Maintaining communication connections during temporary network disruptions

A server computer that processes IM messages, the server computer comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing computer-readable instructions that when executed by the processor cause the server computer to
• establish a communications channel between a client device and the server computer;
• accept log in information from the client device and change a status of the client device from logged out to logged in;
• receive a heartbeat request from the logged in client device;
• in response to receiving the heartbeat request, waiting a period of time to send a heartbeat response to the logged in client device, wherein a length of the period of time is configured by the server based on the network connectivity between the logged in client device and the server;
• automatically identify a data disconnection with the client device running a presence application comprising Instant Messaging (IM) capability when the server is not able to send a message to the logged in client device over the communications channel;
• determine whether the data disconnection is a temporary disconnection or a longer-lasting disconnection;
• when it is determined that the data disconnection is the temporary disconnection then, during a period of temporary disconnection:
• maintain the status of the client device as logged in even though the data connection is disconnected;
• cache one or more incoming presence status updates for one or more contacts of the user of the client device;
• set user status for a user of the client device to away during the period of temporary disconnection;
• and
• automatically attempt to re-establish the data connection with the client device;
• and
• when it is determined that the disconnection is the longer-lasting disconnection, change the status of the client device-to logged out and change the status of the user to offline.

A system for operating during temporary disruptions of network connectivity, comprising:

• a processor and a computer-readable medium;
• an operating environment stored on the computer-readable medium and executing on the processor;
• a network interface unit configured to connect with a server;
• a connection manager operating on the processor;
• and configured to perform tasks, comprising:
• establishing a data connection with the server;
• signing into the server with a login;
• sending a heartbeat request to the server;
• automatically identifying a data disconnection when a response to the heartbeat request is not received from the server within a time period, wherein the response from the server is one of an empty heartbeat response and a notification response and a length of the time period is based on the network connectivity;
• determining whether the data disconnection is a temporary disconnection or a longer-lasting disconnection;
• and
• during a period of temporary disconnection:
• maintaining the login with the server even though the data connection is disconnected;
• performing IM operations during the temporary disconnection;
• automatically attempting to re-establish a data connection;
• and
• converting an IM to a Short Message Service (SMS) message and delivering the SMS message instead of the IM message during the temporary disconnection;
• and
• during a period of the longer-lasting disconnection, signing out the user from the server and setting the presence status of the user to offline.