I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for maintaining an always-on data session in a wireless communication network.
II. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various services such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.
An access terminal may establish a data session with a wireless network in order to obtain a data service. A data session is a configuration setup that allows for exchange of data between an access terminal and a wireless network. A data session may be established in different manners for different wireless networks and may be associated with configuration information and/or assigned resources. A data service may be any service offered by a wireless network and involving exchanges of data. Some examples of data services include voice, video, general Internet connectivity, multimedia streaming and broadcast services, Short Message Service (SMS) and text messaging services, geographic position-based services, etc.
An access terminal may be active only sporadically during a data session and may exchange data with a wireless network whenever there is data to send or receive. However, it may be desirable to have the data session be always on, so that data may be exchanged quickly when available. It may also be desirable to maintain the always-on data session using as little network resources as possible.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to efficiently maintain an always-on data session for an access terminal in a wireless communication network.