System and method for managing data to be pushed to a wireless device when the device may be outside of a coverage range

• US 8,014,770 B2
• Filed: 11/27/2009
• Issued: 09/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Matovsky, Michael, Shenfield, Michael, Vitanov, Kamen, Bibr, Viera, Fritsch, Brindusa
• Primary Examiner(s): MILLER, BRANDON J
• Application Number:
  US12/626,784
• Publication Number:
  US 20100075707A1
• Time in Patent Office: 648 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422.1, 455/412.1, 455/412.2, 455/414.1, 455418-420, 455/67.11, 455/41.2, 455/41.3, 455517-519, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 370/328, 370/338, 370/312, 709/203, 709/224, 709/227, 709/219, 709/231, 709/229
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel

Abstract

A push proxy server for pushing data to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline. The push proxy server comprises a coverage state detector, memory, a data store, and a transceiver. The coverage state detector determines the coverage state of the wireless device. The memory stores a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device. The data store stores the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline. The transceiver transmits the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online. A method for implementing the push proxy server is also described.

Claims

1. A push proxy server for pushing data to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline, the push proxy server comprising:

a coverage state detector for determining the coverage state of the wireless device based on a delivery status of a push request, the coverage state determination further based on a wireless device heartbeat message to detect a device online to offline transition initiated due to a random network transport error, whenever the delivery status of the push request is indicated as undelivered;

memory for storing a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device;

a data store for storing the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline; and

a transceiver for transmitting the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online.

2. The push proxy server of claim 1 wherein the transceiver further transmits data from the data store to the wireless device when the coverage state detector detects a change from offline to online.

3. The push proxy server of claim 2 wherein the coverage state detector determines that the wireless device is offline if a data transmission fails a predefined number of times.

4. The push proxy server of claim 2 wherein the coverage state detector determines that the wireless device is online upon receipt of the heartbeat message.

5. The push proxy server of claim 2 wherein the coverage state detector determines that the wireless device is online upon receipt of a pull request.

6. The push proxy server of claim 1 further comprising a waste manager for deleting stale data from the data store in accordance with a predefined expiry term.

7. The push proxy server of claim 6 wherein an expiry field of a header of the push data includes the expiry term indicating that the stale data is to be deleted at a predefined time.

8. The push proxy server of claim 6 wherein an expiry field of a header of the push data includes the expiry term indicating that the stale data is to be deleted after a predefined duration.

9. The push proxy server of claim 6 wherein the waste manager overwrites the predefined expiry term with a transmitted expiry term.

10. A push proxy server for pushing data to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline, the push proxy server comprising:

a coverage state detector for determining the coverage state of the wireless device based on a delivery status of a push request, the coverage state determination further based on a wireless device heartbeat message, to detect a device online to offline transition initiated due to a random network transport error, whenever the delivery status of the push request is indicated as undelivered;

memory for storing a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device;

a data store for storing the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline;

a transceiver for transmitting the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online; and

a waste manager for deleting stale data from the data store in accordance with an overwrite field of a header of the push data in the data store, the overwrite field indicating that stale data is to be deleted upon receipt of updated data.

11. A method for pushing data from a push initiator to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline, method comprising the steps of:

determining, at a push proxy server, the coverage state of the wireless device based on the delivery status of a push request, the coverage state determination further based on a wireless device heartbeat message to detect a device online to offline transition initiated due to a random network transport error, whenever the delivery status of the push request is indicated as undelivered;

storing in memory a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device;

storing in memory the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline; and

transmitting the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of transmitting data from the memory to the wireless device when the coverage state detector detects a change from offline to online.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the wireless device is determined to be offline if a data transmission fails a predefined number of times.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein the wireless device is determined to be online upon receipt of the heartbeat message.

15. The method of claim 12 wherein the wireless device is determined to be online upon receipt of a pull request.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising the step of deleting stale data from the memory in accordance with a predefined expiry term.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein an expiry field of a header of the push data includes the expiry term indicating that the stale data is to be deleted at a predefined time.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein an expiry field of a header of the push data includes the expiry term indicating that the stale data is to be deleted after a predefined duration.

19. The method of claim 16 further comprising the step of overwriting the predefined expiry term with a transmitted expiry term.

20. A method for pushing data from a push initiator to a wireless device having a coverage state of online or offline, method comprising the steps of:

determining, at a push proxy server, the coverage state of the wireless device based on a delivery status of a push request, the coverage state determination further based on a wireless device heartbeat message to detect a device online to offline transition initiated due to a random network transport error, whenever the delivery status of the push request is indicated as undelivered;

storing in memory a coverage state indicator for indicating the coverage state of the wireless device;

storing in memory the data to be pushed to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is offline;

transmitting the data to the wireless device when the coverage state indicator indicates the wireless device is online; and

deleting stale data from the memory in accordance with an overwrite field of a header of the push data in the memory, the overwrite field indicating that stale data is to be deleted upon receipt of updated data.