Dynamic image delivery system

• US 20050097445A1
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Published: 05/05/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Swildens, Eric Sven-Johan, Day, Richard David, Liu, Edward
• Granted Patent: US 7,653,706 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/255
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5064 Customer relationship management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5083 wherein the managed service relates to web hosting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/509 wherein the managed service relates to media content delivery, e.g. audio, video or TV
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4541 Directories for service discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1458 Denial of Service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/06 specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1008 based on parameters of servers, e.g. available memory or workload monitoring of computer activity G06F11/30
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1029 using data related to the state of servers by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• 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 67/5681 : 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 69/329 : in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A dynamic image delivery system receives a client request for an image at an image caching server. The image caching server measures the client'"'"'s network access speed and looks for an appropriate pre-rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client'"'"'s network access speed in local storage. If the appropriate rendered copy is found, then the image caching server sends the rendered image to the client. If it is not found, then the image caching server dynamically renders a copy of the image and sends it to the client.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method, comprising:

receiving a client'"'"'s request for an image file on an image caching server;

wherein the image caching server is one of a plurality of image caching servers distributed across a network;

determining the client'"'"'s network access speed; and

sending an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client'"'"'s network access speed.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step records the client'"'"'s network access speed for future reference.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step looks in local storage for the client'"'"'s network access speed calculated determined during a previous visit by the client.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining step calculates the client'"'"'s network access speed from the client'"'"'s download of a Web page.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the client sends the image caching server its calculated network access speed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the image caching server searches for an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed on a local storage device, and wherein the sending step sends the appropriate rendered copy to the client if the appropriate rendered copy is found on the local storage device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a plurality of rendered copies of the requested image are pre-rendered for different network access speeds and stored on the local storage device prior to the client'"'"'s image request.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein storage space occupied by rendered copies of images on the local storage device is reclaimed by deleting rendered images based on any of:

time, popularity, or pre-determined priority.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

rendering an appropriate copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed if an appropriate rendered copy is not found on the local storage device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the rendering step stores the rendered appropriate copy on the local storage device.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the rendering step discards the rendered appropriate copy after it is sent to the client.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the sending step sends the client rendered layers of the requested image that create a cumulatively higher resolution image.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the image caching server receives a configuration file from an administrator that tells the image server how to render and store images.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the client'"'"'s request is load balanced among the plurality of image caching servers.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein a customer that stores images on an image caching server is charged a fee for the use of the image caching server.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the fee is based upon demand for the customer'"'"'s images.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the fee is based upon the customer'"'"'s choice of rendering and storage requirements.

18. A computer-readable medium carrying one or more sequences of instructions for dynamic image delivery, which instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to carry out the steps of, comprising:

receiving a client'"'"'s request for an image file on an image caching server;

wherein the image caching server is one of a plurality of image caching servers distributed across a network;

determining the client'"'"'s network access speed; and

sending an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client'"'"'s network access speed.

19. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the determining step records the client'"'"'s network access speed for future reference.

20. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the determining step looks in local storage for the client'"'"'s network access speed calculated determined during a previous visit by the client.

21. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the determining step calculates the client'"'"'s network access speed from the client'"'"'s download of a Web page.

22. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the client sends the image caching server its calculated network access speed.

23. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the image caching server searches for an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed on a local storage device, and wherein the sending step sends the appropriate rendered copy to the client if the appropriate rendered copy is found on the local storage device.

24. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 23, wherein a plurality of rendered copies of the requested image are pre-rendered for different network access speeds and stored on the local storage device prior to the client'"'"'s image request.

25. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 23, wherein storage space occupied by rendered copies of images on the local storage device is reclaimed by deleting rendered images based on any of:

time, popularity, or pre-determined priority.

26. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 23, further comprising:

rendering an appropriate copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed if an appropriate rendered copy is not found on the local storage device.

27. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 26, wherein the rendering step stores the rendered appropriate copy on the local storage device.

28. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 26, wherein the rendering step discards the rendered appropriate copy after it is sent to the client.

29. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the sending step sends the client rendered layers of the requested image that create a cumulatively higher resolution image.

30. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the image caching server receives a configuration file from an administrator that tells the image server how to render and store images.

31. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein the client'"'"'s request is load balanced among the plurality of image caching servers.

32. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 18, wherein a customer that stores images on an image caching server is charged a fee for the use of the image caching server.

33. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the fee is based upon demand for the customer'"'"'s images.

34. A computer-readable medium as recited in claim 32, wherein the fee is based upon the customer'"'"'s choice of rendering and storage requirements.

35. An apparatus, comprising:

means for receiving a client'"'"'s request for an image file on an image caching server;

wherein the image caching server is one of a plurality of image caching servers distributed across a network;

means for determining the client'"'"'s network access speed; and

means for sending an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image that is rendered for the client'"'"'s network access speed.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the determining means records the client'"'"'s network access speed for future reference.

37. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the determining means looks in local storage for the client'"'"'s network access speed calculated determined during a previous visit by the client.

38. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the determining means calculates the client'"'"'s network access speed from the client'"'"'s download of a Web page.

39. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the client sends the image caching server its calculated network access speed.

40. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the image caching server searches for an appropriate rendered copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed on a local storage device, and wherein the sending means sends the appropriate rendered copy to the client if the appropriate rendered copy is found on the local storage device.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein a plurality of rendered copies of the requested image are pre-rendered for different network access speeds and stored on the local storage device prior to the client'"'"'s image request.

42. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein storage space occupied by rendered copies of images on the local storage device is reclaimed by deleting rendered images based on any of:

time, popularity, or pre-determined priority.

43. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising:

rendering an appropriate copy of the requested image for the client'"'"'s network access speed if an appropriate rendered copy is not found on the local storage device.

44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the rendering means stores the rendered appropriate copy on the local storage device.

45. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein the rendering means discards the rendered appropriate copy after it is sent to the client.

46. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the sending means sends the client rendered layers of the requested image that create a cumulatively higher resolution image.

47. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the image caching server receives a configuration file from an administrator that tells the image server how to render and store images.

48. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein the client'"'"'s request is load balanced among the plurality of image caching servers.

49. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein a customer that stores images on an image caching server is charged a fee for the use of the image caching server.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the fee is based upon demand for the customer'"'"'s images.

51. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein the fee is based upon the customer'"'"'s choice of rendering and storage requirements.