Data caching
First Claim
1. A method of retrieving data at a remote device from a first terminal, wherein the first terminal is connected to a network comprising at least a second terminal, and further wherein each of the terminals includes a local cache, the method comprising:
- requesting from the first terminal data at the remote device;
determining the availability of the requested information in the local cache of the first terminal;
retrieving the requested data from the remote device when it is determined that the requested data is not available in the local cache of the first terminal; and
distributing the retrieved data to at least the second terminal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to the field of data caching, and in particular to improved data caching in a network environment. The present invention removes the need for a proxy cache when, for example, retrieving data from the Internet in a network environment. Instead of a proxy cache, unused disk space on each network terminal is used as a local cache. Whenever data is retrieved from the Internet by any terminal, the data is cached on its local cache, before being distributed to the other terminals on the network for storage on their local caches.
23 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of retrieving data at a remote device from a first terminal, wherein the first terminal is connected to a network comprising at least a second terminal, and further wherein each of the terminals includes a local cache, the method comprising:
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requesting from the first terminal data at the remote device;
determining the availability of the requested information in the local cache of the first terminal;
retrieving the requested data from the remote device when it is determined that the requested data is not available in the local cache of the first terminal; and
distributing the retrieved data to at least the second terminal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 9)
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6. A method of preemptively caching data on terminals in a network of terminals, wherein each terminal includes a local cache, the method comprising:
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selecting data to be preemptively cached;
selecting at least one of the terminals; and
distributing the selected data to the selected terminals for storage on their respective local caches.
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7. A method of retrieving data at a remote device from a first terminal, wherein the first terminal is connected to a network comprising at least a second terminal, and further wherein each of the terminals includes a local cache, comprising:
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requesting from the first terminal data at the remote device;
determining the availability of the requested information in the local cache of the first terminal;
retrieving the requested data from the remote device when it is determined that the requested data is not available in the local cache of the first terminal;
storing the retrieved data in the local cache of the first terminal;
distributing the retrieved data to at least the second terminal;
receiving unsolicited data from other terminals in the network;
and storing the received unsolicited data in the local cache.
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8. A terminal for retrieving data at a remote device, wherein the terminal is connected to a network comprising at least a second terminal, and further wherein each of the terminals includes a local cache, the terminal comprising:
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means for requesting data at the remote device;
means for determining the availability of the requested information in the local cache;
means for retrieving the requested data from the remote device when it is determined that the requested data is not available in the local cache; and
means for distributing the retrieved data to at least the second terminal. - View Dependent Claims (10)
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Specification