Energy-efficient push/poll notification service

• US 9,832,623 B2
• Filed: 12/05/2012
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Liu, Chunming
• Primary Examiner(s): Chriss, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): FAYED, RASHA K
• Application Number:
  US13/706,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20140153457A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,819 Days
• Field of Search: 709223, 709224, 709225, 709238-244, 370311, 370328, 370241-253
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/02 Power saving arrangements in wired systems H04L12/12; signaling of mobile application services, e.g. low battery notifications H04W4/20
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0222 in packet switched networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques for energy efficient notification services are described. A telecommunications device may acquire multimedia/notification service data from various upstream units, e.g., one or more multimedia/notification service servers, at least one push notification service server and/or a storage system. The telecommunications device may select a communication channel between the telecommunications device and the various upstream units for acquiring multimedia/notification service data. The telecommunications device may select the communications channel based at least in part on efficiencies, e.g., it may select the most energy efficient communications channel. The telecommunications device may, in some instances, acquire the multimedia/notification service data as pushes from one or more upstream units (e.g., a push notification service server), and may, in some instances, acquire the multimedia/notification service data as pulls from one or more upstream units (e.g., one or more multimedia/notification service servers and/or a storage system).

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media having computer-executable instructions thereon which, when executed by a processor of a telecommunications device, implement operations comprising:

determining, at the telecommunications device, a respective energy efficiency indicator for each of multiple, different communications channels between the telecommunications device and a corresponding plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data, wherein individual ones of the respective energy efficiency indicators are indicative of energy requirements for receiving multimedia/notification service data via the respective communications channel and the sources of multimedia/notification service data include at least one multimedia/notification service server, at least one push notification service server that provides session information, and a storage system, and wherein the determining comprises;

estimating a first delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one multimedia/notification service server;

estimating a second delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

estimating a third delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the storage system; and

estimating the energy efficiency indicators based at least in part on the first, the second, and the third delays;

comparing the energy efficiency indicators;

selecting, at the telecommunications device, one communication channel of the multiple, different communications channels as a notification session channel based at least in part on the comparison of the energy efficiency indicators; and

acquiring, at the telecommunications device, via the notification session channel, multimedia/notification service data.

2. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein determining an energy efficiency indicator for each of the multiple communications channels between the telecommunications device and the corresponding sources of multimedia/notification service data comprises:

determining a first energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one multimedia/notification service server;

determining a second energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server; and

determining a third energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the storage system.

3. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 2, wherein comparing the energy efficiency indicators comprises:

determining either a minimum estimated energy consumption rate or a maximum estimated energy efficiency based at least in part on the first, the second, and the third energy efficiency indicators.

4. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein comparing the energy efficiency indicators comprises:

determining either a minimum estimated energy consumption rate or a maximum estimated energy efficiency based at least in part on the first, the second, and the third delays.

5. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

signaling at least one source of multimedia/notification service data of the plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data to initiate a pull notification session.

6. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein acquiring, via the notification session channel, multimedia/notification service data comprises:

pulling the multimedia/notification service data, via the notification session channel, from the storage system.

7. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein the storage system is a cloud storage system.

8. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 6, wherein pulling the multimedia/notification service data, via the notification session channel, from the storage system comprises:

pulling, in a batch, multimedia/notification service data for multiple notification consumers executing at the telecommunications device.

9. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

determining whether at least one state of the telecommunications device changes;

re-selecting one communication channel of the multiple communications channels as a new notification session channel based at least in part on determining that at least one state of the telecommunications device has changed.

10. A method implemented on a telecommunications device by a processor configured to execute instructions that, when executed by the processor, direct the telecommunications device to perform acts comprising:

acquiring multimedia/notification service data from a first source of a plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data;

determining, at the telecommunications device, respective energy efficiency indicator for each of multiple, different communications channels between the telecommunications device and the corresponding plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data, wherein individual ones of the respective energy efficiency indicators are indicative of energy requirements for receiving multimedia/notification service data via the respective communications channel and the sources of multimedia/notification service data include at least one multimedia/notification service server, at least one push notification service server that provides session information, and a storage system, and wherein the determining comprises;

estimating a first delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one multimedia/notification service server;

estimating a second delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

estimating a third delay for communications over a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the storage system; and

estimating the energy efficiency indicators based at least in part on the first, the second, and the third delays;

