Dynamic adjustment of keep-alive message intervals in a mobile network

• US 8,731,542 B2
• Filed: 03/08/2011
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/11/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks International Oy (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Salorinne, Seppo, Tervahauta, Mikko, Ahonen, Jukka, Backholm, Ari, Daavittila, Mikko, Everitt, Andrew, Vuornos, Lauri
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Application Number:
  US13/043,425
• Publication Number:
  US 20120008536A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,169 Days
• Field of Search: 455/466, 370/344
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/103 with adaptive polling, i.e. dynamically adapting the polling rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• 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: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/44 in connection with interruption of transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 70/30 Systems integrating technologies related to power network operation and communication or information technologies for improving the carbon footprint of the management of residential or tertiary loads, i.e. smart grids as climate change mitigation technology in the buildings sector, including also the last stages of power distribution and the control, monitoring or operating management systems at local level
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Systems and methods for dynamic adjustment of keep-alive message intervals in a mobile network are disclosed. One embodiment of maintaining an IP connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network includes, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, detecting a rate with which the client-slide request are made from the mobile terminal, sending, by the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node, and/or further optimizing the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network.

Claims

1. A method of maintaining an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network, comprising:

detecting a rate with which client-slide requests are made from the mobile terminal;

dynamically adjusting time intervals between keep-alive messages sent from the network node to the mobile terminal based on the rate with which the client-side requests are made;

sending, from the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node;

optimizing the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network, wherein the cost includes a cost to re-establish the IP connection in the event of disconnection.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising, monitoring a rate of change in source data which is queried by the client-side requests.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the time intervals between the keep-alive messages are adjusted based on the rate of change in the source data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein, the cost includes battery life of the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising, transmitting the time interval to the mobile terminal with at least some of the keep-alive messages.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, transmitting the time interval to the mobile terminal with a cache update message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising, monitoring an average communication rate and a deviation rate of the average communication rate between the mobile terminal and the network node.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein, the time intervals are adjusted based on the average communication rate and the average deviation rate.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising, monitoring periods of inactivity between the mobile terminal and the network node.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising, determining a maximum interval between keep-alive messages sent between the mobile terminal and the network node to prevent disconnection of the IP connection based on the periods of inactivity.

11. A method of maintaining an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network, comprising:

monitoring periods of inactivity between the mobile terminal and the network node;

determining a maximum interval between keep-alive messages sent between the mobile terminal and the network node to prevent disconnection of the IP connection based on the periods of inactivity that are monitored;

in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node, sending, from the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal;

detecting, at the network node, a rate with which content requested from the mobile terminal is changing;

dynamically adjusting time intervals between the keep-alive messages sent to the mobile terminal based on the rate with which the content is changing and a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network, wherein the cost includes a cost to re-establish the IP connection in the event of disconnection.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein, the time intervals are adjusted to be proportional to the rate at which the content is changing.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein, at least some of the keep-alive messages are sent using, one or more of, SMS channel, a signaling channel, and a control channel when radio of the mobile terminal is dormant.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein, dynamically adjusting the time intervals includes increasing the time intervals by multiplying a current time interval with a constant.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising, prior to adjusting the time intervals based on the rate of change of the content, setting an initial time interval based on a polling rate of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) loaded on the mobile device.

16. A non-transient machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions which when executed, cause a processor to perform a method of maintaining an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network, the method, comprising:

setting an initial time interval based on a polling rate of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) loaded on the mobile device;

monitoring periods of inactivity between the mobile terminal and the network node;

determining a maximum interval between keep-alive messages sent between the mobile terminal and the network node to prevent disconnection of the IP connection based on the periods of inactivity that are monitored;

in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node, sending, from the network node, keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal;

detecting a rate with which content requested from the mobile terminal is changing;

dynamically adjusting time intervals between the keep-alive messages sent to the mobile terminal based on the rate with which the content is changing;

optimizing the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network, wherein the cost includes a cost to re-establish the IP connection in the event of disconnection.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, the cost includes battery life of the mobile terminal.

18. A system for maintaining an Internet Protocol (IP) connection between a mobile terminal and a network node over a network, the system comprising:

a processor;

memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the system to;

detect a rate with which client-slide requests are made from the mobile terminal;

dynamically adjust time intervals between keep-alive messages sent from the network node to the mobile terminal based on the rate with which the client-side requests are made;

direct the network node to send keep-alive messages to the mobile terminal in an absence of network traffic through the IP connection between the mobile terminal and the network node;

optimize the time intervals between the keep-alive messages based on a cost to send the keep-alive messages in the network, wherein the cost includes a cost to re-establish the IP connection in the event of disconnection.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to monitor a rate of change in source data which is queried by the client-side requests.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein, the time intervals between the keep-alive messages are adjusted based on the rate of change in the source data.

21. The system of claim 18, wherein, the cost includes battery life of the mobile terminal.

22. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to transmit the time interval to the mobile terminal with at least some of the keep-alive messages.

23. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to transmit the time interval to the mobile terminal with a cache update message.

24. The system of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further cause the system to monitor an average communication rate and a deviation rate of the average communication rate between the mobile terminal and the network node.

25. The system of claim 18, wherein, the time intervals are adjusted based on the average communication rate and the average deviation rate.