Wireless communications invisible proxy and hooking systems and methods

• US 7,512,694 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2001
• Issued: 03/31/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/21/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: OptiMorphix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bytemobile Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Sarkisian, Drew
• Primary Examiner(s): BOUTAH, ALINA A
• Application Number:
  US09/982,511
• Publication Number:
  US 20020059438A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,722 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/230, 709/232, 709/203, 709/229, 370/352, 370/401, 719/328
• US Class Current: 709/230
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9577 Optimising the visualization of content, e.g. distillation of HTML documents
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1642 Formats specially adapted for sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/18 Automatic repetition systems, e.g. Van Duuren systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1809 Selective-repeat protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1848 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/188 Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/162 involving adaptations of sockets based mechanisms secure socket layer H04L63/168
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/32 Architecture of open systems interconnection [OSI] 7-layer type protocol stacks, e.g. the interfaces between the data link level and the physical level
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/326 in the transport layer [OSI layer 4] H04L69/16 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 : Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/00 : Wireless channel access
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 : Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 : Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

An communications service provider provides wireless access to a packetized data network, such as the Internet. The service provider includes a server computer. The server computer is connected to the network, which is at least in part a wired network. The wired network is connected to a cellular wireless communications system. A method of the network includes a client device that communicates wirelessly with the server computer. The client device runs standard applications programs, such as browser, ftp, and e-mail. The method includes serving a first information by the server computer to the client device according to a specialized protocol, determining that the first information accords with the specialized protocol, and proxying the first information to the standard programs in a standard protocol readable by the standard programs.

Claims

1. A communications network, the communications network includes a network portion operable according to a standard network protocol and a wireless communication link that is not the network portion operable according to a non-standard optimized wireless protocol, comprising:

a server computer, capable of communicating a first data over the wireless communication link in accordance with the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, and capable of communicating over the network portion in accordance with the standard network protocol;

a client device, capable of communicating with the server computer over the wireless communication link in accordance with the non-standard optimized wireless protocol;

a program of the client device, operable at the client device with a program data at the client device, the program data according to the standard network protocol as input and output of the program, the the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol is not necessarily directly operable with the program as the program data, but is representative of the program data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol;

a hooking layer of the client device, comprising;

a first specialized socket of the client device for receiving the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol and translating at the client device the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to the program data according to the standard network protocol, for use by the program;

a second specialized socket of the client device for selectively translating at the client device the program data per the standard network protocol to a second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, for selective transmission of the second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to the server computer over the wireless communication link; and

a switch of the client device for selecting the first specialized socket and the second specialized socket, respectively, when the client device is communicating the first data and the second data, respectively, with the server computer according to the non-standard optimized wireless protocol over the wireless communication link.

2. The communications network of claim 1, wherein the wireless communications link carries a cellular packetized data for communications of the non-standard optimized wireless protocol between the client device and the server computer.

3. The communications network of claim 1, wherein the wireless communication link is a cellular digital packet data (CDPD) system.

4. The communications network of claim 1, wherein the client device initiates communications with the server computer of a request over the wireless communications link via the non-standard optimized wireless protocol and the server computer responds via the first data over the communications link via the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, and the program of the client device operates via the first data as translated, if necessary, without any return communication to the server computer of the second data.

5. The communications network of claim 4, wherein the hooking layer does not translate the program data to the second data unless the second data is for communication to the server computer.

6. The communications network of claim 1, wherein the program is operative with the first data without translation by the hooking layer.

7. The communications network of claim 6, wherein the switch selects the first specialized socket only if the program is inoperable with the first data and the switch selects the second specialized socket only if the program data is for communication to the server computer as the second data.

8. The communications network of claim 1, wherein the server computer respectively translates to and from the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, from and to the standard network protocol, respectively, for communications over the network portion according to the standard network protocol and communications with the client device over the wireless communications link according to the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, enabling communications of the client device over the network portion through the server computer.

