Scheme for information delivery to mobile computers using cache servers

• US 20050132049A1
• Filed: 01/21/2005
• Published: 06/16/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Inoue, Atsushi, Kamagata, Eiji, Shobatake, Yasuro, Kato, Noriyasu, Kumaki, Yoshinari, Shibuya, Naohisa
• Granted Patent: US 7,277,942 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/225
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• 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 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/288 Distributed intermediate devices, i.e. intermediate devices for interaction with other intermediate devices on the same level
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

In the disclosed information delivery scheme for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on the Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, a plurality of cache servers capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers are provided in association with the wireless network. The cache servers can be managed by receiving a message indicating at least a connected location of a mobile computer in the wireless network from the mobile computer, selecting one or more cache servers located nearby the mobile computer according to the message, and controlling these one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information selected for the mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the mobile computer. Also, the cache servers can be managed by selecting one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for an information provider who provides WWW information from an information server, and controlling these one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information selected for the information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the mobile computer.

Claims

1. An information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, comprising:

a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers; and

a management unit configured to manage caching state of the cache servers, by receiving a message indicating at least a connected location of a particular mobile computer in the wireless network from the particular mobile computer, selecting one or more cache servers located nearby the connected location of the particular mobile computer according to the message, and controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the particular mobile computer at the connected location.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the selected WWW information is selected according to an information related to a user of the particular mobile computer.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the selected WWW information is selected according to an information related to an information provider of the selected WWW information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular mobile computer sends the message containing identification information for specifying one or more WWW information, at least at a time of network connection;

and

the management unit controls said one or more cache servers to cache WWW information selected according to the identification information contained in the message as the selected WWW information.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular mobile computer sends the message containing a user ID of a user of the particular mobile computer;

and

the management unit registers in advance user IDs of users of the particular mobile computers in correspondence to respective identification information for specifying one or more WWW information, and controls said one or more cache servers to cache said one or more information specified by the identification information registered in correspondence to the user ID contained in the message as the selected WWW information.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the particular mobile computer sends the message containing a user ID of a user of the particular mobile computer;

and

the management unit registers in advance a correspondence between a user ID of each user of each mobile computer and one or more information provider IDs of those information providers who wish to provide services to said each user and a correspondence between each information provider ID of each information provider and one or more WWW information IDs of those WWW information which are to be provided by said each information provider, searches the information provider IDs registered in correspondence to the user ID contained in the message, searches the WWW Information IDs registered in correspondence to each information provider ID found by a search, and controls said one or more cache servers to cache WWW information having the WWW information IDs found by a search as the selected WWW information.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein either the particular mobile computer or the management unit predicts another one or more cache servers to be selected when a need to change cache servers nearby the connected location of the particular mobile computer due to moving of the particular mobile computer is predicted to arise, and

the management unit controls said another one or more cache servers to cache the selected WWW information according to a result of prediction.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the management unit maintains an update frequency information indicating an update frequency of WWW information provided by each information provider, and controls said one or more cache servers to carry out a cache update processing with respect to the selected WWW information according to the update frequency information.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the management unit changes the selected WWW information cached in said one or more cache servers according to at least one of a likelihood by which each WWW information is expected to be accessed and a priority level determined for each WWW information, when a cache state of any one of said one or more cache servers reaches to a prescribed criterion.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless network comprises a first network for providing data transmission at relatively low transfer rate, and a second network for providing data transmission at relatively high transfer rate at least in a downlink direction, and

the management unit receives the message from the particular mobile computer via the first network, and the cache servers transfer the selected WWW information to the particular mobile computer via the second network.

11. An information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, comprising:

a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers; and

a management unit configured to manage caching state of the cache servers, by selecting one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for a particular information provider who provides WWW information from an information server, and controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information of the particular information provider by any mobile computer that is located within the geographic range defined for the particular information provider.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein information providers are classified into a plurality of classes, and said one or more cache servers and the selected WWW information are specified by the particular information provider in accordance with a predetermined range of numbers permitted for a class to which the particular information provider belongs.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the management unit maintains an update frequency information indicating an update frequency of WWW information provided by each information provider, and controls said one or more cache servers to carry out a cache update processing with respect to the selected WWW information according to the update frequency information.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the management unit changes the selected WWW information cached in said one or more cache servers according to at least one of a likelihood by which each WWW information is expected to be accessed and a priority level determined for each WWW information, when a cache state of any one of said one or more cache servers reaches to a prescribed criterion.

