Template identification with differential caching

• US 7,092,997 B1
• Filed: 08/06/2001
• Issued: 08/15/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Digital River Incorporated (Danube Private Holdings II, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Digital River Incorporated (Danube Private Holdings II, LLC)
• Inventors: Kasriel, Stephane, Mann, Walter, Casanova, Xavier
• Primary Examiner(s): Maung, Zarni
• Assistant Examiner(s): DIVECHA, KAMAL B
• Application Number:
  US09/923,292
• Time in Patent Office: 1,835 Days
• Field of Search: 709217-219, 709246-247, 715/522, 715/513
• US Class Current: 709/213
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data

Abstract

It is desirable to send documents to a user in such a way as to minimize the bandwidth and other computer resources required. To this end, a document may be categorized as (1) delta information (information that changes rapidly), (2) sub-template information (information that changes less frequently) and (3) template information, which changes very seldom. The template information and sub-template information are compressed and cached at a site remote from the requesting party. Compressing and caching both sub-template information and template information results in a significant savings of bandwidth and computing resources, such as would be required if the sub-template information were treated as delta information and were not stored in a cache as is the case in the prior art. This savings is enhanced when the compressed template and sub-template information are sent to a large number of users.

Claims

1. A system for transmitting a web page to a client device, comprising:

a memory including template information, sub-template information, and delta information, the template information comprising seldom changing elements of a web page and the sub-template information comprising information that changes less frequently than delta information and elements of a web page that are shared by several templates; and

a software module programmed to (i) retrieve template information, sub-template information, and delta information from the memory based on a request for information from the client device and (ii) respond to the request by sending to the client device the template information, sub-template information and delta information as an assembled web page.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the memory is in a server other than an originating server that is the original provider of the information requested by the client device and the software module is within a proxy encoder server that is programmed to intercept requests for information from the client device that are intended for the originating server.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the software module in the proxy encoder server is programmed to retrieve the template information and sub-template information from memory in a content delivery network, the content delivery network comprising a set of mirroring servers situated in different locations throughout a communication network and one or more of the mirroring servers may be positioned more locally to the client device, each mirroring server includes most of information likely to be requested by the client device that is included in the originating server.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the software module in the proxy encoder server is further programmed to (i) identify template information, sub-template information and delta information in a web page and (ii) store such identified information in the memory.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the software module in the proxy encoder server is further programmed to (i) tag the template information so as to identify a version of the template information and (ii) tag the sub-template information so as to identify a version of the sub-template information.

6. The system of claim 1 further comprising a software module programmed to (i) compress template information, (ii) compress the sub-template information, and (iii) cache the compressed template information in the memory in a memory address location different from the compressed sub-template information.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the template information is embedded with place markers that define a location for insertion of sub-template information and delta information in the template information when assembling a web page.

8. The system of claim 1 further including a decoder coupled to a user'"'"'s browser in the client device that integrates the template information, sub-template information and delta information into a display for presentation to the user in the user'"'"'s browser as the assembled web page.

9. A method for transmitting a web page to a client device, comprising steps of:

identifying template information, sub-template information, and delta information based on a request for information from the client device, the template information comprising seldom changing elements of a web page and the sub-template information comprising information that changes less frequently than delta information and elements of a web page that are shared by several templates;

retrieving the template information, sub-template information, and delta information from a location other than an originating server that is the original provider of information requested by the client device; and

responding to the request by sending to the client device the template information, sub-template information and delta information as an assembled web page.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising a step of redirecting the request from the client device to a proxy encoder server and subsequently performing the identifying, retrieving, and responding steps at the proxy encoder server.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the redirecting step is performed by a decoder coupled to a user'"'"'s browser in the client device.

12. The method of claim 10 wherein the retrieving step comprises retrieving the template information and sub-template information from a content delivery network, the content delivery network comprising a set of mirroring servers situated in different locations throughout a communication network and one or more of the mirroring servers may be positioned more locally to the client device, each mirroring server includes most of information likely to be requested by the client device that is included in the originating server.

13. The method of claim 10 wherein the responding step comprises integrating the template information, sub-template information and delta information at the proxy encoder into the assembled web page.

14. The method of claim 9 wherein the identifying step includes tagging the template information so as to identify a version of the template information, subsequently the identified version of the template information is retrieved and sent to the client device in the retrieving and responding steps, respectively.

15. The method of claim 9 wherein the identifying step includes tagging the sub-template information so as to identify a version of the sub-template information, subsequently the identified version of the sub-template information is retrieved and sent to the client device in the retrieving and responding steps, respectively.

17. The method of claim 9 further comprising a step of compressing and caching the template information, and the retrieving step comprising retrieving and decompressing the compressed, cached template information.

18. The method of claim 9 further comprising a step of compressing and caching the sub-template information, and the retrieving step comprising retrieving and decompressing the compressed, cached sub-template information.

19. The method of claim 9 wherein the template information is embedded with place markers that define a location for insertion of sub-template information and delta information in the template information when assembling a web page while performing the responding step.

20. The method of claim 9 wherein the responding step comprises integrating the template information, sub-template information and delta information in a decoder coupled to a user'"'"'s browser in the client device into a display for presentation to the user in the user'"'"'s browser as the assembled web page.

16. The method of claim wherein the identifying step comprises identifying delta information that is relatively ephemeral information.