Methods and systems for providing application programming interfaces and application programming interface extensions to third party applications for optimizing and minimizing application traffic

Abstract

Methods and systems for providing APIs and API extensions to third party applications for optimizing and minimizing application traffic are provided. According to one aspect, a method for optimizing and minimizing application traffic in a wireless network includes defining an application programming interface (API) for controlling application traffic between an application client residing on a mobile device that operates within a wireless network and an application server not residing on the mobile device and using the API to optimize application traffic in the wireless network.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for optimizing and minimizing application traffic in a wireless network, the method comprising:
 defining an application programming interface (API) for controlling application traffic between an application client residing on a mobile device that operates within a wireless network and an application server not residing on the mobile device; and   using the API to optimize application traffic in the wireless network.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein using the API to optimize application traffic includes using the API for at least one of:
 providing delivery notification to the sending entity; 
 providing display confirmation to the sending entity; 
 adjusting message priority; 
 adjusting optimization on a protocol-by-protocol basis; 
 controlling delivery of application traffic sent from the application client to the application server; and 
 controlling delivery of application traffic sent between the application server and the application client. 
 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein controlling delivery of application traffic sent between the application server and the application client includes at least one of:
 allowing or denying delivery of traffic to the application client based on the state of the mobile device; 
 allowing or denying delivery of traffic to the application client based on the state of the network connection between the mobile device and the wireless network; 
 controlling the delivery of application traffic based on subscriber tier; and 
 modifying the delivery time of one or more packets of data being sent between the application server and the application client. 
 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein modifying the delivery time of one or more packets of data being sent between the application server and the application client includes at least one of:
 sending a plurality of data packets together as a batch; 
 sending data packets within a defined window of time; 
 aligning transmission of the data packets with an event or state of the application client; 
 sending packets to the application client when the application client is in the foreground and not sending packets to the application client when the application client is in the background; 
 sending packets to the application client when the application client is active and not sending packets to the application client when the application client is in active; and 
 sending packets to the application client when the screen of the mobile device is on and not sending packets to the application client when the screen of the mobile device is not on. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the application client uses the API to optimize application traffic. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the application server uses the API to optimize application traffic. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein using the API to optimize application traffic includes using the API to redirect traffic through a client-side proxy located on the mobile device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  wherein the client-side proxy uses the API to optimize application traffic. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1  wherein defining the API includes defining and non-standard extensions to an industry standard API. 
     
     
         10 . A system for optimizing and minimizing application traffic, the system comprising:
 a mobile device that operates within a wireless network, the mobile device including an application client that interacts with an application server not residing on the mobile device,   wherein the mobile device supports an application programming interface (API) for controlling application traffic between the application client and the application server, and   wherein the API is used to optimize the application traffic.