Patent ID: 8351449

Claim:
A computer implemented method for scheduling data communications for a mobile communication device with at least one intermittent lower cost network interface and at least one long-range wireless network interface, the method comprising: receiving, by a computing device, requests to communicate data items between the mobile communication device and remote computing devices, each data item having an associated deadline and an associated urgency rating; creating a transmission schedule by assigning data items to be transmitted, by a computing device, to specific times for transmission over the long-range wireless network interface, the assignment of each data item to its specific time being based on the deadline and urgency rating of the data item, wherein creating the transmission schedule by assigning data items to be transmitted to specific times for transmission over the long-range wireless network interface further comprises 1) dividing, by a computing device, each data item to be transmitted into at least one fixed-length bundle, and 2) assigning, by a computing device, each fixed-length bundle to a specific time slot for transmission; responsive to no network interface with a lower cost of use than the long-range wireless network interface being available, transmitting, by a computing device, data items between the mobile communication device and remote computing devices, according to the transmission schedule, such that no data item is transmitted prior to occurrence of the time to which the data item is assigned; and responsive to a network interface with a lower cost of use than the long-range wireless network interface being available, transmitting, by a computing device, data items over the lower cost network interface.