Connection Manager

• US 20170208134A1
• Filed: 01/19/2016
• Published: 07/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/19/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Grauch, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 11,496,579 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0681 Configuration of triggering conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/08 Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• 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

Abstract

Systems and methods are described for monitoring, maintaining, and selecting one or more network connections. One or more network connections may be selected based on preferences. A connection manager may create a consistent access point for connecting devices. The connection manager may manage transmissions between the devices and the one or more network connections, such that the devices maintain consistent connectivity. The connection manager may detect erratic behavior in one or more of the connections, and may take action to enhance performance, consistency, and quality of the connection. The connection manager may respond to heartbeat or keep-alive type requests on behalf of a temporarily unavailable network connection, thereby maintaining a data state or preventing data loss by the connected device. The connection manager may also provide for secure VPN tunnels over the one or more networks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing, by a first computing device, a connection to a second computing device;

establishing, by the first computing device, a connection to one or more networks;

receiving, by the first computing device, from the second computing device, a request for detecting a status of the connection to the one or more networks;

determining, by the first computing device, that the connection to the one or more networks is experiencing erratic behavior; and

based on the determining, sending, by the first computing device to the second computing device, a keep-alive message responsive to the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request requires an acknowledgment response within a predefined period of time.

3. The method of claim 1, comprising:

identifying, by the first computing device, a different network;

establishing, by the first computing device, a connection to the different network;

maintaining, by the first computing device, the connection to the network; and

transmitting, by the first computing device via the different network, information received from the second computing device.

4. The method of claim 3, comprising:

determining whether to transmit the information received from the second computing device via the network or via the different network based on one or more criteria.

5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

determining a first connection signal quality between the first computing device and the network; and

determining a second connection signal quality between the first computing device and the different network,

wherein the determining whether to transmit the information received from the second computing device via the network or via the different network is based on a comparison of the first connection signal quality and the second connection signal quality.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more criteria comprise at least one user preference, and the determining whether to transmit the information received from the second computing device via the network or via the different network is based on the at least one user preference.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one user preference comprises a preference regarding at least one of a connection quality, a connection bandwidth, a connection cost, and a connection speed.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the one or more criteria comprise at least one service provider preference, and the determining whether to transmit the information received from the second computing device via the network or via the different network is based on the at least one service provider preference.

9. The method of claim 3, comprising:

receiving, by the first computing device via the network, a response to the information received from the second computing device that was transmitted via the different network.

10. The method of claim 3, comprising:

determining a new geographic location of the first computing device,

wherein the identifying the different network is based on the new geographic location of the first computing device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the keep-alive message comprises one of a transmission control protocol (TCP) keep-alive message and a hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP) keep-alive message.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the erratic behavior comprises one or more of signal loss being above a signal loss threshold, noise being above a noise threshold, and delay being above a delay threshold.

13. A method comprising:

establishing, by a computing device, a first connection with a user device;

establishing, by the computing device, a second connection with a network for sending data received from the user device;

receiving, by the computing device, a keep-alive request from the user device, via the first connection;

monitoring, by the computing device, a status of the second connection;

determining that the status of the second connection meets a predefined criterion;

generating a response to the keep-alive request from the user device; and

sending, by the computing device, to the user device, the response to the keep-alive request from the user device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the response mimics a manner in which a different computing device on the network would respond to the keep-alive request.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising:

studying a previous response from the different computing device on the network to a previous keep-alive request to determine the manner in which the different computing device on the network would respond to the keep-alive request.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein a packet comprising the keep-alive request comprises one of a hypertext transmission protocol (HTTP) keep-alive request and a transmission control protocol (TCP) keep-alive request.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising:

using, by the computing device, deep packet inspection to inspect the data received from the user device;

establishing, by the computing device, a plurality of additional connections with a corresponding plurality of networks;

selecting, based on the deep packet inspection, a particular network of the corresponding plurality of networks to use for sending the data received from the user device; and

sending, by the computing device via the particular network, the data received from the user device.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein determining that the status of the second connection meets a predefined criterion comprises determining that the status of the second connection does not meet a predefined threshold.

19. A method comprising:

configuring, by a computing device, a connection to a user device;

configuring, by the computing device, a first connection to a network;

configuring, by the computing device, a second connection to the network;

evaluating, by the computing device, the first connection to the network to determine a first connection quality;

evaluating, by the computing device, the second connection to the network to determine a second connection quality;

receiving, at the computing device, data from the user device to transmit to the network;

analyzing, by the computing device, the first connection quality and the second connection quality; and

transmitting, by the computing device, based on analyzing the first connection quality and the second connection quality, the data to the network using one of the first connection and the second connection.

20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

evaluating, by the computing device, the connection to the user device to determine a third connection quality;

receiving, by the computing device, data from the network;

buffering, by the computing device, the data from the network to create buffered data;

determining, by the computing device, whether the third connection quality is above a threshold quality;

if the third connection quality is above the threshold quality, transmitting, by the computing device, new data from the network to the user device; and

if the third connection quality is below the threshold quality, transmitting, by the computing device, the buffered data to the user device.