Example of an Android Service using a periodic Runnable on a simple background thread

SampleService.java

/*
 * Example code to help with Stack Overflow post:
 * http://stackoverflow.com/questions/35843374/android-pausing-service-thread-asynctask-using-a-handler-with-postdelayed-for
 *
 * THIS IS JUST SAMPLE CODE, HAS NOT BEEN BUILT OR TESTED.
 */
public class MyService extends Service {
    protected static final DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 5000;
    protected static final EXTENDED_TIMEOUT = 20000;
    
    private HandlerThread   mBgThread;
    private Handler         mBgHandler;
    private MyTimerRunnable mRunnable;
    
    @Override
    public void onCreate() {
        mBgThread = new HandlerThread("MyBgThread");
        mBgThread.start();
        mBgHandler = new mBgHandler(mBgThread.getLooper(), this);
        mRunnable = new MyTimerRunnable();
    }

    @Override
    public int onStartCommand(Intent intent, int flags, int startId) {
      mBgHandler.removeCallbacks(mRunnable);
      mBgHandler.postDelayed(mRunnable, EXTENDED_TIMEOUT);
      return START_STICKY;
    }

    @Override
    public void onDestroy() {
      mBgHandler.removeCallbacks(mRunnable);
      mBgThread.quitSafely();
    }
    
    private class MyTimerRunnable implements Runnable {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            //  Do whatever work you need
            
            //  Reschedule the Runnable
            mBgHandler.postDelayed(this, DEFAULT_TIMEOUT);
        }
    }
}