Data caching at the edge of a mobile data network

• US 10,021,696 B2
• Filed: 11/16/2011
• Issued: 07/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Kalmbach, Michael T., Schroeder, Mark D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sefcheck, Gregory B
• Application Number:
  US13/297,882
• Publication Number:
  US 20130121324A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,428 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/289 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load

Abstract

Mobile network services are performed in a mobile data network in a way that is transparent to most of the existing equipment in the mobile data network. The mobile data network includes a radio access network and a core network. An edge caching mechanism is provided within a basestation to perform caching of data at the edge of the mobile data network. The edge caching mechanism analyzes historical usage data that indicates historical accesses to the basestation. Data patterns in the historical usage data may be used to define cache load criteria and to optionally define cache flush criteria. This architecture allows caching of data at the edge of a mobile data network within the infrastructure of an existing mobile data network.

Claims

1. A mobile data network comprising:

a plurality of basestations, each basestation communicating with a corresponding antenna that transmits and receives radio signals to and from user equipment, wherein the plurality of basestations are part of a radio access network that communicates with a core network in the mobile data network, one of the plurality of basestations comprising;

a data caching mechanism that logs usage data relating to interaction of a plurality of user equipment with the one basestation, processes the usage data to determine at least one usage pattern that comprises date, time and device type of the plurality of user equipment accessing the one basestation, generates from at least one usage pattern at least one cache load criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, generates from the at least one usage pattern at least one cache flush criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, wherein the data caching mechanism stores in a cache first internet protocol (IP) data retrieved from the internet through the core network in response to a first IP data request from first user equipment when the at least one cache load criterion is satisfied and flushes data from the cache when the at least one cache flush criteria is satisfied, the data caching mechanism returning the first IP data in response to a second IP data request without sending the second IP data request to the core network, wherein the data caching mechanism determines a first class of user equipment that makes a number of IP requests that are less than a predetermined threshold and a second class of user equipment that makes a number of IP requests that are more than the predetermined threshold, wherein the data caching mechanism generates the at least one cache load criterion and the at least one cache flush criterion to maximize the likelihood of data requested by the second class of user equipment being in the cache.

2. A program product comprising software recorded on non-transitory media, the software comprising:

a data caching mechanism that logs usage data relating to interaction of a plurality of user equipment with one of a plurality of basestations, processes the usage data to determine at least one usage pattern that comprises date, time and device type of the plurality of user equipment accessing the basestation, generates from at least one usage pattern at least one cache load criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, generates from the at least one usage pattern at least one cache flush criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, wherein the data caching mechanism stores in a cache first internet protocol (IP) data retrieved from the internet through a core network of a mobile data network in response to a first IP data request from first user equipment when the at least one cache load criterion is satisfied and flushes data from the cache when the at least one cache flush criteria is satisfied, the mobile data network comprising the plurality of basestations, each basestation communicating with a corresponding antenna that transmits and receives radio signals to and from the plurality of user equipment, wherein the plurality of basestations are part of a radio access network that communicates with the core network in the mobile data network, the data caching mechanism residing in the one basestation;

the data caching mechanism returning the first IP data in response to a second IP data request without sending the second IP data request to the core network;

wherein the data caching mechanism determines a first class of user equipment that makes a number of IP requests that are less than a predetermined threshold and a second class of user equipment that makes a number of IP requests that are more than the predetermined threshold, wherein the data caching mechanism generates the at least one cache load criterion and the at least one cache flush criterion to maximize the likelihood of data requested by the second class of user equipment being in the cache.

3. A mobile data network comprising:

a plurality of basestations, each basestation communicating with a corresponding antenna that transmits and receives radio signals to and from user equipment, wherein the plurality of basestations are part of a radio access network that communicates with a core network in the mobile data network, one of the plurality of basestations comprising;

a data caching mechanism that logs usage data relating to interaction of a plurality of user equipment with the one basestation, processes the usage data to determine at least one usage pattern that comprises date, time and device type of the plurality of user equipment accessing the one basestation, determines a first class of the user equipment that makes a number of IP requests to the one basestation that are less than a predetermined threshold and a second class of the user equipment that makes a number of IP requests that exceeds the predetermined threshold, generates from at least one usage pattern and the user equipment that makes the number of IP requests to the one basestation that is less than the predetermined threshold a first cache load criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, generates from the at least one usage pattern and the user equipment that makes the number of IP requests to the one basestation that is less than the predetermined threshold a first cache flush criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, generates from at least one usage pattern and user equipment that makes the number of IP requests to the one basestation that exceeds the predetermined threshold a second cache load criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, generates from the at least one usage pattern and the user equipment that makes the number of IP requests to the one basestation that exceeds the predetermined threshold a second cache flush criterion that specifies date, time and device type of user equipment, wherein the first and second cache load criterion are different and the first and second cache flush criterion are different, wherein the second cache load criterion and the second cache flush criterion maximize the likelihood of data requested by the second class of user equipment being in a cache, wherein the data caching mechanism stores in the cache first internet protocol (IP) data retrieved from the internet through the core network in response to a first IP data request from first user equipment in the first class of user equipment when the first cache load criterion is satisfied and flushes data from the cache when the first cache flush criteria is satisfied, wherein the data caching mechanism stores in the cache second internet protocol (IP) data retrieved from the internet through the core network in response to a second IP data request from second user equipment in the second class of user equipment when the second cache load criterion is satisfied and flushes data from the cache when the second cache flush criteria is satisfied, the data caching mechanism returning the first IP data in response to a third IP data request from user equipment in the first class of user equipment without sending the second IP data request to the core network and returning the second IP data in response to a fourth IP data request from user equipment in the second class of user equipment without sending the fourth IP data request to the core network.