Data caching based on data contents

• US 7,716,306 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2005
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: X Corp. (f/k/a Twitter, Inc.) (X Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Greenstein, Marina A., Andreev, Dmitry, Grunin, Galina, Vilshansky, Gregory
• Primary Examiner(s): DONAGHUE, LARRY D
• Application Number:
  US11/046,408
• Publication Number:
  US 20060167969A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,932 Days
• Field of Search: 709/217, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

A novel method and structure in which data caching is based on data contents. The method comprises the steps of (a) sending a data request from a processing circuit to a target server; (b) in response to the target server receiving the data request, sending a first response portion of a data response from the target server to the processing circuit; and {circle around (c)} in response to the processing circuit receiving the first response portion, using the processing circuit to examine the first response portion so as to determine whether the processing circuit contains a copy of the data response; and (d) in response to the processing circuit determining that the processing circuit contains a copy of the data response, sending the copy of the data response from the processing circuit to a client machine.

Claims

1. A method for processing a data request, said method comprising:

a proxy server receiving the data request from a client machine;

responsive to said proxy server receiving the data request from the client machine, said proxy server sending the data request to a target server,

after said proxy server sending the data request to the target server, said proxy server receiving from the target server a first data packet of the data response;

after said proxy server receiving the first data packet of the data response, said proxy server determining that the data response has a compressed graphic format and said proxy server determining that the data response comprises more than one data packet, said more than one data packet consisting of the first data packet and additional data packets;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format and to said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet, said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises a cached copy of the data response;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response, said proxy server terminating communication with the target server to prevent the target server from sending to the proxy server the additional data packets of the data response; and

responsive to said proxy server terminating communication with the target server, said proxy server sending the cached copy of the data response to the client machine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet is performed in response to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format.

3. The method of claim 1,

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format includes said proxy server determining from a data type field of a header of the first data packet that the data response has the compressed graphic format, and

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet includes said proxy server determining from a data length field of the header of the first data packet that the data response comprises said more than one data packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response comprises:

said proxy server generating a signature from initial bytes of a data portion of the first data packet of the data response; and

said proxy server matching the generated signature to a signature in a list of signatures in a look-up table stored in a memory device of the proxy server.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said generating the signature comprises applying a hash function to the initial bytes.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the initial bytes consist of N bytes, and wherein N is in a range of 1000 to 1300.

7. A computer program product, comprising a computer readable storage medium having a computer readable program code stored therein, said computer readable program code containing instructions configured to be executed by a processor of a proxy server to implement a method for processing a data request, said method comprising:

said proxy server receiving the data request from a client machine;

responsive to said proxy server receiving the data request from the client machine, said proxy server sending the data request to a target server,

after said proxy server sending the data request to the target server, said proxy server receiving from the target server a first data packet of the data response;

after said proxy server receiving the first data packet of the data response, said proxy server determining that the data response has a compressed graphic format and said proxy server determining that the data response comprises more than one data packet, said more than one data packet consisting of the first data packet and additional data packets;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format and to said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet, said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises a cached copy of the data response;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response, said proxy server terminating communication with the target server to prevent the target server from sending to the proxy server the additional data packets of the data response; and

responsive to said proxy server terminating communication with the target server, said proxy server sending the cached copy of the data response to the client machine.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet is performed in response to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format.

9. The computer program product of claim 7,

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format includes said proxy server determining from a data type field of a header of the first data packet that the data response has the compressed graphic format, and

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet includes said proxy server determining from a data length field of the header of the first data packet that the data response comprises said more than one data packet.

10. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein said determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response comprises:

said proxy server generating a signature from initial bytes of a data portion of the first data packet of the data response; and

said proxy server matching the generated signature to a signature in a list of signatures in a look-up table stored in a memory device of the proxy server.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein said generating the signature comprises applying a hash function to the initial bytes.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the initial bytes consist of N bytes, and wherein N is in a range of 1000 to 1300.

13. A computing system comprising a proxy server, said proxy server comprising a processor and a computer readable memory unit coupled to the processor, said memory unit containing program code configured to be executed by the processor to implement a method for processing a data request, said method comprising:

said proxy server receiving the data request from a client machine;

responsive to said proxy server receiving the data request from the client machine, said proxy server sending the data request to a target server,

after said proxy server sending the data request to the target server, said proxy server receiving from the target server a first data packet of the data response;

after said proxy server receiving the first data packet of the data response, said proxy server determining that the data response has a compressed graphic format and said proxy server determining that the data response comprises more than one data packet, said more than one data packet consisting of the first data packet and additional data packets;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format and to said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet, said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises a cached copy of the data response;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response, said proxy server terminating communication with the target server to prevent the target server from sending to the proxy server the additional data packets of the data response; and

responsive to said proxy server terminating communication with the target server, said proxy server sending the cached copy of the data response to the client machine.

14. The computing system of claim 13, wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet is performed in response to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format.

15. The computing system of claim 13,

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format includes said proxy server determining from a data type field of a header of the first data packet that the data response has the compressed graphic format, and

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet includes said proxy server determining from a data length field of the header of the first data packet that the data response comprises said more than one data packet.

16. The computing system of claim 13, wherein said determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response comprises:

said proxy server generating a signature from initial bytes of a data portion of the first data packet of the data response; and

said proxy server matching the generated signature to a signature in a list of signatures in a look-up table stored in a memory device of the proxy server.

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein said generating the signature comprises applying a hash function to the initial bytes.

18. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the initial bytes consist of N bytes, and wherein N is in a range of 1000 to 1300.

19. A process for deploying computing infrastructure, said process comprising integrating computer-readable code into a proxy server, wherein the code in combination with the proxy server is configured to perform a method for processing a data request, said method comprising:

said proxy server receiving the data request from a client machine;

responsive to said proxy server receiving the data request from the client machine, said proxy server sending the data request to a target server,

after said proxy server sending the data request to the target server, said proxy server receiving from the target server a first data packet of the data response;

after said proxy server receiving the first data packet of the data response, said proxy server determining that the data response has a compressed graphic format and said proxy server determining that the data response comprises more than one data packet, said more than one data packet consisting of the first data packet and additional data packets;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format and to said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet, said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises a cached copy of the data response;

responsive to said proxy server determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response, said proxy server terminating communication with the target server to prevent the target server from sending to the proxy server the additional data packets of the data response; and

responsive to said proxy server terminating communication with the target server, said proxy server sending the cached copy of the data response to the client machine.

20. The process of claim 19, wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet is performed in response to said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format.

21. The process of claim 19,

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response has the compressed graphic format includes said proxy server determining from a data type field of a header of the first data packet that the data response has the compressed graphic format, and

wherein said proxy server determining that the data response comprises said more than one data packet includes said proxy server determining from a data length field of the header of the first data packet that the data response comprises said more than one data packet.

22. The process of claim 19, wherein said determining that the proxy server comprises said cached copy of the data response comprises:

said proxy server generating a signature from initial bytes of a data portion of the first data packet of the data response; and

said proxy server matching the generated signature to a signature in a list of signatures in a look-up table stored in a memory device of the proxy server.

23. The process of claim 22, wherein said generating the signature comprises applying a hash function to the initial bytes.

24. The process of claim 22, wherein the initial bytes consist of N bytes, and wherein N is in a range of 1000 to 1300.