Technique for content delivery over the internet

• US 6,959,333 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2001
• Issued: 10/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Lucent Technologies, Inc. (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Wang, Steve Y, Beaumont, Leland R., Vernick, Michael, Hofmann, Markus
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Viet D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hu, Jinsong
• Application Number:
  US09/851,267
• Publication Number:
  US 20020169890A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,631 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/226, 709/238, 370/255
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• 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 67/101 based on network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1038 Load balancing arrangements to avoid a single path through a load balancer

Abstract

A content delivery system for a content provider that comprises at least two content delivery servers for delivering contents, a preference database for storing an estimated distance between each of the at least two content delivery servers and a client, and a content provider domain name server for mapping the name of the content provider to the at least two content delivery servers and selecting one of the content delivery servers to deliver the content, that has a shortest estimated distance to the client in the preference database.

Claims

1. A computer program product having a computer readable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for mapping an input name into an address upon a request from a requester, the computer program product comprising:

(a) a receiving program code segment for causing a computer to receive the input name from the request;

(b) a mapping program code segment for causing the computer to map the input name against a mapping database for mapping a name to an address wherein at least one name is mapped to more than one address, the mapping program code segment also for causing the computer to retrieve from the mapping database all addresses mapped to the input name;

(c) a selecting program code segment for causing the computer to retrieve a preference number from a preference database associated with each retrieved mapped address and the input name, each entry of the preference database comprising an address, a requester identifier, and a preference number, wherein the requester is identified by the requester identifier and at least one requester identifier is listed in more than one entry, the selecting program code segment also for causing the computer to select one of the retrieved mapped addresses based on the retrieved preference numbers; and

(d) a returning program code segment for causing the computer to return to the requester a response comprising the selected retrieved mapped address.

2. The computer program product of claim 1 wherein the selecting program code segment selects one of the retrieved mapped addresses having the highest retrieved preference number.

3. The computer program product of claim 1 further comprising an assigning program code segment for dynamically assigning a time-to-live (TTL) value to each entry in the preference database associated with the requester identifier.

4. The computer product of claim 1 further comprising an assigning program code segment for dynamically assigning a TTL value to the entry in the preference database associated with the selected retrieved mapped address.

5. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the assigning program code segment dynamically assigns a TTL value to an entry in the preference database table as a function of the preference number in that entry.

6. The computer program product of claim 4 wherein the assigning program code segment assigns a TTL value to an entry in the preference database table directly related to the preference number of that entry.

7. A computer program product of claim 1 wherein a preference number associated with a retrieved mapped address is an estimated distance between the retrieved mapped address and the requester.

8. A method for mapping an input name into an address upon request from a requester, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) retrieving from a mapping table all addresses mapped to the input name, each entry in the mapping table mapping a name to an address wherein at least one name is mapped to more than one address;

(b) retrieving from a preference table a preference number associated with each retrieved mapped address and the input name, each entry of the preference table comprising an address, a requester identifier, and a preference number, wherein at least one requester identifier is listed in more than one entry;

(c) selecting one of the retrieved mapped addresses based on the retrieved preference numbers; and

(d) returning a response comprising the selected address.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein a retrieved mapped address with the highest retrieved preference number is selected.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein a preference number associated with a retrieved mapped address is an estimated distance between the retrieved mapped address and the requester.

11. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of assigning a time-to-live (TTL) value to the entry in the preference table associated with each retrieved mapped address and the requester identifier.

12. The method of claim 8 further comprising the step of assigning a time-to-live (TTL) value to the entry in the preference table associated with the selected retrieved mapped address and the requester identifier.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the response further comprising the assigned TTL value.