Suspended Baseband State

• US 20180352587A1
• Filed: 09/13/2017
• Published: 12/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Pollack, Daniel B., Manepalli, Venkateswara Rao, Xing, Yu
• Granted Patent: US 10,588,170 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• 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 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/542 using measured or perceived quality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/19 Connection re-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) device and associated methods for entering a suspended baseband state in response to a signal strength indicator falling below a threshold. A UE engages in an active connection with a remote server, which may be a transmission control protocol (TCP) push connection. A baseband layer of the UE determines that the signal strength indicator has fallen below a threshold, and transmits a notification to an application layer of the UE to suspend the connection. The baseband layer may later determine that the signal strength has risen above a second threshold, whereby the UE may resume the suspended connection. The UE may maintain state information associated with the connection during the suspended state, such that the UE may resume the suspended connection without reestablishing a new connection with the remote server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by a user equipment device (UE) engaging in an active connection with a remote server;

determining, by a baseband layer of the UE, that a signal strength indicator has fallen below a first threshold;

transmitting, by the baseband layer to an application layer of the UE, a notification to suspend the connection.

2. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

determining, by the baseband layer, that the signal strength indicator has risen above a second threshold;

resuming the connection in response to the determination that the signal strength indicator has risen above the second threshold.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein resuming the connection comprises sending a keep alive message to the remote server to determine if the connection is still active;

and

wherein the method further comprises initiating procedures to establish a new connection with the remote server if it is determined that the connection is not still active.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein resuming the connection comprises resuming communications with the remote server without reestablishing the connection.

5. The method of claim 1,

wherein, while the connection is suspended, the application layer is configured to suspend one or more of:

sending messages to buffers for transmission;

retransmitting failed transmissions;

transmitting keep alive signaling to the remote server;

transmitting filter updates to the remote server;

or

transmitting token requests to the remote server.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the connection is a transmission control protocol (TCP) push connection.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein state information associated with the connection is maintained during the suspended state.

8. The method of claim 1, the method further comprising:

employing a timeout procedure whereby messages in a message queue are removed from the message queue if they have not been successfully sent after a predetermined timeout duration; and

wherein the timeout duration is increased while the connection is suspended.

9. A user equipment device (UE), comprising:

a radio;

a baseband processor (BB) operatively coupled to the radio; and

an application processor (AP) operatively coupled to the BB;

wherein the UE is configured to;

engage in an active connection with a remote server;

determine, by the BB, that a signal strength indicator has fallen below a first threshold;

transmit, by the BB to the AP, a notification to suspend the connection.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the UE is further configured to:

determine, by the BB, that the signal strength indicator has risen above a second threshold;

resume the connection in response to the determination that the signal strength indicator has risen above the second threshold.

11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the UE is further configured to:

while resuming the connection, send a keep alive message to the remote server to determine if the connection is still active; and

initiate procedures to establish a new connection with the remote server if it is determined that the connection is not still active.

12. The UE of claim 10, wherein the UE is further configured to:

while resuming the connection, request a same IP address that was used to initiate the connection.

13. The UE of claim 9, wherein the UE is further configured to:

determine that the UE is in a location associated with intermittent reductions of signal strength; and

wherein said determining that a signal strength indicator has fallen below a first threshold is performed in response to a determination that the UE is in a location associated with intermittent reductions of signal strength.

14. The UE of claim 9,

wherein, while the connection is suspended, the AP is configured to suspend one or more of:

sending messages to buffers for transmission;

retransmitting failed transmissions;

transmitting keep alive signaling to the remote server;

transmitting filter updates to the remote server;

or

transmitting token requests to the remote server.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable memory medium that stores program instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment device (UE), cause the UE to:

engage in an active connection with a remote server;

determine, by a baseband layer of the UE, that a signal strength indicator has fallen below a first threshold;

transmit, by the baseband layer to an application layer of the UE, a notification to suspend the connection.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 15, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the UE to:

determine, by the baseband layer, that the signal strength indicator has risen above a second threshold;

resume the connection in response to the determination that the signal strength indicator has risen above the second threshold.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 15, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the UE to:

while resuming the connection, send a keep alive message to the remote server to determine if the connection is still active; and

initiate procedures to establish a new connection with the remote server if it is determined that the connection is not still active.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 15,

wherein state information associated with the connection is maintained during the suspended state.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 15, wherein the program instructions are further executable to cause the UE to:

while resuming the connection, request a same IP address that was used to initiate the connection.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable memory medium of claim 15,

wherein, while the connection is suspended, the program instructions are further executable to cause the application layer to suspend one or more of:

sending messages to buffers for transmission;

retransmitting failed transmissions;

transmitting keep alive signaling to the remote server;

transmitting filter updates to the remote server;

or

transmitting token requests to the remote server.