Methods, systems, and computer program products for sharing information for detecting an idle TCP connection

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• at a server computer including a non-transitory memory storing a network application, and one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory memory for executing the network application to operate in accordance with a first protocol including a transmission control protocol (TCP):
• causing a TCP connection to be established with a client computer;
• causing first data to be communicated from the server computer to the client computer utilizing the TCP connection in accordance with the TCP protocol and a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), for being presented to a user of the client computer;
• receiving second data, from the user of the client computer, utilizing the TCP connection in accordance with the TCP protocol and the HTTP protocol;
• and
• permitting access to code that, based on use by the client computer, results in the client computer operating in accordance with a second protocol that is separate from the TCP, in order to establish a second protocol connection with another server computer, by:
• identifying idle information for detecting an idle time period, based on which, the second protocol connection is subject to deactivation,
• generating a second protocol packet including an idle time period parameter field identifying metadata for the idle time period based on the idle information, and
• sending, from the client computer to the another server computer, the second protocol packet to provide the metadata for the idle time period to the another server computer, for use by the another server computer in creating or modifying, based on the metadata, a timeout attribute associated with the second protocol connection.

A computer-implemented method comprising:

• at a server computer including a non-transitory memory storing instructions, and one or more processors in communication with the non-transitory memory for executing the instructions such that the server computer operates in accordance with a first protocol including a transmission control protocol (TCP) in order to set up a TCP connection with a client computer:
• causing first data to be communicated from the server computer to the client computer utilizing the TCP connection in accordance with the TCP protocol and a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), for being presented to a user of the client computer;
• receiving, at the server computer, second data of the user of the client computer, utilizing the TCP connection in accordance with the TCP protocol and the HTTP protocol;
• and
• permitting access to code that causes the client computer to operate in accordance with a second protocol that is different from the TCP and that operates above an Internet Protocol (IP) layer and below an HTTP application layer, in order to setup a second protocol connection with another server computer, by:
• receiving, by the client computer from the another server computer, a packet,
• identifying metadata, that specifies a number of seconds or minutes, in an idle time period parameter field in the packet for an idle time period during which, no packet is communicated that meets each of the following criteria:
• a) communicated via the second protocol connection, and b) causes the second protocol connection to be kept at least partially alive, and
• determining, by the client computer and based on the metadata, a timeout attribute associated with the second protocol connection.