Data caching based on social characteristics of users

• US 10,235,451 B2
• Filed: 12/18/2012
• Issued: 03/19/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Empire Technology Development LLC (Allied Inventors Management, LLC)
• Inventors: Zhong, Haoqing, Li, Qi, Song, Xuefeng
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo, James
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tessema, Aida Z
• Application Number:
  US14/421,309
• Publication Number:
  US 20150220628A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,282 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24552 Database cache management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/35 Clustering; Classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

In one example embodiment, a computer-implemented method is provided for caching data from an online resource based on social characteristics of users using the data. The method includes dividing the users into one or more social groups according to the social characteristics, and creating one or more cache databases corresponding to the one or more social groups, wherein data in each of the one or more cache databases are indexed by one or more user attributes identifying social characteristics of user used the data.

Claims

1. A method to cache data from an online resource based on social characteristics of users, the method comprising:

dividing the users into one or more social groups according to the social characteristics of the users;

creating one or more cache databases corresponding to the one or more social groups,

wherein each of the one or more cache databases stores data that is indexed by one or more user attributes of one or more users who initially requested access to the stored data;

receiving, from a user, a request for data, wherein the requested data comprises at least a portion of the stored data, wherein the request is accompanied by at least one user attribute of the user, and wherein the at least one user attribute identifies social characteristics of the user;

identifying, based on the received at least one user attribute, a social group, of the one or more social groups, corresponding to the user, wherein the at least one user attribute is associated with the social group corresponding to the user;

identifying a cache database, of the one or more cache databases, which corresponds to the identified social group;

querying the identified cache database for the requested data, wherein;

querying the identified cache database includes transmitting the request and the accompanying at least one user attribute to the identified cache database,

the at least one user attribute is used to search for the requested data in the identified cache database, and

the use of the at least one user attribute to search for the requested data in the identified cache database, in which the stored data is indexed by the one or more user attributes of the one or more users who initially requested access to the stored data, improves efficiency of the search for the requested data, and increases a speed of access to the requested data for the user;

obtaining the requested data from the identified cache database; and

transmitting the requested data, obtained from the identified cache database, to the user.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more user attributes are static.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more user attributes are dynamic.

21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

obtaining profile information of the users to determine the social characteristics of the users, wherein the profile information is provided by the users while registering for a service associated with the online resource.

2. A method to cache data, the method comprising:

receiving a request for data from a user, wherein the request is accompanied by one or more user attributes that identify social characteristics of the user;

identifying, based on the one or more user attributes, a social group, of a plurality of social groups, of the user, wherein the one or more user attributes correspond to the social group of the user;

identifying a cache database, of a plurality of cache databases, which corresponds to the identified social group of the user, wherein the identified cache database stores data associated with a plurality of users of the social group;

querying the identified cache database for the requested data; and

in response to receiving a message that indicates that the requested data is not stored in the cache database;

querying a database server for the requested data,

receiving the requested data from the database server,

attaching the one or more user attributes with the requested data,

storing, in the identified cache database corresponding to the identified social group of the user, the requested data attached with the one or more user attributes, wherein storing the requested data attached with the one or more user attributes includes indexing the requested data by the one or more user attributes of one or more users who requested access to the stored data, and wherein indexing the requested data by the one or more attributes improves accessibility and a speed of access to the requested data for other users who belong to a same social group as the user and who subsequently request for the data requested by the user; and

transmitting the requested data, received from the database server, to the user.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein storing the requested data comprises:

associating the requested data with a count of accesses of the requested data by the other users from the same social group as the user.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the requested data is ranked in the identified cache database by a value of the count of accesses of the requested data.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein data with a smallest count value in the identified cache database is replaced first.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein querying the identified cache database comprises searching for the requested data in the cache database according to the one or more user attributes that accompanied the request.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein data in the identified cache database is refreshed at a refresh frequency that is based on a volume of queries that the identified cache database receives.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein:

a threshold is set for the volume of queries that the identified cache database receives,

the refresh frequency decreases when the volume of queries that the identified cache database receives exceeds the threshold, and

the refresh frequency increases when the volume of queries that the identified cache database receives is below the threshold.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more user attributes of the one or more users are static.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the one or more user attributes of the one or more users are dynamic.

11. A system to retrieve data, the system comprising:

a database server that is configured to store the data;

one or more cache databases, wherein;

the one or more cache databases area associated with respective one or more social groups of users,

each of the one or more cache databases is configured to cache data corresponding to the associated social group of users;

at least one cache database of the one or more cache databases is configured to index the cached data by one or more attributes of a user that belongs to a social group of users associated with the at least one cache database, and that initially requested access to the cached data, and

the association of the one or more cache databases with the respective one or more social groups of users increases a hit rate of requests for the cached data, and increases a speed of access to data requested by users; and

a web server that is configured to;

receive, from a user, a request for data, wherein the request is accompanied by at least one user attribute of the user, and wherein the at least one user attribute identifies social characteristics of the user;

identify a cache database, of the one or more cache databases, in which at least some of the data cached therein is tagged with the at least one user attribute that accompanied the request for data;

query the identified database for the requested data;

in response to the identified cache database being queried;

receive the requested data from the identified cache database;

or

receive a message which indicates that the requested data is not cached in the identified cache database; and

in response to receipt of the requested data from the identified cache database, transmit the requested data to the user.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein in response to receipt of the message which indicates that the requested data is not cached in the identified cache database, the web server is further configured to:

query the database server for the requested data;

receive the requested data from the database server;

attach the at least one user attribute that accompanied the request to the requested data; and

cache the requested data in the identified cache database in which some of the data cached therein is tagged with the at least one user attribute of the user.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein at least some portions of the data cached in the one or more cache databases are refreshed at a refresh frequency that increases and decreases in accordance with a volume of queries received at the respective cache database.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein:

a threshold is set for the volume of queries,

the refresh frequency decreases when the volume of queries exceeds the threshold, and

the refresh frequency increases when the volume of queries falls below the threshold.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein at least some portions of the data cached in the one or more cache databases are further associated with a count of accesses.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein replacement of the at least some portions of the data starts with portions of data having a lowest count of accesses.

17. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one user attribute of the user is static.

18. The system of claim 11, wherein the at least one user attribute of the user is dynamic.