Maintaining network connectivity

• US 8,228,837 B2
• Filed: 09/08/2010
• Issued: 07/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheriff, Irfan, Greenwalt, Robert, Saville, Winthrop
• Primary Examiner(s): Qureshi, Afsar M.
• Application Number:
  US12/877,903
• Publication Number:
  US 20110310787A1
• Time in Patent Office: 685 Days
• Field of Search: 370252-401, 455 412-510, 709221-227, 725 34-131
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections

Abstract

A network device may select between two or more network connections based on a determination of whether the network device can access general Internet resources via an available, higher-preference network without providing additional (e.g., OSI Model Layer Seven) login credentials. In one example, a network device includes a first network interface configured to maintain a connection to a first network gateway, a second network interface configured to connect to a second, different network gateway upon determining that the second network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway, and means for determining whether a remote network resource is currently accessible via the second network gateway. When the remote network resource is accessible via the second network gateway, the second network interface maintains the connection to the second network gateway.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a mobile device, a connection to a first network gateway;

determining that a second, different network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway;

connecting, by the mobile device, to the second network gateway independently of the first network gateway while maintaining the connection to the first network gateway;

determining that an application on the mobile device can access a remote network resource through the second network gateway, wherein the remote network resource is external to the first network gateway and the second network gateway; and

maintaining the connection to the second network gateway based on the determination that the application can access the remote network resource.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating new network sessions via the second network gateway.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating data of existing network sessions via the first network gateway.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising terminating existing network sessions and reinitiating the terminated network sessions via the second network gateway.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising disconnecting from the first network gateway after determining that the application on the mobile device can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprises:

sending an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packet to the resource via the second network gateway; and

determining that the resource is accessible via the second network gateway upon receiving an ICMP response from the resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprises:

determining a resource Internet protocol (IP) address comprising an IP address of the remote network resource;

performing a Domain Name System lookup for the remote network resource via the second network gateway to receive a responsive IP address; and

determining that the remote network resource is accessible via the second network gateway when the remote network resource IP address matches the responsive IP address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprises:

sending a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) streaming GET request for the remote network resource via the second network gateway; and

determining that the remote network resource is accessible when the remote network resource is received in response to the HTTP streaming GET request.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprises:

sending a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP-S) request to the remote network resource via the second network gateway; and

determining that the remote network resource is accessible upon receiving a response to the HTTP-S request from the remote network resource.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote network resource comprises one of a plurality of resources that are each external to the second network gateway, and wherein determining that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprises:

sending domain name system (DNS) requests to each of the plurality of resources; and

determining that the remote network resource is accessible when at least two responses to the DNS requests resolve to different Internet protocol addresses.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause a processor of a mobile device to:

maintain a connection to a first network gateway;

determine that a second, different network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway;

connect to the second network gateway independently of the first network gateway while maintaining the connection to the first network gateway;

determine that an application on the mobile device can access a remote network resource through the second network gateway, wherein the remote network resource is external to the first network gateway and the second network gateway; and

maintain the connection to the second network gateway based on the determination that the application can access the remote network resource.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, further comprising instructions that cause the processor to initiate new network sessions through the second network gateway.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the instructions that cause the processor to determine that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

send an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) echo request packet to the remote network resource through the second network gateway; and

determine that the remote network resource is accessible through the second network gateway upon receiving an ICMP response from the remote network resource.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the remote network resource comprises one of a plurality of resources that are each external to the second network gateway, and wherein the instructions that cause the processor to determine that the application can access the remote network resource through the second network gateway comprise instructions that cause the processor to:

send domain name system (DNS) requests to each of the plurality of resources; and

determine that the remote network resource is accessible when at least two responses to the DNS requests resolve to different Internet protocol addresses.

15. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a mobile device, a connection to a first network gateway;

determining that a second, different network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway;

connecting, by the mobile device, to the second network gateway independently of the first network gateway while maintaining the connection to the first network gateway; and

determining whether an application on the mobile device can access a remote network resource through the second network gateway, wherein the remote network resource is external to the first network gateway and the second network gateway,

wherein when the remote network resource is not determined to be currently accessible through the second network gateway, the method comprises;

displaying a prompt for authentication credentials for the second network gateway;

waiting to receive the authentication credentials; and

disconnecting from the second network gateway when the authentication credentials are not received after a predetermined amount of time.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein when the remote network resource is not determined to be currently accessible through the second network gateway, the method further comprises providing the authentication credentials to the second network gateway upon receiving the authentication credentials within the predetermined amount of time.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein when the remote network resource is determined to be currently accessible through the second network gateway, the method comprises maintaining the connection to the second network gateway based on the determination that the application can access the remote network resource and disconnecting from the first network gateway.

18. A method comprising:

maintaining, by a mobile device, a connection to a first network gateway;

determining that a second, different network gateway is both available and preferable over the first network gateway;

connecting, by the mobile device, to the second network gateway independently of the first network gateway while maintaining the connection to the first network gateway;

determining that an application on the mobile device cannot access a remote network resource through the second network gateway, wherein the remote network resource is external to the first network gateway and the second network gateway; and

prompting for authentication credentials for the second access gateway based on the determination that the application cannot access the remote network resource.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising disconnecting from the second access gateway when the authentication credentials are not received after a predetermined amount of time.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising providing the authentication credentials to the second access gateway upon receiving the authentication credentials within the predetermined amount of time.