mobile device;

intercepting a keepalive message sent from an application executing on the mobile device to a remote entity as part of a transaction;

determining whether to delay the keepalive message by sending the keepalive message to a delay pool buffer;

determining whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer;

setting a timer to a predetermined time, wherein the timer is associated with a keepalive message delay pool buffer.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein determining whether to delay the keepalive message includes:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the timer has fired;

in response to a determination that the radio is not up and a determination that the timer has not fired, sending the keepalive message to the keepalive message delay pool buffer; and

setting the timer to a maximum time allowed without harming communications between the mobile device and the remote entity.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein determining whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer includes:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the radio has just come up; and

in response to a determination that the radio is up and has just come up, flushing the keepalive delay pool buffer.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the maximum time corresponds to a time associated with the oldest keepalive message in the keepalive message delay pool buffer.

15. A mobile device comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a communications interface;

the processor being configured to;

intercept a keepalive message sent from an application executing on the mobile device to a remote entity as part of a transaction;

determine whether to delay the keepalive message by sending the keepalive message to a keepalive delay pool buffer;

determine whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer; and

set a timer to a predetermined time, wherein the timer is associated with the keepalive message delay pool buffer.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to delay the keepalive message by sending the keepalive message to the keepalive delay pool buffer by:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the timer has fired;

in response to a determination that the radio is not up and a determination that the timer has not fired, sending the keepalive message to the keepalive message delay pool buffer; and

setting the timer to a maximum time allowed without harming communications between the mobile device and the remote entity.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer by:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the radio has just come up; and

in response to a determination that the radio is up and has just come up, flushing the keepalive delay pool buffer.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, wherein the maximum time corresponds to a time associated with the oldest keepalive message in the keepalive message delay pool buffer.

19. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

a computer readable program code configured to;

intercept a keepalive message sent from an application executing on a mobile device to a remote entity as part of a transaction;

determine whether to delay the keepalive message by sending the keepalive message to a keepalive delay pool buffer;

determine whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer; and

set the timer to a predetermined time, wherein the timer is associated with the keepalive message delay pool buffer.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to determine whether to delay the keepalive message by sending the keepalive message to the keepalive delay pool buffer by:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the timer has fired;

in response to a determination that the radio is not up and a determination that the timer has not fired, sending the keepalive message to the keepalive message delay pool buffer; and

setting the timer to a maximum time allowed without harming communications between the mobile device and the remote entity.

21. The mobile device of claim 20, wherein the computer readable program code is further configured to determine whether to flush the keepalive delay pool buffer by:

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up;

determining whether the radio has just come up; and

in response to a determination that the radio is up and has just come up, flushing the keepalive delay pool buffer.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the maximum time corresponds to a time associated with the oldest keepalive message in the keepalive message delay pool buffer.

23. A method comprising:

at a mobile device;

monitoring a connection between the mobile device and a remote entity as part of a transaction on an application executing on the mobile device;

creating a first synthetic keepalive message before the application creates a second keepalive message;

determining whether a radio on the mobile device is up for other reasons;

in response to a determination that the radio is up, sending the first synthetic keepalive message to the remote entity; and

blocking the second keepalive message from being sent to the remote entity.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on an analysis of real keepalive message runtime.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on an analysis of observed radio-up patterns.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on a pre-defined threshold, and wherein the threshold is defined so that keepalive messages are not sent more frequently than statistically necessary.

27. A mobile device comprising:

a processor;

a memory;

a communications interface;

the processor configured to;

monitor a connection between the mobile device and a remote entity as part of a transaction on an application executing on the mobile device;

create a first synthetic keepalive message before the application creates a second keepalive message;

determine whether a radio on the mobile device is up for other reasons;

in response to a determination that the radio is up, send the first synthetic keepalive message to the remote entity; and

block the second keepalive message from being sent to the remote entity.

28. The mobile device of claim 27, wherein the first synthetic keepalive is created based on an analysis of real keepalive runtime.

29. The mobile device of claim 27, wherein the first synthetic keepalive is created based on an analysis of observed radio-up patterns.

30. The mobile device of claim 27, wherein the first synthetic keepalive is created based on a predefined threshold, and wherein the threshold is defined so that keepalive messages are not sent more frequently than statistically necessary.

31. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage medium;

a computer readable program code configured to;

monitor a connection between the mobile device and a remote entity as part of a transaction on an application executing on the mobile device;

create a first synthetic keepalive message before the application creates a second keepalive message;

determine whether a radio on the mobile device is up for other reasons;

in response to a determination that the radio is up, send the first synthetic keepalive message to the remote entity; and

block the second keepalive message from being sent to the remote entity.

32. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on an analysis of real keepalive message runtime.

33. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on an analysis of observed radio-up patterns.

34. The computer program product of claim 31, wherein the first synthetic keepalive message is created based on a predefined threshold, and wherein the threshold is defined so that keepalive messages are not sent more frequently than statistically necessary.