Socket management for always-on data connections

Abstract

A method of automatically keeping sockets open for always-on applications in a GPRS context is provided. Information is maintained by each wireless device identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with a PDP (packet data protocol) context used by an always-on application. Upon the PDP context becoming available after having become unavailable, a socket is registered for each port-APN pair associated with the PDP context.

1 . A method in a wireless device comprising:
 maintaining information identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with a PDP (packet data protocol) context used by an always-on application; and   upon the PDP context becoming available after having become unavailable, registering a socket for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  comprising executing the maintaining and registering for each of a plurality of PDP contexts each used by at least one always-on application. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 automatically maintaining the PDP context associated with an always-on application;   detecting when the PDP context is no longer available; and   detecting when the PDP context is again available.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 for each APN-port pair of an active context maintaining a respective socket identifier; and   upon the PDP context becoming unavailable, closing the socket having the respective socket identifier for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the maintaining information comprises:
 when registering a new port for a given APN, adding an APN-port pair to a list of APN-port pairs; and   when de-registering a port for a given APN, removing the APN-port pair from the list.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 when de-registering an entire APN, closing the socket for each APN-port pair if the PDP context is available and removing each APN-port pairs from the information.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  wherein upon receipt of a request to register the new port for the given APN, if the PDP context is available, applying registration for the APN-port pair. 
     
     
         8 . A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by a wireless device, the instructions comprising an always-on application configured to:
 maintain information identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with a PDP (packet data protocol) context used by an always-on application; and   upon the PDP context becoming available after having become unavailable, register a socket for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context.   
     
     
         9 . A wireless device comprising:
 a socket layer;   an always on application;   an automatic socket manager;   the automatic socket manager being configured to maintain in an information store information identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with a PDP (packet data protocol) context used by the always-on application; and   wherein upon the PDP context becoming available after having become unavailable, the automatic socket manager registers a socket with said socket layer for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context.   
     
     
         10 . The wireless device of  claim 9  wherein:
 the information store is used to maintain information identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with each of a plurality of PDP (packet data protocol) contexts used by the always-on application; and   upon one of the PDP contexts becoming available after having become unavailable, the automatic socket manager registers a socket for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context that became unavailable.   
     
     
         11 . The wireless device of  claim 9  wherein the automatic socket manager is further configured to:
 for each APN-port pair of an active context, maintain a respective socket identifier; and   upon the PDP context becoming unavailable, close the socket having the respective socket identifier for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context.   
     
     
         12 . The wireless device of  claim 9  wherein the information is maintained by:
 when registering a new port for a given APN, adding an APN-port pair to a list of APN-port pairs; and   when de-registering a port for a given APN, removing the APN-port pair from the list.   
     
     
         13 . The wireless device of  claim 9 , wherein the automatic socket manager is further configured to:
 when de-registering an entire APN, closing a socket for each APN-port pair if the PDP context is available and removing each APN-port pair from the information.   
     
     
         14 . A wireless device comprising:
 a socket layer;   an always-on application configured to:   maintain information identifying each APN (access point name)-port pair associated with a PDP (packet data protocol) context used by an always-on application; and   upon the PDP context becoming available after having become unavailable, register a socket for each APN-port pair associated with the PDP context,   wherein register a socket comprises register the socket with the socket layer.   
     
     
         15 . The wireless device of  claim 14  further comprising:
 at least one intermittent application.   
     
     
         16 . A method in a wireless device comprising:
 for each of at least one data service used by an always-on application, maintaining information identifying each socket used by the always-on application in using the data service; and   upon one of the data services becoming available after having become unavailable, registering a new socket for each socket used by the always-on application, in using the data service.   
     
     
         17 . A computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for execution by a wireless device, the instructions comprising an always-on application configured to:
 for each of at least one data service used by an always-on application, maintain information identifying each socket used by the always-on application in using the data service; and   upon one of the data services becoming available after having become unavailable, register a new socket for each socket used by the always-on application, in using the data service.   
     
     
         18 . A wireless device configured to:
 for each of at least one data service used by an always-on application, maintain information identifying each socket used by the always-on application in using the data service; and   upon one of the data services becoming available after having become unavailable, register a new socket for each socket used by the always-on application, in using the data service.