9. A method of wireless communications, wherein a client device communicates wirelessly with a server computer, and wherein the client device runs a standard program using a standard format data, comprising the steps of:

serving a first information by the server computer to the client device according to a specialized protocol receivable by the client device, the first information comprising a non-standard format data because of the specialized protocol;

receiving the first information by the client device according to the specialized protocol;

determining at the client device that the first information comprises the non-standard format data; and

translating at the client device the non-standard format data to the standard data useable by the standard program, wherein the client device comprises a hooking layer, the hooking layer comprising;

a first specialized socket of the client device for receiving a first data per a non-standard optimized wireless protocol and translating at the client device the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to a program data, the program data being an input and output of the program , according to a standard network protocol, for use by the program;

a second specialized socket of the client device for selectively translating at the client device the program data per the standard network protocol to a second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, for selective transmission of the second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to the server computer over the wireless communication link; and

a switch of the client device for selecting the first specialized socket and the second specialized socket, respectively, when the client device is communicating the first data and the second data, respectively, with the server computer accord to the non-standard optimized wireless protocol over the wireless communication link.

10. A wireless communications device, comprising:

a specialized communications protocol receiver of a client device for receiving wireless communications having a specialized protocol format, the specialized protocol format for wirelessly communicating with a server computer capable of communications via the specialized protocol format;

an application program of the client device communicatively connected to the specialized communications protocol receiver, the application program operates with a standard data different from the non-standard data; and

a hooking layer of the client device communicatively connected to the specialized communications protocol receiver and the application program, the hooking layer receives and translates the non-standard data to the standard data useable by the application program of the client device;

wherein the hooking layer is included in the client device and the hooking directly translates the non-standard data at the client device;

wherein the hooking layer comprises;

a first specialized socket of the client device for receiving a first data per a non-standard optimized wireless protocol and translating at the client device the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to a program data, the program data being an input and output of the program, according to a standard network protocol, for use by the program;

a second specialized socket of the client device for selectively translating at the client device the program data per the standard network protocol to a second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, for selective transmission of the second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to the server computer over the wireless communication link; and

a switch of the client device for selecting the first specialized socket and the second specialized socket, respectively, when the client device is communicating the first data and the second data, respectively, with the server computer according to the non-standard optimized wireless protocol over the wireless communication link.

11. A communications network including a wireless communications link and a standard network communications link distinct from the wireless communications link, comprising:

a server connected to the wireless communications link for communicating over the wireless communications link according to a specialized wireless protocol including a specialized wireless data and connected to the standard network communications link for communicating over the standard network communications link according to a standard network protocol including a standard data, the standard network protocol and the standard data are different than the specialized wireless protocol and the specialized wireless data, respectively, wherein the server connected to the standard network communications link and the wireless communications link, for converting the standard data of the standard network protocol to the specialized wireless data of the specialized wireless protocol for communications of the specialized wireless data over the wireless communications link per the specialized wireless protocol and for converting the specialized wireless data of the specialized wireless protocol of the wireless communications link to the standard data of the standard network protocol for use by the server and for communications by the server over the standard network communications link; and

a client communicatively connected to the server via the wireless communications link for communicating with the server in accordance with the specialized wireless protocol on the wireless communications link, comprising;

a wireless network connector for receiving communications according to the specialized protocol from the server over the wireless communications link and for transmitting communications according to the specialized wireless protocol to the server over the wireless communications link;

a hook of the client connected to the network connector;

an application program of the client connected to the hook, the application program operable with the standard data for the application program;

wherein the hook comprises;

a specialized socket of the client device connected to the application program for translating the specialized wireless data to the standard data, for operations of the application program with the standard data, as translated, if the application program is not operable with the specialized wireless data.

12. The network of claim 11, wherein the wireless communications link is wireless cellular.

13. A method of communications between a server and a client over a wireless channel, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a specialized data via a specialized protocol in communications between the client and the server;

receiving the specialized data via the specialized protocol in communications between the client and the server;

hooking at the client the specialized data received by the client from the server in communications from the server to the client, to discern between an application standard data of the specialized data and an application non-standard data of the specialized data;

wherein the client comprises a hooking layer, the hooking layer comprising;

a first specialized socket of the client device for receiving a first data per a non-standard optimized wireless protocol and translating at the client device the first data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to a program data, the program data being an input and output of the program, according to a standard network protocol, for use by the program;

a second specialized socket of the client device for selectively translating at the client device the program data per the standard network protocol to a second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol, for selective transmission of the second data per the non-standard optimized wireless protocol to the server computer over the wireless communication link; and

a switch of the client device for selecting the first specialized socket and the second specialized socket, respectively, when the client device is communicating the first data and the second data, respectively, with the server computer according to the non-standard optimized wireless protocol over the wireless communication link; and

operating an application of the client, the application operable with the application standard data, by translating at the client the application non-standard data to the application standard data for the application.