Intranet distributed caching

• US 10,063,650 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2014
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Lagor, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US14/493,205
• Publication Number:
  US 20160088114A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,436 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/252 Store and forward routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A routing device capable of performing application layer data caching is described. Application data caching at a routing device can alleviate the bottleneck that an application data host may experience during high demands for application data. Requests for the application data can also be fulfilled faster by eliminating the network delays for communicating with the application data host. The techniques described can also be used to perform analysis of the underlying application data in the network traffic transiting though a routing device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, on a first routing device of a plurality of routing devices, a request for application data including a data file;

determining that the data file is to be cached based on previous requests for the data file;

determining a size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device for caching data;

determining, using the size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device, that the data file will be cached across multiple routing devices;

determining, using the amount of available memory on the first routing device, a first portion of the data file and a second portion of the data file distinct from the first portion, wherein a size of the first portion of the data file is less than or equal to the amount of available memory on the first routing device;

caching the first portion of the data file at the first routing device;

determining, by the first routing device, that a second routing device of the plurality of routing devices has an amount of available memory sufficient for caching the second portion of the data file; and

sending, by the first routing device, a notification to the second routing device of the plurality of routing devices to cache the second portion of the data file that is not being cached at the first routing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from a client device, a subsequent request for the data file;

providing the first portion of the data file from the first routing device to the client device.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

requesting the second routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the client device.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

requesting the second routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the first routing device for transmission to the client device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein when the determination to cache the data file occurs concurrently while the second routing device is in a process of transmitting the data file to a client device, the notification to the second routing device notifies the second routing device to cache a remaining portion of the data file that has not been transmitted to the client device by the second routing device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first portion of the application being cached at the first routing device corresponds to a transmitted portion of the data file that the second routing device has already transmitted to the client device.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the first routing device, the second portion of the data file to the second routing device.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the first routing device, that the data file is no longer to be cached; and

notifying the second routing device to de-cache the second portion of the data file.

25. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the first routing device, the second portion of the data file to the second routing device.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein sending the notification and sending the second portion of the data file occurs in the same transmission.

9. A routing device, comprising:

an application data cache;

one or more data processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

receiving, on a first routing device of a plurality of routing devices, a request for application data including a data file;

determining that the data file is to be cached based on previous requests for the data file;

determining a size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device for caching data;

determining, using the size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device, that the data file will be cached across multiple routing devices;

determining, using the amount of available memory on the first routing device, a first portion of the data file and a second portion of the data file distinct from the first portion, wherein a size of the first portion of the data file is less than or equal to the amount of available memory on the first routing device;

caching the first portion of the data file at the first routing device;

determining, by the first routing device, that a second routing device of the plurality of routing devices has an amount of available memory sufficient for caching the second portion of the data file; and

sending, by the first routing device, a notification to the second routing device of the plurality of routing devices to cache the second portion of the data file that is not being cached at the first routing device.

10. The routing device of claim 9, wherein the operations further include:

receiving, from a client device, a subsequent request for the data file; and

providing the first portion of the data file from the routing device to the client device.

11. The routing device of claim 10, wherein the operations further include:

requesting the additional routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the client device.

12. The routing device of claim 10, wherein the operations further include:

requesting the additional routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the routing device for transmission to the client device.

13. The routing device of claim 9, wherein when the determination to cache the data file occurs concurrently while the additional routing device is in a process of transmitting the data file to a client device, the notification to the additional routing device notifies the additional routing device to cache a remaining portion of the data file that has not been transmitted to the client device by the additional routing device.

14. The routing device of claim 13, wherein the first portion of the application being cached at the routing device corresponds to a transmitted portion of the data file that the additional routing device has already transmitted to the client device.

15. The routing device of claim 9, wherein the second portion of the data file being cached at the additional routing device is provided to the additional routing device by the routing device.

16. The routing device of claim 9, wherein the operations further include:

determining that the data file is no longer to be cached; and

notifying the additional routing device to de-cache the second portion of the data file.

27. The routing device of claim 9, wherein the operations further include:

sending, by the first routing device, the second portion of the data file to the second routing device.

28. The routing device of claim 27, wherein sending the notification and sending the second portion of the data file occurs in the same transmission.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive, on a first routing device of a plurality of routing devices, a request for application data including a data file;

determine that the data file is to be cached based on previous requests for the data file;

determine a size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device for caching data;

determine, using the size of the data file and an amount of available memory on the first routing device, that the data file will be cached across multiple routing devices;

determine, using the amount of available memory on the first routing device, a first portion of the data file and a second portion of the data file distinct from the first portion, wherein a size of the first portion of the data file is less than or equal to the amount of available memory on the first routing device;

cache the first portion of the data file at the first routing device;

determine, by the first routing device, that a second routing device of the plurality of routing devices has an amount of available memory sufficient for caching the second portion of the data file; and

send, by the first routing device, a notification to the second routing device of the plurality of routing devices to cache the second portion of the data file that is not being cached at the first routing device.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

receive, from a client device, a subsequent request for the data file;

provide the first portion of the data file from the first routing device to the client device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

request the second routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the client device.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

request the second routing device to provide the second portion of the data file to the first routing device for transmission to the client device.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein when the determination to cache the data file occurs concurrently while the second routing device is in a process of transmitting the data file to a client device, the notification to the second routing device notifies the second routing device to cache a remaining portion of the data file that has not been transmitted to the client device by the second routing device.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the first portion of the application being cached at the first routing device corresponds to a transmitted portion of the data file that the second routing device has already transmitted to the client device.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

provide, by the first routing device, the second portion of the data file to the second routing device.

24. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

determine, by the first routing device, that the data file is no longer to be cached; and

notify the second routing device to de-cache the second portion of the data file.

29. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions configured to cause the data processing apparatus to:

sending, by the first routing device, the second portion of the data file to the second routing device.

30. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, wherein sending the notification and sending the second portion of the data file occurs in the same transmission.