15. The system of claim 11, wherein the wireless network comprises a first network for providing data transmission at relatively low transfer rate, and a second network for providing data transmission at relatively high transfer rate at least in a downlink direction, and

the management unit receives a message from a mobile computer via the first network, and the cache servers transfer the selected WWW information to the mobile computer via the second network.

16. A method for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a message indicating at least a connected location of a particular mobile computer in the wireless network from the particular mobile computer;

selecting one or more cache servers located nearby the connected location of the particular mobile computer according to the message; and

controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the particular mobile computer at the connected location.

17. A method for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for a particular information provider who provides WWW information from an information server; and

controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information of the particular information provider by the any mobile computer that is located within geographic range defined for the particular information provider.

18. A management device for use in an information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers, the management device comprising:

a first unit configured to receive a message indicating at least a connected location of a particular mobile computer in the wireless network from the particular mobile computer;

a second unit configured to select one or more cache servers located nearby the connected location of the particular mobile computer according to the message; and

a third unit configured to control said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the particular mobile computer at the connected location.

19. A management device for use in an information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers, the management device comprising:

a first unit configured to select one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for an a particular information provider who provides WWW information from an information server; and

a second unit configured to control said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information of the particular information provider by any mobile computer that is located within the geographic range defined for the particular information provider.

20. A mobile computer device for use in an information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers, the mobile computer device comprising:

a first unit configured to maintain a user ID of a user of the mobile computer device;

a second unit configured to obtain a connected location information regarding a connection location of the mobile computer device in the wireless network; and

a third unit configured to notify a message containing at least the user ID and the connection location information, to a management device for managing caching state of the cache servers, such that the message causes the management device to select one or more cache servers located nearby the connected location of the mobile computer device according to the message and control said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the mobile computer device, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the mobile computer device at the connected location.

21. The mobile computer device of claim 20, wherein the third unit notifies the message which also contains a bookmark information of a WWW browser operating on the mobile computer device, such that the selected WWW information is selected according to the bookmark information contained in the message.

22. A cache server device for use in an information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network, the cache server device comprising:

a cache memory configured to cache WWW information provided by the information servers; and

a caching processing unit configured to acquire selected WWW information specifically selected for a particular mobile computer from the information servers and store the selected WWW information into the cache memory, when the cache server device is included in one or more cache servers located nearby a connected location of the particular mobile computer according to message indicating at least a the connection location of the particular mobile computer in the wireless network which is sent by the particular mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the particular mobile computer at the connected location.

23. A cache server device for use in an information delivery system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, using a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network, the cache server device comprising:

a cache memory configured to cache WWW information provided by the Information servers; and

a caching processing unit configured to acquire from an Information server selected WWW information specifically selected for a particular information provider who provides WWW information from the information server and store the selected WWW information into the cache memory, when the cache server device is included in one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for the particular information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information of the particular information provider by any mobile computer that is located within the geographic range defined for the particular information provider.

24. A method for providing a caching service with respect to a particular user in a system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, the method comprising the steps of:

registering the particular user as a premier user in an information delivery system having a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers; and

upon receiving a message indicating at least a connected location of a particular mobile computer in the wireless network from the particular mobile computer operated by the particular user, selecting one or more cache servers located nearby the connected location of the particular mobile computer according to the message and controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular user of the particular mobile computer, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information by the particular mobile computer at the connected location.

25. A method for providing a caching service with respect to a particular information provider in a system for delivering WWW information provided by information servers on Internet to mobile computers connected to the Internet through a wireless network, the method comprising the steps of:

registering the particular information provider who provides WWW information from an information server as a premier sponsor in an information delivery system having a plurality of cache servers provided in association with the wireless network and configured to be capable of caching WWW information provided by the information servers; and

selecting one or more cache servers located within a geographic range defined for the particular information provider, and controlling said one or more cache servers to cache selected WWW information specifically selected for the particular information provider, so as to enable faster accesses to the selected WWW information of the particular information provider by any mobile computer that is located within the geographic range defined for the particular information provider.