COORDINATING DATA DELIVERY USING TIME SUGGESTIONS

• US 20100077083A1
• Filed: 09/25/2008
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/25/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Tran, Ahn P., Resnick, Kevin Daniel, Loh, Susan Annette, Liu, Albert, Larsen, Mark Sievert
• Granted Patent: US 7,966,410 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/62 Establishing a time schedule for servicing the requests
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling

Abstract

Coordinating delivery of data to a first computing device from a plurality of second computing devices based on known power times for a resource associated with the first computing device. One of the second computing devices requests a time interval for data delivery. The first computing device compares the requested time interval to the known power times to determine a delivery time. For example, the requested time interval is compared against activation times for recurrent schedules that use the resource, and against previously determined delivery times. The second computing device delivers data at the determined delivery time to preserve the resource. In some embodiments, the delivery time is adjusted for processing delays and network latency.

Claims

1. A system for suggesting a time for sending data from a server to a mobile computing device via a network, said system comprising:

a memory area for storing a plurality of activation times, said activation times being associated with a plurality of schedules, wherein activation of the plurality of schedules consumes a radio resource on the mobile computing device, said memory area further storing an offset representing a processing delay on the mobile computing device and a latency associated with the network; and

a processor programmed to;

access a time interval requested by the server for sending data to the mobile computing device;

search the stored plurality of activation times based on the requested time interval to identify a subset of the plurality of activation times;

determine a delivery time based on the identified subset of the plurality of activation times;

adjust the determined delivery time based on the offset stored in the memory area; and

publish the adjusted delivery time, wherein the server sends the data to the mobile computing device based on the published delivery time.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determined delivery time comprises an offset from a current time.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to receive the time interval from a server-associated application program executing on the mobile computing device.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the server sends the data to the mobile computing device at the published activation time.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the processor is further programmed to select the one of the subset by identifying the schedule having a greatest likelihood of execution.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile computing device comprises a plurality of radios, wherein the processor is programmed to receive a request from the server for the time interval, said request identifying one of the radios, and wherein the processor is programmed to search the stored plurality of activation times based on the requested time interval and the identified radio.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

means for determining the delivery time based on known power times for the radio resource within the requested time interval; and

means for adjusting the delivery time based on the processing delay and the latency.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, by a first computing device, a requested time value from a second computing device;

identifying a plurality of activation times associated with a plurality of schedules, wherein activation of the plurality of schedules consumes a resource on the first computing device,

identifying one or more previously determined delivery times;

comparing the requested time value to the defined plurality of activation times and to the previously determined delivery times;

determining a delivery time based on said comparing; and

providing the determined delivery time to the second computing device, wherein the second computing device sends data to the first computing device at the provided delivery time.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the requested time value comprises receiving a minimum time value and a maximum time value.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the requested time value comprises receiving the requested time value from an application program associated with the second computing device, said first computing device hosting execution of the application program, and further comprising providing the determined delivery time to the application program for communication to second computing device.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the second computing device is one of a plurality of computing devices, wherein each of the plurality of computing devices has a priority associated therewith, and wherein determining the delivery time comprises determining the delivery time based on the priority associated with the second computing device.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the plurality of activation times comprises identifying a plurality of activation times associated with unconditional schedules.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the time value comprises a time interval, and wherein determining the delivery time comprises determining a delivery time within the time interval and corresponding to one of the previously determined delivery times.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the time value comprises a time interval, and wherein determining the delivery time comprises determining a delivery time within the time interval and corresponding to one of the plurality of activation times.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the time value comprises a time interval, and wherein determining the delivery time comprises determining a delivery time within the time interval, wherein the determined delivery time is slightly earlier than one of the plurality of activation times.

16. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

determining a processing delay associated with the first computing device; and

adjusting the determined delivery time based on the determined processing delay.

17. One or more computer-readable media having computer-executable components for managing data delivery to a first computing device, said components comprising:

an interface component for receiving a requested time interval, said requested time interval associated with an expected transmission of data from a second computing device to the first computing device;

a cache component for identifying a plurality of anticipated power times associated with a communication resource on the first computing device, a hint component for determining a delivery time based on a comparison of the time interval received by the interface component and the plurality of anticipated power times identified by the cache component; and

a publication component for providing the delivery time determined by the hint component to the second computing device, wherein the second computing device sends the data to the first computing device at the provided delivery time.

18. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the interface component, cache component, hint component, and publication component execute on the first computing device.

19. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the communication resource comprises a cellular radio, and wherein the hint component determines the delivery time by setting the delivery time to a beginning of one of the anticipated power times of the cellular radio within the requested time interval.

20. The computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the interface component further receives a payload value representing an expected size of the expected transmission of data, and wherein the hint component determines the delivery time based on the received payload value to manage bandwidth on the first computing device.