Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory – Storage accessing and control – Hierarchical memories
Reexamination Certificate
2000-12-29
2003-11-18
Lane, Jack A. (Department: 2188)
Electrical computers and digital processing systems: memory
Storage accessing and control
Hierarchical memories
C711S133000, C709S226000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06651141
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of network services. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved architecture for network content distribution.
2. Description of the Related Art
A traditional network caching system, as illustrated in
FIG. 1
, includes a plurality of clients
130
-
133
communicating over a local area network
140
and/or a larger network
110
(e.g., the Internet). The clients
130
-
133
may run a browser application such as Netscape Navigator™ or Microsoft Internet Explorer™ which provides access to information on the World Wide Web (“the Web”) via the HyperText Transport Protocol (“HTTP”), or through other networking protocols (e.g., the File Transfer Protocol, Gopher . . . etc).
The browser on each client
130
-
133
may be configured so that all requests for information (e.g., Web pages) are transmitted through a local cache server
115
, commonly referred to as a “proxy cache.” When a client
130
requests information from a remote Internet server
120
, the local proxy cache
115
examines the request and initially determines whether the requested content is “cacheable” (a significant amount of Internet content is “non-cacheable”). If the local proxy cache
115
detects a non-cacheable request, it forwards the request directly to the content source (e.g., Internet server
120
). The requested content is then transmitted directly from the source
120
to the client
130
and is not stored locally on the proxy cache
115
.
By contrast, when the proxy cache
115
determines that a client
130
content request is cacheable, it searches for a copy of the content locally (e.g., on a local hard drive). If no local copy exists, then the proxy cache
115
determines whether the content is stored on a “parent” cache
117
(located further upstream in the network relative to the Internet server
120
) or a “sibling” cache
116
(located in substantially the same hierarchical position as the proxy cache relative to the Internet server
120
from which the content was requested).
If a cache “hit” is detected on either neighboring cache
116
,
117
, the requested content is retrieved from that cache, transmitted to the client
130
, and is stored locally on the proxy cache
115
to be available for future requests by other local clients
131
-
133
. If a cache “miss” occurs, however, the content is retrieved from the source Internet server
120
, transmitted to the client
130
and a copy is stored locally on the proxy cache
115
, and possibly also the parent cache
117
, to be available for future client requests.
One problem which exists with the foregoing arrangement, however, is that caching content based on a “first miss” algorithm (i.e., caching content locally as soon as it is requested) is extremely inefficient and does not necessarily result in a greater future cache hit ratio. For example, the foregoing system may replace more popular content with less popular content as long as the less popular content was requested more recently Moreover, prior systems do not factor in other variables (e.g., content size, content type, . . . etc) which may dramatically affect caching performance. While these prior systems may be adequate for caching Web pages and other relatively small network files, they are extremely inefficient at caching larger content types (e.g., multimedia files) which consume significantly more storage capacity and network bandwidth. For example, implementing a first-miss algorithm with multimedia files may result in continual replacement of files at the cache site due to limited storage capacity. Accordingly, what is needed is a more intelligent system and method for caching popular network content.
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Blakely , Sokoloff, Taylor & Zafman LLP
Intel Corporation
Lane Jack A.
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