Patent ID: 8228830

Claim:
A method for conserving power on a mobile computing device, comprising: establishing a first communication channel using a first communication protocol between a server device and the mobile computing device; establishing a second communication channel using a second communication protocol between the server device and the mobile computing device, wherein the second communication protocol requires less power to maintain than the first communication protocol; discontinuing channel maintenance activity on the first communication channel when a period of inactivity on the first communication channel exceeds a timeout parameter; determining, at the server device, when the channel maintenance activity has been discontinued by comparing the period of inactivity on the first communication channel to the timeout parameter; signaling the mobile communication device from the server device via the second communication channel when the server has determined that the channel maintenance activity has been discontinued; and setting a flag in a signal, from the server device to the mobile communication device, corresponding to the signaling, the flag indicative of whether or not to resume the channel maintenance activity on the first communication channel.