Method and system for maintaining connections between a terminal and servers in a communication system

• US 8,516,127 B2
• Filed: 06/17/2009
• Issued: 08/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kang, Chin-Kyu
• Primary Examiner(s): SALL, EL HADJI MALICK
• Application Number:
  US12/456,456
• Publication Number:
  US 20090319670A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,525 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/223, 709/224, 709/227, 370/350, 713/500
• US Class Current: 709/227
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/10 Active monitoring, e.g. heartbeat, ping or trace-route
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/145 avoiding end of session, e.g. keep-alive, heartbeats, resumption message or wake-up for inactive or interrupted session
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/00 Substation equipment, e.g. for use by subscribers subscriber services or facilities provided at exchanges H04M3/00; prepayment telephone coin boxes H04M17/00; current supply arrangements H04M19/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 11/00 Telephonic communication systems specially adapted for combination with other electrical systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A method and system for maintaining connections between a terminal and a plurality of servers in a stand-by state in which the terminal is connected to the servers. The terminal generates timers for maintaining the connections to the servers. The terminal determines whether a timer expires. When the timer expires, the terminal simultaneously sends packets for connection maintenance notifications to all the servers having communication connections to the terminal.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining connections between a terminal and a plurality of servers in a stand-by state in which the terminal is connected to the servers, comprising:

synchronizing timers associated with respective ones of the connections to the plurality of servers by generating, by the terminal, timers for maintaining the connections to the plurality of servers;

determining whether any one of the generated timer expires;

simultaneously sending packets for connection maintenance notifications to all the servers having communication connections to the terminal when the timer expires, and

determining whether data to be transmitted/received by the terminal exists when the timer does not expire;

determining whether a remaining time until an expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than a preset RT time when the data to be transmitted/received exists; and

simultaneously sending the packets for the connection maintenance notifications to all the servers having the communication connections to the terminal when the remaining time until the expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than the preset RT time.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating includes:

generating the timers corresponding to the servers having the communication connections to the terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing times of the timers by re-starting the timers at the same time.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is an always-on terminal.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the generating further comprises:

integrating a first timer and a second timer, the first timer corresponding to a first TCP connection between the mobile terminal and a first server with the second timer corresponding to a second TCP connection between the mobile terminal and a second server; and

managing the first timer and second timer as one keep-alive timer.

5. A communication system for maintaining connections between a terminal and a plurality of servers in a stand-by state in which the terminal is connected to the servers, comprising:

the terminal configured to synchronize timers associated with respective ones of the connections to the plurality of servers by generating timers for maintaining the connections to the servers and determine whether any one of the generated timer expires; and

at least one server configured to check a connection maintenance state by receiving a packet for a connection maintenance notification from the terminal when the timer expires,

wherein it is determined whether data to be transmitted/received by the terminal exists when the timer does not expire, it is determined whether a remaining time until an expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than a preset RT time when the data to be transmitted/received exists, and the packets for the connection maintenance notifications to all the servers having the communication connections to the terminal are simultaneously sent when the remaining time until the expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than the preset RT time.

6. The communication system of claim 5, wherein the terminal is configured to generate the timers corresponding to the servers having the communication connections to the terminal.

7. The communication system of claim 5, wherein the terminal is configured to synchronize times of the timers by re-starting the timers at the same time.

8. The communication system of claim 5, wherein the terminal is an always-on terminal.

17. The communication system of claim 5, wherein the terminal is configured to generate timers by:

integrating a first timer and a second timer, the first timer corresponding to a first TCP connection between the mobile terminal and a first server with the second timer corresponding to a second TCP connection between the mobile terminal and a second server; and

managing the first timer and second timer as one keep-alive timer.

9. A mobile terminal for use in a communication system capable of maintaining connections between the mobile terminal and a plurality of servers in a stand-by state in which the mobile terminal is connected to the servers, comprising:

a timer generator configured to synchronize timers associated with respective ones of the connections to the plurality of servers by generating timers for maintaining the connections to the servers and determining whether a timer expires; and

a transceiver configured to communicate with at least one server, the server configured to check a connection maintenance state by receiving a packet for a connection maintenance notification from the terminal when the timer expires,

wherein the packets for the connection maintenance notifications to all the servers having the communication connections to the terminal are simultaneously sent when the remaining time until the expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than the preset RT time.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the timer generator is configured to generate the timers corresponding to the servers having the communication connections to the terminal.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to determine whether any one of the generated timers expires.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein the mobile terminal is configured to synchronize times of the timers by re-starting the timers at the same time.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein it is determined whether data to be transmitted/received by the mobile terminal exists when the timer does not expire, it is determined whether a remaining time until an expiration schedule of the timer is equal to or less than a preset RT time when the data to be transmitted/received exists.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the mobile terminal is an always-on terminal.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein the timer generator configured to generate timers in response to an establishment of a TCP connection between the mobile terminal and at least one of the plurality of servers.