Proxy API Procrastinates Irrelevant Network Transfers
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Solution Overview
Problem
The high cost of data transfers for mobile computing devices is a significant issue, as existing techniques such as compression, de-duplication, and user behavior modification do not adequately reduce network usage, and developers face challenges in utilizing APIs to optimize network usage effectively.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that procrastinate network transfers by determining their relevance to the current state of the application, using a proxy API or network offload procedure to delay or eliminate irrelevant data transfers, ensuring only relevant data is downloaded, thereby reducing network usage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If compression and de-duplication techniques are used on network traffic, then data transfer efficiency is improved, but the reduction in network usage is not sufficient to meet cost reduction goals
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of network calls before execution to determine their relevance to the current application state. By evaluating network calls in advance and blocking those that are not relevant, the system prevents unnecessary data transfers before they occur, achieving significant network usage reduction beyond what compression alone can provide.
2Loss of energy
If user behavior monitoring is implemented to change usage patterns, then network cost awareness is improved, but user time consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system automatically monitors application states and network calls, and autonomously determines which network transfers are relevant without requiring user intervention. The proxy application intelligently blocks irrelevant network calls based on its analysis of application state and network call relevance, allowing the system to self-regulate network usage without consuming user time.
3Loss of energy
If APIs for network usage reduction are provided to developers, then application-level optimization is enabled, but developer understanding and implementation difficulty increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a proxy application as an intermediary layer between the application and the network. This proxy automatically analyzes network calls and blocks irrelevant transfers without requiring developers to directly implement or understand complex optimization APIs. The proxy handles the complexity internally while presenting a simple interface to applications, thereby reducing network usage without increasing perceived complexity for developers.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods and systems for reducing network usage of a computing device are provided herein. The method includes receiving a network call relating to a network transfer from an application at an application programming interface of the computing device. The method also includes determining whether the network transfer is relevant to a current state of the application and procrastinating the network transfer if it is not relevant to the current state of the application.