USING AN EXPERT PROXY SERVER AS AN AGENT FOR WIRELESS DEVICES

An expert proxy server is described that is coupled to a number of wireless devices through a wireless network, and to a number of server computer systems through an external network such as, for example, the Internet. The expert proxy server acts as an agent for a wireless device by providing a service for the wireless device. Specifically, the expert proxy server determines that a service is to be provided to the wireless device. Next, the expert proxy server identifies an application that provides the service and then communicates with the identified application that provides the service. The expert proxy server compiles the results of the communication with the application and then transmits the compilation to the wireless device over the wireless network. Thus, the relatively smaller bandwidth of the wireless network is preserved by transmitting a minimal amount of information over the wireless network while leaving more extensive communications to occur over higher bandwidth external networks. Also, since the extensive processing occurs at the expert proxy server rather than at the wireless device, the application on the wireless device may be simplified and smaller as compared to the supporting applications on the expert proxy server thereby preserving the limited memory and processing capability of the wireless device.