EXCHANGING DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A COMMUNICATION SESSION WITHIN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM

摘要

In an embodiment, an access terminal includes at least first, second and third functional layers, whereby the first functional layer (e.g., a MAC layer) attempts to a data packet on behalf of the third functional layer (e.g., an application-layer) to an application server via a serving network. If the first functional layer receives an ACK that the serving network has received the data packet, the third functional layer is notified of the ACK. If the first functional layer determines the attempt to transmit the data packet to the serving network has failed, the third functional layer is notified of the transmission failure. In another embodiment, during set-up of a traffic channel (TCH) for a communication session, the access terminal transmits a message to the application server over a signaling port that includes both application-layer and transport-layer connection information to facilitate set-up of a data port for the communication session. In an embodiment, a communications device exchanges, between first and second access terminals, higher priority data in association with a communication session of a first type and also lower priority data in association with a communication session of a second type. If the communications device determines a transition of the first access terminal to a lower data-rate environment, the communication device reduces a size of data packets exchanged between the first access terminal and an application server for the communication session of the second type. If the communications device determines an upcoming data packet is a low-data packet (e.g., a silence packet), the low-data packet is suppressed. If the communications device determines that the first access terminal has attempted transmission of a set of last or near-last data packets in the sequence, the communications device re-transmits the set of last or near-last data packets without waiting for ACKs. In an embodiment, objects are downloaded to an access terminal (AT) based on which window(s) are prominently displayed on the AT. In another embodiment, objects are downloaded to the AT based on a set of user-specified object download priorities. In another embodiment, a portion of a streaming data session to the AT is de-prioritized in response to a transition of a display of the AT from a first set of windows associated with the streaming data session to a second set of windows associated with a different session. For example, the de-prioritization can result in the portion (e.g., a video-portion of a audio and video conference) being omitted or reduced. In another embodiment, in response to the AT entering a limited environment, objects being downloaded to the AT can be dynamically altered to conform with the AT's limited environment.