Method and apparatus for controlling sending of heartbeat signal

#The present invention relates to the communications field, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for controlling sending of a heartbeat signal.

#With the development of services, such as Internet, mobile network, digital television, and mobile multimedia broadcasting services, Push, which emerged earliest as a push instruction in the computer programming language, has developed to be a client/server mechanism-based technology in which a server proactively sends information to a client. Internet Protocol (IP) Push refers to an Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)-based technology in which a server pushes a message to a mobile device through an IP network.

#To enable a server to push information to a mobile device in real time, a connection is established between the mobile device and the server. If there is no push message exchange for a long time, the connection may be disconnected, and consequently, the push message cannot be pushed to the mobile device in time. Therefore, to keep stability of the connection, the mobile device needs to send a heartbeat signal to the server at intervals, so as to keep the connection in an active state. In the prior art, after a connection is established between a mobile device and a server, the mobile device sends a heartbeat signal to the server at a fixed time interval, that is, the mobile device sends the heartbeat signal to the server at a fixed frequency. If a time interval for sending the heartbeat signal is too long, the connection may be disconnected due to interference, such as network quality or a firewall, causing that a push message cannot be pushed by the server to the mobile device in time. If the time interval for sending the heartbeat signal is too short, the mobile device needs to enable a network constantly, so as to send the heartbeat signal to the server, which increases battery power consumption of the mobile device and increases network traffic of the mobile device.

#To describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the following briefly introduces the accompanying drawings required for describing the embodiments. The accompanying drawings in the following description show merely some embodiments of the present invention, and a person of ordinary skill in the art may still derive other drawings from these accompanying drawings without creative efforts.

#FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an apparatus for controlling sending of a heartbeat signal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#FIG. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of another apparatus for controlling sending of a heartbeat signal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

#To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer and more comprehensible, the following further describes the present invention in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

#According to a method and an apparatus for controlling sending of a heartbeat signal provided by embodiments of the present invention, a push client acquires a target push delay corresponding to all target applications; the push client sends the target push delay to a push server; the push server receives the target push delay sent by the push client and corresponding to all the target applications; the push server acquires a first heartbeat signal control time corresponding to the target push delay; the push server sends the first heartbeat signal control time to the push client; the push client receives the first heartbeat signal control time; and the push client sends a heartbeat signal to the push server at an interval of the first heartbeat signal control time. A heartbeat signal control time can be adjusted according to a target application, so that the push client can send a heartbeat signal to the push server at an interval of the heartbeat signal control time, which ensures stability of a Push connection, thereby further improving timeliness of push message pushing and enhancing user experience. Furthermore, because a length of the heartbeat signal control time can be adjusted according to the target application, unnecessary power consumption and network data traffic can be reduced.

#The push server refers to a server that can provide a Push service. The Push server is connected to the Push client through an IP network, for example, a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection may be established between the Push client and the Push server. To keep stability of the connection, the Push client sends a heartbeat signal to the Push server at intervals, to keep the connection in an active state and keep the stability of the Push connection. The Push server may push a message to the Push client at any time by using the Push connection.