System and Method for Selectively Caching Hot Content in a Content Delivery System

• US 20100121940A1
• Filed: 11/13/2008
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Reeser, Paul K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,239,482 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols

Abstract

A method includes receiving a request for content from a client, and determining an elapsed time since a previous request for the content. Additionally, the method includes retrieving the content from a content server and storing the content in a cache when the elapsed time since the previous request for the content is not greater than a threshold. Further, the method includes providing the content to the client. The method also includes determining a cache-hit ratio and altering a threshold in response to the cache-hit ratio.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a cache-hit ratio;

altering a threshold in response to the cache-hit ratio;

receiving a request for content from a client;

determining an elapsed time since a previous request for the content;

retrieving the content from a content server;

storing the content in a cache when the elapsed time since the previous request for the content is less than a threshold; and

providing the content to the client.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the content server is an origin server.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the content server is a content delivery network server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the previous request is one of the last request or the second to last request.

5. A method comprising:

determining a cache-hit ratio;

altering a threshold in response to the cache-hit ratio;

receiving a request for content from a client;

determining an elapsed time since a previous request for the content; and

rerouting the request to a content server when the elapsed time since the previous request for the content is greater than the threshold.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein rerouting the request includes sending an HTTP Redirect message to the client, the HTTP Redirect message indicating the content server.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein rerouting the request includes requesting the content from the content server and providing the content to the client as a non-caching proxy.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the content server is an origin server.

9. The method of claim 5 wherein the content server is a content delivery network server.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the previous request is one of the last request or the second to last request.

11. A server comprising:

a cache; and

a processor configured to;

determine a cache-hit ratio;

alter a threshold in response to the cache-hit ratio;

receive a request for the content from a client;

determine an elapsed time since the previous request for the content;

retrieve the content from a content server;

store the content in the cache when the elapsed time since the previous request for the content is less than the threshold; and

provide the content to the client.

12. The system of claim 11 wherein the content server is an origin server.

13. The system of claim 11 wherein the content server is a content delivery network server.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the previous request is one of the last request or the second to last request.

15. A server comprising:

a cache; and

a processor configured to;

determine a cache-hit ratio;

alter a threshold in response to the cache-hit ratio;

receive a request for content from a client;

determine an elapsed time since a previous request for the content; and

reroute the request to a content server when the elapsed time since the previous request for the content is greater than the threshold.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the processor is configured to reroute the request by sending a HTTP Redirect message to the client, the HTTP Redirect message indicating the content server.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the processor is configured to reroute the request by requesting the content from the content server and providing the content to the client as a non-caching proxy.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the content server is an origin server.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the content server is a content delivery network server.

20. The method of claim 15 wherein the previous request is one of the last request or the second to last request.