Intermediary Translating Asynchronous Mobile Requests to Session-Based Web Services
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices using asynchronous protocols, such as email and SMS, lack the capability to interact with session-based web applications, which require multiple requests and responses, limiting their ability to navigate through services that expect session protocols.
Innovation Solution
An intermediary system is interposed between mobile devices and services to provide session capabilities, translating asynchronous requests into formats understood by session-based services, maintaining session context, and facilitating multiple message interactions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If mobile devices use asynchronous protocols (email, SMS), then device simplicity and ease of operation are improved, but the ability to interact with session-based web applications deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary component that sits between the mobile device and the web application. This intermediary translates asynchronous protocol messages (email, SMS) into session-based HTTP requests and responses, enabling mobile devices to interact with session-based web applications without requiring the device itself to implement complex session management capabilities.
2Device complexity
If mobile devices lack Web browsers, then device complexity is reduced, but user navigation capabilities and session support are lost
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediary acts as a virtual browser layer that provides user navigation capabilities to devices that lack native browser functionality. It receives simple user inputs (e.g., button presses on a keypad), translates them into web navigation actions, and presents web content in a format suitable for the device's display and input capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediary provides universal access to web applications across different device types and protocols. It can handle various asynchronous protocols (email, SMS, WAP) and translate them into a common session-based interface, making the system adaptable to diverse mobile devices without requiring each device to have specialized browser software.
3Device complexity
If asynchronous protocols are used, then communication simplicity is improved, but the ability to handle multiple requests and responses in a session deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediary maintains session state information and translates between asynchronous single-request protocols and synchronous multi-request sessions. It remembers the context of previous interactions and manages the stateful communication required by web applications, while presenting a simple stateless interface to the mobile device.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the fundamental parameters of communication by introducing session identifiers and state management mechanisms that transform asynchronous protocol interactions into session-based interactions. The intermediary modifies message formats, adds session context, and manages the temporal and contextual parameters required for web application functionality.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are provided for servicing requests that are issued in a protocol other than the protocol expected by the service. For example, many people want to use their mobile devices to interact with services, which require the ability to have multiple related messages in a session. However, their mobile devices do not have protocols that support interacting with such services. One technique provided herein is to interpose an intermediary between the mobile devices and the services to provide session capabilities on behalf of the mobile devices.