Patent ID: 7532571
Filing Date: 2009-05-12
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of monitoring and providing online connectivity sources, comprising; monitoring a connectivity status of one or more connectivity sources, the one or more connectivity sources comprising at least a first connectivity source and a second connectivity source; selecting one of one or more available connectivity sources for use for online communications; connecting a user's computer to a remote computing system via the selected available connectivity source; monitoring whether the connection to the remote computing system via the selected connectivity source has failed; if the connection is detected as failed, then scheduling a poll on a background software thread; if the poll fails, then generating a notification that the connection to the remote computing system via the selected connectivity source is disconnected, wherein the selected connectivity source comprises the first connectivity source; attempting reconnection to the remote computing system; if the selected connectivity source is lost, determining whether the second connectivity source is available; if the second connectivity source is available, automatically connecting the user's computer to the remote computing system via the second connectivity source without user action; reducing an interval at which reconnection to the remote computing system is allowed from a first interval to a second interval after not being able to connect to the remote computing system using the first connectivity source for a given time period so that a connection attempt may be made to the remote computing system via the second connectivity source after the reduced interval; resetting the time period upon detecting a network change, the network change comprising a hardware change at the user's computer; switching back to the first interval upon detecting the network change; and marking the one or more connectivity sources as inoperable while the user's computer is shutting down to prevent subsequent online communication events from adding to shutdown delays.