Patent ID: 7945250

Claim:
A method of reducing bandwidth utilization while providing information to a client from a client access network in the form of user information regarding a set of users, said method comprising the following steps: receiving in an information delivery server, a subscription request from the client for certain information on the set of users; receiving and storing by the server, information updates regarding users in the set; receiving by the server, a first request for the certain user information from the client; retrieving by the server, stored user information corresponding to the requested user information; sending a first notification from the server to the client, the first notification including the retrieved user information, in response to the first user information request; receiving by the server, a subsequent request for the certain user information from the client, wherein the same information is requested in the first and subsequent requests; comparing by the server, currently stored user information with the retrieved user information sent to the client in the first notification to determine whether there are any changes in the user information since the first notification; when there are no changes in the user information, sending a subsequent notification from the server to the client indicating that the user information has not changed; and when there are changes in the user information since the first notification, sending the subsequent notification from the server to the client indicating only the changes in the user information since the first notification.