Predictive Caching of IP Data

• US 20140011538A1
• Filed: 09/12/2013
• Published: 01/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Relay Inc. (Publicis Groupe SA)
• Original Assignee: Bandwidth Inc.
• Inventors: Mulcahy, James, Rathnam, Sai
• Granted Patent: US 8,825,881 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/553.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of predictively caching IP content data for a mobile device. In the mobile device, a content request is sent to an intelligent cache server over an IP network, the content request indicative of recurring IP content data of interest to the mobile device. The intelligent cache server retrieves the requested IP content data from content servers and queues the requested IP content data in a buffer associated with the mobile device. A notification message is sent to the mobile device indicating that the requested IP content is queued. The mobile device determines whether it is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point and automatically downloads the queued IP content data from the intelligent cache server when connected to a non-cellular IP network. The IP content data is stored in a cache memory in the mobile device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

in a mobile device having both a cellular transceiver and at least one other RF transceiver communicable with a non-cellular IP network access point;

collecting Internet Protocol (IP) data consumption information associated with the mobile device;

predicting, based on the collected IP data consumption information, IP data the mobile device is expected to consume at a future time;

automatically downloading the predicted IP data to the mobile device using the at least one other RF transceiver over the non-cellular IP network access point; and

storing the downloaded predicted IP data in cache memory on the mobile device such that the stored IP data is not transported over a cellular network.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

collecting non-cellular IP network connectivity information associated with the mobile device;

predicting, based on the collected non-cellular IP network connectivity information, when the mobile device can be expected to be connected to the non-cellular IP network access point; and

attempting to perform the automatically downloading the predicted IP data step at a time when the mobile device is predicted to be connected to the non-cellular IP network access point.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising waiting until the mobile device is connected to the non-cellular IP network access point before automatically downloading the predicted IP data.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising storing the downloaded predicted IP data in cache memory on the mobile device wherein the cache memory is associated with an application on the mobile device that would have downloaded the predicted IP data if the download had been manually initiated by a user.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to a request for the predicted IP data and when no non-cellular IP network access point connection is available to the mobile device;

bypassing a cellular network connection; and

accessing the stored predicted IP data from cache memory using an application on the mobile device associated with the stored predicted IP data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the non-cellular IP network access point is one of a WiFi IP network access point, a WiMax IP network access point, and a whitespace IP network access point.

7. A method comprising:

in a mobile device having both a cellular transceiver and a non-cellular RF transceiver, sending a content request to a content server over an IP network, the content request indicative of recurring IP content data of interest to the mobile device;

in the content server, queuing the requested IP content data in a buffer associated with the mobile device and sending a notification message to the mobile device indicating that the requested IP content data is queued;

in the mobile device, determining whether the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point and automatically downloading the queued IP content data from the content server only when the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point; and

in the mobile device, storing the downloaded IP content data in a cache memory such that the stored IP data is not transported over a cellular network.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

collecting non-cellular IP network connectivity information associated with the mobile device;

predicting, based on the collected non-cellular IP network connectivity information, when the mobile device can be expected to be connected to a non-cellular IP network access point; and

attempting to perform the automatically downloading the queued IP content data step at a time when the mobile device is predicted to be connected to a non-cellular IP network access point.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising waiting until the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point before automatically downloading the queued IP content data.

10. The method of claim 7 further comprising storing the downloaded IP content data in cache memory on the mobile device wherein the cache memory is associated with an application on the mobile device that would have downloaded the IP content data if the download had been manually initiated by a user.

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

in response to a request for the IP content data and when no non-cellular IP connection is available to the mobile device;

bypassing a cellular network connection; and

accessing the stored IP content data from cache memory using an application on the mobile device associated with the stored IP content data.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the non-cellular IP network access point is one of a WiFi IP network access point, a WiMax IP network access point, and a whitespace IP network access point.

13. A method comprising:

in a mobile device having both a cellular transceiver and a non-cellular RF transceiver, sending a content request to an intelligent cache server over an IP network, the content request indicative of recurring IP content data of interest to the mobile device;

in the intelligent cache server, retrieving the requested IP content data from one or more content servers, queuing the requested IP content data in a buffer associated with the mobile device and sending a notification message to the mobile device indicating that the requested IP content is queued;

in the mobile device, determining whether the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point and automatically downloading or receiving the queued IP content data from the intelligent cache server only when the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point; and

in the mobile device, storing the downloaded or received IP content data in a cache memory such that the stored IP content data is not transported over a cellular network.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

collecting non-cellular IP network connectivity information associated with the mobile device;

predicting, based on the collected non-cellular IP network connectivity information, when the mobile device can be expected to be connected to a non-cellular IP network access point; and

attempting to perform the automatically downloading or receiving the queued IP content data step at a time when the mobile device is predicted to be connected to a non-cellular IP network access point.

15. The method of claim 13 further comprising waiting until the mobile device is connected to a non-cellular IP network access point before automatically downloading or receiving the queued IP content data.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising storing the downloaded or received IP content data in cache memory on the mobile device that is associated with an application on the mobile device wherein the cache memory would have downloaded the IP content data if the download had been manually initiated by a user.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

in response to a request for the IP content data and when no non-cellular IP connection is available to the mobile device;

bypassing a cellular network connection; and

accessing the stored IP content data from cache memory using an application on the mobile device associated with the stored IP content data.

18. The method of claim 13 wherein the non-cellular IP network access point is one of a WiFi IP network access point, a WiMax IP network access point, and a whitespace IP network access point.