Delivering content to electronic devices using local caching servers

• US 10,154,109 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2012
• Issued: 12/11/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Yanagihara, Kazuhisa, Gentil, Lionel, Jewell, Darrin B., Thorpe, Jason R., Redner, Jordan L., Vaughan, Gregory B., Burns, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/563,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040412A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,324 Days
• Field of Search: 709201, 709203, 709212, 709217, 709218, 709219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments provide a system that delivers content to an electronic device. The system includes a content provider that obtains a public address of the electronic device from a first request for the content from the electronic device. Next, the content provider uses the public address to identify a local caching server on a local area network (LAN) of the electronic device. Finally, the content provider provides a local address of the local caching server to the electronic device, wherein the local address is used by the electronic device to obtain the content from the local caching server and the LAN without accessing a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN.

Claims

1. A method for delivering content to an electronic device, comprising:

registering, at a content provider on a public network, a local caching server along with registration information;

obtaining, by the content provider on the public network, the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

obtaining, by the content provider on the public network, a public address on the public network of the electronic device from a request for the content from the electronic device;

identifying the LAN of the electronic device based on the public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server; and

providing, by the content provider, a local address of the selected local caching server to the electronic device, wherein the local address is used by the electronic device to connect to the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device and obtain the content from the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device without accessing a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN of the electronic device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing the CDN to the electronic device, wherein the CDN is used by the electronic device to obtain the content upon detecting an error associated with obtaining the content from the local caching server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the error is associated with at least one of an unavailability of the local caching server, a corruption of the content, and an unsupported network topology between the electronic device and the local caching server.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering the local caching server at the content provider to enable use of the local caching server by the electronic device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein registering the local caching server at the content provider comprises:

obtaining the registration information for the local caching server; and

upon verifying the registration information, adding the local caching server to a global server list of local caching servers associated with the content provider.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein verifying the registration information comprises:

obtaining a certificate for the local caching server from the registration information; and

validating the certificate.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the registration information comprises at least one of the certificate, a public address of the local caching server, the local address, and a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the local caching server.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the content comprises at least one of audio, video, an image, a book, an application, and a software update.

45. The method of claim 1, wherein the content provider is separate from and different than the CDN.

9. A method for providing content, comprising:

registering a local caching server along with registration information;

obtaining, by a plurality of computing devices, the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

obtaining, at the local caching server, a request for the content from an electronic device on the LAN of the local caching server, wherein the request for content comprises an address of the local caching server that was selected and provided to the electronic device by a content provider on a public network by identifying the LAN based on a public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server;

when the content is available on the local caching server, connecting, by the local caching server, to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the content to the electronic device; and

when the content is not available on the local caching server, using the local caching server to;

download the content from a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN,

cache the downloaded content, and

connect to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the downloaded content to the electronic device through the LAN.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

verifying the downloaded content at the local caching server; and

upon receiving a notification of corruption of the downloaded content from the electronic device;

expediting verification of the downloaded content; and

upon verifying corruption of the downloaded content, flushing the content from the local caching server.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein verifying the downloaded content at the local caching server comprises:

calculating a first checksum from a block of the downloaded content; and

comparing the first checksum with a second checksum for the block from the CDN.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

registering the local caching server with a registration server associated with the CDN to enable use of the local caching server by the electronic device.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

maintaining registration of the local caching server with the registration server by periodically transmitting a communication from the local caching server to the registration server.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein registering the local caching server with the registration server comprises:

obtaining a certificate for the local caching server; and

providing the registration information comprising the certificate to the registration server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein obtaining the certificate for the local caching server comprises:

providing a hardware key for the local caching server to a certificate server; and

obtaining the certificate from the certificate server.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the local caching server is further registered using a discovery protocol.

17. A system for delivering content to an electronic device, comprising:

a content provider server on a public network configured to;

register a local caching server along with registration information;

obtain, the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

obtain a public address on the public network of the electronic device from a first request for the content from the electronic device;

identify the LAN of the electronic device based on the public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server; and

provide a local address of the selected local caching server to the electronic device; and

the selected local caching server configured to;

obtain a second request for the content from the electronic device;

when the content is available on the local caching server, connect to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the content to the electronic device; and

when the content is not available on the local caching server;

download the content from a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN,

cache the downloaded content, and

connect to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the downloaded content to the electronic device through the LAN.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the content provider server is further configured to:

provide the CDN to the electronic device, wherein the CDN is used by the electronic device to obtain the content upon detecting an error associated with obtaining the content from the local caching server.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the error is associated with at least one of an unavailability of the local caching server, a corruption of the content, and an unsupported network topology between the electronic device and the local caching server.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the local caching server is further configured to:

verify the downloaded content; and

upon receiving a notification of corruption of the downloaded content from the electronic device;

expedite verification of the downloaded content; and

upon verifying corruption of the downloaded content, flush the content from the local caching server.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the content provider server is further configured to:

register the local caching server to enable use of the local caching server by the electronic device.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein registering the local caching server comprises:

obtaining the registration information for the local caching server; and

upon verifying the registration information, adding the local caching server to a global server list of local caching servers associated with the content provider.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein verifying the registration information comprises:

obtaining a certificate for the local caching server from the registration information; and

validating the certificate.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the registration information comprises at least one of the certificate, a public address of the local caching server, the local address, and a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the local caching server.

25. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for delivering content to an electronic device, the method comprising:

registering, at a content provider on a public network, a local caching server along with registration information;

obtaining, by the content provider on the public network, the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

obtaining, by the content provider on the public network, a public address on the public network of the electronic device from a request for the content from the electronic device;

identifying the LAN of the electronic device based on the public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server; and

providing, by the content provider, a local address of the selected local caching server to the electronic device, wherein the local address is used by the electronic device to connect to the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device and obtain the content from the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device without accessing a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN of the electronic device.

26. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, the method further comprising:

providing the CDN to the electronic device, wherein the CDN is used by the electronic device to obtain the content upon detecting an error associated with obtaining the content from the local caching server.

27. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 25, the method further comprising:

registering the local caching server at the content provider to enable use of the local caching server by the electronic device.

28. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein registering the local caching server at the content provider comprises:

obtaining the registration information for the local caching server; and

upon verifying the registration information, adding the local caching server to a global server list of local caching servers associated with the content provider.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for providing content, the method comprising:

registering a local caching server along with registration information;

obtaining the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

obtaining, at the local caching server, a request for the content from an electronic device on the LAN of the local caching server, wherein the request for content comprises an address of the local caching server that was selected and provided to the electronic device by a content provider on a public network by identifying the LAN based on a public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server;

when the content is available on the local caching server, connecting, by the local caching server, to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the content to the electronic device; and

when the content is not available on the local caching server, using the local caching server to;

download the content from a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN,

cache the downloaded content, and

connect to the electronic device through the LAN to provide the downloaded content to the electronic device through the LAN.

30. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, the method further comprising:

verifying the downloaded content at the local caching server; and

upon receiving a notification of corruption of the downloaded content from the electronic device;

expediting verification of the downloaded content; and

upon verifying corruption of the downloaded content, flushing the content from the local caching server.

31. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 29, the method further comprising:

registering the local caching server with a registration server associated with the CDN to enable use of the local caching server by the electronic device.

32. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, the method further comprising:

maintaining registration of the local caching server with the registration server by periodically transmitting a communication from the local caching server to the registration server.

33. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 31, wherein registering the local caching server with the registration server comprises:

obtaining a certificate for the local caching server; and

providing the registration information comprising the certificate to the registration server.

34. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for downloading content to an electronic device, the method comprising:

registering a local caching server along with registration information;

obtaining the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

sending a first request for the content to a content provider on a public network;

receiving, from the content provider, a response on the public network comprising a first identifier for a selected local caching server on the LAN of the electronic device, the first identifier selected and provided to the electronic device by the content provider by identifying the LAN based on a public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server; and

connecting to the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device and obtaining the content from the local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device without accessing a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN of the electronic device.

35. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, the method further comprising:

upon detecting an error associated with obtaining the content from the local caching server;

obtaining a second identifier for the CDN from the response; and

using the second identifier to obtain the content from the CDN.

36. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the error is associated with at least one of an unavailability of the local caching server, a corruption of the content, and an unsupported network topology between the electronic device and the local caching server.

37. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 35, wherein the second identifier comprises a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of the CDN.

38. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the first identifier is at least one of a local address of the local caching server and a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the local caching server.

39. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 34, wherein the first request comprises a public address of the electronic device.

40. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable medium that includes one or more sequences of instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the processors to perform operations comprising;

registering a local caching server aloe with registration information;

obtaining the registration information for a local caching server, wherein the registration information includes a local caching server along with a range of local addresses to be served by the local caching server, wherein the local addresses and the caching server are within a local area network (LAN);

sending a first request for the content to a content provider on a public network;

receiving, from the content provider, a response on the public network comprising a first identifier for a selected local caching server on the LAN of the electronic device, the first identifier selected and provided to the electronic device by the content provider by identifying the LAN based on a public address of the electronic device and a caching server, wherein both the electronic device and the caching server are connected to the LAN, and wherein the electronic device address is within the range of registered addresses for the local caching server; and

connecting to the selected local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device and obtain the content from the local caching server through the LAN of the electronic device without accessing a content delivery network (CDN) outside the LAN of the electronic device.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein:

upon detecting an error associated with obtaining the content from the local caching server, the one or more processors are configured to;

obtain a second identifier for the CDN from the response; and

use the second identifier to obtain the content from the CDN.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein the error is associated with at least one of an unavailability of the local caching server, a corruption of the content, and an unsupported network topology between the electronic device and the local caching server.

43. The system of claim 40, wherein the first identifier is at least one of a local address of the local caching server and a globally unique identifier (GUID) for the local caching server.

44. The system of claim 40, wherein the first request comprises a public address of the electronic device.