Patent ID: 8073929

Claim:
A system for managing communications between a provider and a requestor in a distributed network, the system comprising: a requestor that is implemented on a computing device; a provider that is implemented on a computing device; an intervening access node in electronic communication with the requestor and the provider, wherein the intervening access node is part of an intervening access node network, the intervening access node comprising a database of bindings including a binding and a stay online binding, wherein the stay online binding is provided by the requestor and identifies the binding, the binding being provided by the provider, wherein the stay online binding identifies the binding that is desired by the requestor and the stay online binding is removed from the database of bindings upon receipt of a remove stay online binding message from the requestor, wherein the binding comprises: an object identifier and an interface identifier, wherein the interface identifier identifies an interface used to interact with a service; wherein the stay online binding comprises: an object identifier and a stay online identifier, wherein the stay online identifier comprises an indicator that indicates to a provider that the provider should stay online and provide the binding that has an object identifier that matches the object identifier of the stay online binding; wherein the provider receives the stay online binding from the requestor through the intervening access node and continues providing the binding, wherein the provider remains connected to the network if the stay online binding is present even if the requestor has already received desired data or services from the provider, wherein communications between the requestor and the provider are sent via the intervening access node network, and wherein the provider computing device comprises a processor, memory in electronic communication with the processor, and instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable to: monitor communications from the intervening access node within the intervening access node network for any stay online bindings that concern the provider.