System and method for pushing information from a host system to a mobile data communication device in a wireless data network

Abstract

A system and method for redirecting data from a host system (or messaging server) to one or more mobile data communication devices via a wireless packet data network is provided in which the wireless packet data network dynamically assigns addresses to the one or more mobile data communication devices on an as-needed basis. A redirector application operating at the host system is configured by each user to continuously redirect certain data to the wireless packet data network, as the data is received (or otherwise altered) at the host system. Two methods are provided for communicating the redirected data from the network to the mobile device. In a first method, the mobile device is configured to periodically contact a store-and-forward server within the wireless network, which, when contacted, assigns a network address to the mobile device and then transmits the stored, redirected data to the mobile device. In a second method, the network transmits a connection request command to the mobile device via a parallel voice network, or via a command channel, or other type of low-bandwidth data channel. The mobile device then contacts the data network and requests a network address so that the store-and-forward server can send the redirected data to the mobile device.