Smart management of background network connections based on historical data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9603086-B2
Application number	US-201414164087-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 24, 2014
Priority date	Jun 7, 2013
Publication date	Mar 21, 2017
Grant date	Mar 21, 2017

Abstract

In some implementations, a network daemon can manage access to a mobile device's network interface. The network daemon (e.g., network connection managing process) can monitor the condition of the mobile device's network connection on one or more interfaces. The network daemon can monitor many conditions on the mobile device. The network daemon can receive background networking requests from network clients (e.g., processes, applications) that specify criteria for initiating a network connection. The network daemon can then smartly manage network connections taking into account network conditions, mobile device conditions and/or client criteria received in the client request. This can help reduce battery life impact, memory usage, likelihood of call drops, data usage cost, and load on network operators.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a request from a client process executing on a mobile device, the request including one or more connection criteria, the one or more connection criteria specifying a time interval during which a network connection to a network should be established;
obtaining historical network connection data by the mobile device, the historical network connection data indicating a time that the network will become available;
determining, by the mobile device, that the time that the network will become available is within the time interval based on the one or more connection criteria and the historical network connection data; and
in response to the determining, delaying establishing the network connection until the time the network is available,
where the method is performed by one or more hardware processors.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining based on the historical network connection data that a Wi-Fi connection is likely to be encountered within the time interval specified in the one or more connection criteria.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more connection criteria specify the time interval as a start time and an end time.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
determining that the mobile device has not connected to a predicted Wi-Fi connection within a threshold period of time of the time as specified in the historical network connection data; and
based on the determination, establishing a network connection based on the one or more connection criteria and one or more policies for determining that a network connection should be established.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on an energy budget for the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on a data budget for the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving network connection guidance from one or more persistent network clients; and
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on the received network connection guidance.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, causes:
receiving a request from a client process executing on a mobile device, the request including one or more connection criteria, the one or more connection criteria specifying a time interval during which a network connection to a network should be established;
obtaining historical network connection data, the historical network connection data indicating a time that the network will become available;
determining that the time that the network will become available is within the time interval based the connection criteria and the historical network connection data; and
in response to the determining, delaying establishing the network connection until the time the network is available.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining based on the historical network connection data that a Wi-Fi connection is likely to be encountered within the time interval specified in the one or more connection criteria.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the connection criteria specify the time interval as a start time and an end time.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that the mobile device has not connected to a predicted Wi-Fi connection within a threshold period of time of the time as specified in the historical network connection data; and
based on the determination, establishing a network connection based on the one or more connection criteria and one or more policies for determining that a network connection should be established.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on an energy budget for the mobile device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on a data budget for the mobile device.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 11 , wherein the instructions cause:
receiving network connection guidance from one or more persistent network clients; and
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on the received network connection guidance.

15. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
a computer-readable medium including one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes:
receiving a request from a client process, the request including one or more connection criteria, the one or more connection criteria specifying a time interval during which a network connection to a network should be established;
obtaining historical network connection data, the historical network connection data indicating a time that the network will become available;
determining that the time that the network will become available is within the time interval based on the one or more connection criteria and the historical network connection data; and
in response to the determining, delaying establishing the network connection until the time specified in the network is available.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining based on the historical network connection data that a Wi-Fi connection is likely to be encountered within the time interval specified in the one or more connection criteria.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the one or more connection criteria specify the time interval as a start time and an end time.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that a mobile device has not connected to a predicted Wi-Fi connection within a threshold period of time of the time as specified in the historical network connection data; and
based on the determination, establishing a network connection based on the one or more connection criteria and one or more policies for determining that a network connection should be established.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on an energy budget for the mobile device.

20. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause:
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on a data budget for the mobile device.

21. The system of claim 18 , wherein the instructions cause:
receiving network connection guidance from one or more persistent network clients; and
determining that the network connection should be established for the client process based on the received network connection guidance.

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Lam Andrew C
• Chang Ray Ling
• Parker Steven Douglas
• Vyas Amit K
• Graessley Joshua V
• Iarocci John
• Litzinger Darren
• Wood Justin
• Klahn Matthew Scott
• Pollack Daniel B

Classifications

• H04W76/02

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W36/36

  by user or terminal equipment · CPC title

• H04W76/00

  Connection management · CPC title

• H04W8/18

  Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data · CPC title

• H04W36/26

  by agreed or negotiated communication parameters · CPC title