comparing the energy efficiency indicators; and

acquiring multimedia/notification service data from a second source of the plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data based at least in part on the comparing the energy efficiency indicators, wherein the second source of multimedia/notification service data is different from the first source of multimedia/notification service data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein acquiring multimedia/notification service data from a first source of multimedia/notification service data comprises:

receiving, via a push, the multimedia/notification service data from the push notification service server.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein acquiring multimedia/notification service data from a second source of multimedia/notification service data comprises:

retrieving, via a pull, the multimedia/notification service data from at least one of (a) the at least one multimedia/notification service server and (b) the storage system.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

signaling the push notification service server to cause multimedia/notification service data to be stored at the storage system.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein in response to the signal, the push notification service server either (a) forwards multimedia/notification service data to the storage system or (b) signals the one or more at least one multimedia/notification service servers to provide the multimedia/notification service data to the storage system.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the first source of multimedia/notification service data is the push notification server, the method further comprising:

initiating a push session between the telecommunications device and the push notification server, wherein the push notification server pushes the multimedia/notification service data to the telecommunications device in accordance with push session information;

acquiring, by the telecommunications device, at least a portion of the push session information;

terminating, after the telecommunications device acquires the at least a portion of the push session information, the push session between the telecommunications device and the push notification server; and

initiating a pull session between the telecommunications device and the second source of multimedia/notification service data based at least in part on the at least a portion of the push session information.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the second source is at least one of (a) the at least one multimedia/notification service server and (b) the storage system.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the storage system is a cloud storage system.

22. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the energy efficiency indicator for each of the multiple communications channels between the telecommunications device and the corresponding sources of multimedia/notification service data comprises:

determining a first energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one multimedia/notification service server;

determining a second energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server; and

determining a third energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel between the telecommunications device and the storage system.

18. A telecommunications device comprising:

at least a first transceiver having a first communications interface and a second transceiver having second communications interface that is different from the first communications interface;

a processor; and

a memory having instructions stored thereon, the instructions, when executed by the processor, direct the telecommunications device to perform acts comprising;

for both the first and the second transceivers, determining a respective energy efficiency indicator for each of multiple, different communications channels between the telecommunications device and a corresponding plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data, wherein the respective energy efficiency indicators are indicative of energy requirements for receiving multimedia/notification service data via the respective communications channels and the plurality of sources of multimedia/notification service data include at least one push notification service server and at least a second source of multimedia/notification service data, the second source of multimedia/notification service data being at least one of a multimedia/notification service server and a storage system, and wherein for both the first and the second transceivers, determining an energy efficiency indicator for multiple communications channels between the telecommunications device and sources of multimedia/notification service data comprises;

determining a first energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel, over the first transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

determining a second energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel, over the second transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

determining a third energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel, over the first transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the second source of multimedia/notification service data; and

determining a fourth energy efficiency indicator for a communications channel, over the second transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the second source of multimedia/notification service data;

comparing the energy efficiency indicators;

selecting one communications channel of the multiple, different communications channels as a notification session channel based at least in part on the comparison of the energy efficiency indicators; and

acquiring, via the notification session channel, multimedia/notification service data.

19. The telecommunications device of claim 18, wherein the first communications interface of the first transceiver is a radio interface employed by a cellular communications network.

20. The telecommunications device of claim 18, wherein the second communications interface of the second transceiver is a point-to-point communications interface.

21. The telecommunications device of claim 18, wherein selecting one communication channel of the multiple communications channels as a notification session channel based at least in part on the comparison of the energy efficiency indicators comprises:

selecting the communication channel having either a minimum estimated energy consumption rate or a maximum estimated energy efficiency.

23. The telecommunications device of claim 18, wherein determining the energy efficiency indicator for each of the multiple communications channels between the telecommunications device and the corresponding sources of multimedia/notification service data comprises:

estimating a first delay for communications over the communications channel over the first transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

estimating a second delay for communications over the communications channel over the second transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the at least one push notification service server;

estimating a third delay for communications over the communications channel over the first transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the second source of multimedia/notification service data;

estimating a fourth delay for the communications over the communications channel over the second transceiver, between the telecommunications device and the second source of multimedia/notification service data; and

estimating the energy efficiency indicators based at least in part on the first, the second, the third, and the fourth delays.