{
  "patent_number": "US 7543038",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How to Keep Apps Running Without a Constant Internet Connection",
  "original_title": "Arrangement and method for impermanent connectivity",
  "summary": "IBM's method for letting apps think they are connected to a server even when the internet is offline by using a proxy that stores requests and fakes responses.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a way to keep software running smoothly on devices that move in and out of network coverage. When a client application sends a request, such as an FTP file download, a client proxy intercepts it. If the connection is down, the proxy stores the request and immediately sends a fake, substitute response to the application so it does not crash or hang. Once the device reconnects, the proxy sends the actual request to the server and updates the local file using a unique signature to ensure the right data is overwritten.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Does not cover real-time streaming services where a substitute response would lead to data corruption.",
    "Does not cover systems that rely on persistent, always-on connections without proxy-based interception.",
    "Does not cover general data caching that lacks the specific 'substitute response' mechanism for application continuity."
  ],
  "filed": "2003-11-13",
  "granted": "2009-06-02",
  "expires": "2023-11-13",
  "status": "expired",
  "holder": "International Business Machines Corp",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/international-business-machines-corp",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Andrew J Stanford-Clark",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/andrew-j-stanford-clark"
    },
    {
      "name": "David C Conway-Jones",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/david-c-conway-jones"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 1,
  "tags": [
    "telecommunications",
    "software",
    "consumer_electronics"
  ],
  "abstract": "A method and arrangement ( 100 ) for impermanent connectivity between a client unit ( 110 ) and a server ( 120 ) in a network, comprising: at the client unit, a client proxy function ( 114 ) for receiving information from/for a client application ( 112 ), for storing said information, and for relaying said information between the client unit and the server when a connectivity link ( 130 ) therebetween is established. The arrangement may further comprise a server proxy function ( 124 ), and a messaging subsystem ( 116, 122 ). The information may be SMTP, POP3, HTTP or FTP information. An FTP file ‘GET’ command may be performed by, in response to the ‘GET’ command, writing a local file at the client unit having a unique signature, and when the connectivity link is established, obtaining the requested file from the server, finding the file at the client unit having the unique signature, and over-writing the found file with the obtained file. This provides the advantages that: client application code does not have to be modified operation is largely invisible to the client.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7543038/arrangement-and-method-for-impermanent-connectivity",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/7543038/arrangement-and-method-for-impermanent-connectivity/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US7543038",
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}