CONTEXTUAL ROUTING DEVICE CACHING

• US 20160088112A1
• Filed: 09/22/2014
• Published: 03/24/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong
• Granted Patent: US 10,313,467 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/252 Store and forward routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• 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
• 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 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A routing device capable of performing application layer data caching is described. Application data caching at a routing device can alleviate the bottleneck that an application data host may experience during high demands for application data. Requests for the application data can also be fulfilled faster by eliminating the network delays for communicating with the application data host. The techniques described can also be used to perform analysis of the underlying application data in the network traffic transiting though a routing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, on a routing device, a network resource identifier to request application data;

receiving the application data corresponding to the network resource identifier;

deriving a data digest from the received application data;

associating the data digest with the network resource identifier;

comparing the network resource identifier to previously received network resource identifiers;

comparing the data digest to previous data digests associated with the previously received network resource identifiers; and

determining whether to cache the application data in an application data cache of the routing device based on at least the comparison of the network resource identifier and the comparison of the data digest.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the application data is determined to be cached when the network resource identifier and the data digest match at least a threshold number of previously received network resource identifiers and associated previous data digests.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the application data is determined to be cached when the threshold number of previously received network resource identifiers are received within a predetermined time period.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the application data is determined not to be cached when the data digest does not match one or more of the previous data digests associated with the previously received network resource identifiers matching the network resource identifier.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein when the application data is determined to be cached, the method further comprises:

determining a time-to-live for the cached application data based on the number of previously received network resource identifiers matching the network resource identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a subsequent network resource identifier matching the network resource identifier; and

updating the time-to-live of the cached application data.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

de-caching the cached application data from the application data cache of the routing device after the time-to-live of the cached application data has expired.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the application data is encrypted when the application data is received, and the method further comprises decrypting the received application data before deriving the data digest.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the application data is re-encrypted before being cached.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the application data is cached unencrypted.

11. A routing device, comprising:

an application data cache;

one or more data processors; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations including;

receiving a network resource identifier to request application data;

receiving the application data corresponding to the network resource identifier;

deriving a data digest from the received application data;

associating the data digest with the network resource identifier;

comparing the network resource identifier to previously received network resource identifiers;

comparing the data digest to previous data digests associated with the previously received network resource identifiers; and

determining whether to cache the application data in the application data cache based on at least the comparison of the network resource identifier and the comparison of the data digest.

12. The routing device of claim 11, wherein the application data is determined to be cached when the network resource identifier and the data digest matches a threshold number of previously received network resource identifiers and associated previous data digests.

13. The routing device of claim 12, wherein the application data is determined to be cached when the threshold number of previously received network resource identifiers is received within a predetermined time period.

14. The routing device of claim 11, wherein the application data is determined not to be cached when the data digest does not match one or more of the previous data digests associated with the previously received network resource identifiers matching the network resource identifier.

15. The routing device of claim 11, wherein when the application data is determined to be cached, the operations further include:

determining a time-to-live for the cached application data based on the number of previously received network resource identifiers matching the network resource identifier.

16. The routing device of claim 15, wherein the operations further includes:

receiving a subsequent network resource identifier matching the network resource identifier; and

updating the time-to-live of the cached application data.

17. The routing device of claim 15, wherein the operations further include:

de-caching the cached application data from the application data cache of the routing device after the time-to-live of the cached application data has expired.

18. The routing device of claim 11, wherein the application data is encrypted when the application data is received, and the operations further include decrypting the received application data before deriving the data digest.

19. The routing device of claim 18, wherein the application data is re-encrypted before being cached.

20. The routing device of claim 18, wherein the application data is cached unencrypted.