Method for content-aware redirection and content renaming

• US 6,954,456 B2
• Filed: 12/14/2001
• Issued: 10/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gopalakrishnan, Raman, Green, Matthew D., Cranor, Charles D., Sibal, Sandeep, Shur, David Hilton, Kalmanek, Charles Robert Jr., van der Merwe, Jacobus E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US09/683,334
• Publication Number:
  US 20030112792A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,397 Days
• Field of Search: 370/352, 370/356, 370/389, 370/400, 370/465, 709/217, 709/218, 709/219, 709/201, 709/203
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

The present invention is directed to mechanisms for content-aware redirection and content exchange/content discovery that permit a request for content to be redirected to a particular advantageous server that can serve the content.

Claims

1. A method for distributing content in a packet-switched network comprises the steps of:

receiving from a client a request for content identified by a resource identifier;

querying a mapping service using the resource identifier of the content;

receiving a list of servers in the network that store the content identified by the resource identifier; and

redirecting the client to one of the servers using a second resource identifier, wherein the client is redirected using a helper file.

2. A method for distributing content in a packet-switched network comprising the steps of:

storing in a database a list of servers in the network that store content identified by a resource identifier;

updating the database as content stored on the server change;

responding to queries requesting content identified by a resource identifier with the list of servers that store content, wherein the list of servers can be used to redirect clients to one of the servers; and

wherein the database is distributed among servers in the network.

3. The invention of claim 2 wherein updates to the database are not broadcasted to the servers and wherein queries are broadcasted to the servers.