Scheduled device communication

• US 9,407,722 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2014
• Issued: 08/02/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tomay, Beryl, Gough, Valient I., MacGregor, Christopher S. A., Kiraly, Kenneth P., Rachabathuni, Sailesh, Berbessou, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Javaid, Jamal
• Application Number:
  US14/459,133
• Publication Number:
  US 20140365617A1
• Time in Patent Office: 720 Days
• Field of Search: 370/431, 370/228, 370/465, 370/352, 709/219, 709/203, 709/217, 709/221, 725/46, 725/44, 725/38, 725/110, 725/39, 725/97, 725/98, 705/7.13, 705/26.8, 705/27.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25808 Management of client data terminal profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/303
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/26216 involving the channel capacity, e.g. network bandwidth admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; flow control in packet networks H04L47/10; establishing a schedule or organising the servicing of application requests taking into account QoS H04L67/61
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416

Abstract

A processing device receives a schedule from a server, the schedule identifying delivery times for a set of items associated with the user device. At each delivery time, the processing device contacts the server to obtain one or more items from the server in accordance with the schedule.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a processing device of a user device from a server, a schedule;

determining, by the processing device, a next delivery time of an item using the schedule upon occurrence of an event comprising at least one of receipt of a new schedule, receipt of an updated schedule, or download of an instruction item from the server;

detecting a first attempt by the user device to switch to a sleep mode;

determining that the next delivery time is within a defined time interval from a time at which the first attempt to switch to the sleep mode is detected;

deferring the sleep mode until after the next delivery time; and

contacting, by the processing device at the next delivery time, the server to request the item from the server in accordance with the schedule.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the schedule comprises:

receiving, from the server, a notification that the schedule is ready to be delivered to the user device;

contacting the server to request the schedule from a queue; and

storing the schedule in a local data store.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein contacting the server to request the item comprises:

at the next delivery time,

connecting to the server;

requesting the item; and

receiving the item from the server.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

detecting a second attempt by the user device to switch to a sleep mode;

determining that the next delivery time is not within a predefined time interval from a time at which the second attempt to switch to the sleep mode is detected; and

setting a wakeup time of the user device to the next delivery time and allowing the user device to switch to the sleep mode.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying at least one item that has not been provided by the server at a scheduled delivery time; and

initiating a communication with the server at a time later than the scheduled delivery time to request the at least one item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein contacting the server to request the one or more items from the server comprises:

receiving a notification message indicating a late delivery of the at least one item; and

contacting the server at a time later than a scheduled delivery time to request the at least one item.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the notification message includes a new delivery time for the at least one item, the method further comprising contacting, by the user device, the server at or after the new delivery time.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that a device mode of the user device is changed from an offline mode to an online mode;

determining that the user device was in the offline mode during at least one delivery time; and

contacting the server to obtain one or more items associated with the at least one delivery time.

9. A user device comprising:

a memory;

a processing device operatively coupled to the memory, the processing device to;

receive, from a server, a schedule;

determine a next delivery time for an item using the schedule upon occurrence of a predefined event, the predefined event comprising at least one of receipt of a new schedule, receipt of an updated schedule, or download of an instruction item from the server;

detect an attempt by the user device to switch to a sleep mode;

determine that the next delivery time is not within a defined time interval from a time at which the attempt to switch to the sleep mode is detected;

set a wakeup time of the device to the next delivery time and allow the user device to switch to the sleep mode; and

contact the server at the next delivery time to request the item from the server.

10. The user device of claim 9, wherein the processing device is further to:

identify at least one item that has not been provided by the server at a scheduled delivery time; and

initiate a communication with the server at a time later than the scheduled delivery time to request the at least one item.

11. The user device of claim 9, wherein the processing device is further to:

receive a notification message indicating a late delivery of at least one item when contacting the server to request the item; and

contact the server at a time later than the scheduled delivery time to request the at least one item.

12. The user device of claim 9, wherein the processing device is further to:

determine that the user device has missed at least one delivery time while in an offline mode; and

contact the server to obtain one or more items associated with the missed delivery time.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instruction encoded thereon which, when executed by a processing device of a user device, cause the processing device to perform operations comprising:

receiving, by the processing device from a server, a schedule;

determining, by the processing device, a next delivery time of an item using the upon occurrence of a predefined event, the predefined event comprising at least one of receipt of a new schedule, receipt of an updated schedule, or download of an instruction item from the server;

detecting a first attempt by the user device to switch to a sleep mode;

determining that the next delivery time is within a defined time interval from a time at which the first attempt to switch to the sleep mode is detected;

deferring the sleep mode until after the next delivery time; and

contacting, by the processing device at the next delivery time, the server to request the item from the server in accordance with the schedule.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, the operations further comprising:

detecting a second attempt by the user device to switch to a sleep mode;

determining that the next delivery time is not within a predefined time interval from a time at which the second attempt to switch to the sleep mode is detected; and

setting a wakeup time of the user device to the next delivery time and allowing the user device to switch to the sleep mode.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, the operations further comprising:

determining that the user device was in an offline mode during at least one delivery time; and

contacting the server to obtain one or more items associated with the at least one delivery time.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein receiving the schedule comprises:

receiving, from the server, a notification that the schedule is ready to be delivered to the user device;

contacting the server to request the schedule from a queue; and

storing the schedule in a local data store.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, wherein contacting the server to request the item comprises:

at the next delivery time,

connecting to the server;

requesting the item and

requesting the item from the server.