Targeted Caching to Reduce Bandwidth Consumption

• US 20100057894A1
• Filed: 08/27/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Glasser, Alan
• Granted Patent: US 8,954,548 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/222
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Abstract

A system includes a name server, an edge cache server, and a local cache server. The name server is configured to provide an anycast IP address in response to a request for an IP address of an origin hostname from a client system. The edge cache server is configured to respond to the anycast IP address and a unicast IP address and to retrieve content from an origin. The local cache server includes a storage and is configured to respond to the anycast IP address, to retrieve content from the edge cache server, and provide the content to a client system.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a name server configured to provide an anycast Internet Protocol (IP) address in response to a request for an IP address of an origin hostname from a client system;

an edge cache server configured to respond to the anycast IP address and to a unicast IP address, to retrieve content from an origin, and to provide content to the requesting system; and

a local cache server including a storage, the local cache server configured to respond to the anycast IP address, to retrieve the content from the edge cache server, and to provide the content to the client system.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein storage is a diskless storage.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the local cache server is configured to announce a route for the anycast IP address, the route directing requests to the local cache server.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the local cache server is configured to announce the route using border gateway protocol.

5. The system of claim 3 wherein the local cache server is configured to announce the route after receiving a table to convert the anycast IP address to the unicast IP address.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the edge cache server is configured to announce a route for the anycast IP address, the route directing requests to the edge cache server.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the edge cache server is configured to announce the route using border gateway protocol.

8. The system of claim 1 further comprising a map server, the map server configured to provide the local cache server with a table to convert the anycast IP address to the unicast IP address.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the map server pushes the table to the local cache server.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein the local cache server periodically requests the table from the map server.

11. A method comprising:

receiving a request for content from a client system, the request addressed to an anycast Internet Protocol (IP) address;

determining that content is not available in a local storage;

determining a unicast IP address of an edge cache server based on the anycast IP address;

retrieving the content from the edge cache server; and

providing the content to the client system.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the local storage is a diskless storage.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising storing the content in the local storage and providing the content to a second client system.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising announcing a route for the anycast address.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the announcing is accomplished using border gateway protocol.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein determining the unicast IP address includes accessing a table.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising receiving the table from a mapping server.

18. A device comprising:

a local storage configured to store content; and

a processor in communication with the local storage, the processor configured to;

receive a request for content from a client system, the request addressed to an anycast Internet Protocol (IP) address;

determine that content is not available in a local storage;

determine a unicast IP address of an edge cache server based on the anycast IP address;

retrieve the content from the edge cache server; and

provide the content to the client system.

19. The device of claim 18 wherein the local storage is a diskless storage.

20. The device of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to providing the content to a second client system.

21. The device of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to announce a route for the anycast address.

22. The device of claim 21 wherein the process is further configured to announce the route using border gateway protocol.

23. The device of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to receive a table from a mapping server and to determine the unicast IP address based on the table.