Arrangement for providing content operation identifiers with a specified HTTP object for acceleration of relevant content operations

• US 7,797,376 B1
• Filed: 11/13/2001
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Desai, Arun Raghavendra
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Nghi V
• Application Number:
  US09/986,967
• Time in Patent Office: 3,227 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709213-216, 709/246
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable

Abstract

Web content provided by a server includes associated content operation identifiers that identify related content objects. The web server, in response to receiving an HTTP Get request for the web object, retrieves the web object, and concurrently retrieves the content operation identifiers associated with the web object. The server sends the content operation identifiers with the requested web object as part of an HTTP response. The content operation identifiers may be inserted with an HTTP header, or may be added to the web content, for example by prepending HTML tags specifying the content operation identifiers to an HTML page that includes the requested web object. A proxy device receiving the HTTP response can forward the response to the requesting client device, and execute the content operations specified by the content operation identifiers within the HTTP response. Hence, content operations can be performed for relevant content objects based on content operation identifiers within the HTTP response, eliminating the necessity of client side executable resources that may otherwise affect the device performance.

Claims

1. A method of providing content to a device according to Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), the method comprising:

receiving an HTTP request for a first content object;

identifying a content operation identifier that identifies a corresponding second content object determined as relevant to the first content object by a predictive caching operation, the content operation identifier including a directive for prefetching the second content object as a content operation distinct from presentation of the first content object by the device; and

sending to the device an HTTP response to the HTTP request, the HTTP response including the first content object and the content operation identifier, enabling the device to perform the prefetching of the second content object based on receipt of the content operation identifier and distinct from the presentation of the first content object;

wherein the sending step includes adding to the first content object a content operation tag that specifies the content operation identifier including a directive tag specifying the corresponding content operation to be performed by the device and an object identifier that specifies a location of the second content object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first content object is a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, the adding step including inline prepending the content operation tag into the HTML document.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the content operation identifier further includes a second directive tag specifying purging a third content object from a cache.

4. A method of providing content to a device according to Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), the method comprising:

receiving an HTTP request for a first content object;

identifying a content operation identifier that identifies a corresponding second content object determined as relevant to the first content object by a predictive caching operation, the content operation identifier including a directive for prefetching the second content object as a content operation distinct from presentation of the first content object by the device; and

sending to the device an HTTP response to the HTTP request, the HTTP response including the first content object and the content operation identifier, enabling the device to perform the prefetching of the second content object based on receipt of the content operation identifier and distinct from the presentation of the first content object;

wherein the sending step includes inserting into the HTTP response at least one extensible HTTP header that specifies the content operation identifier including the directive to be performed by the device and an object identifier that specifies a location of the second content object.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the content operation identifier further includes a second directive specifying purging a third content object from a cache.

6. A server configured for providing content to a device according to Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), the server comprising:

an interface configured for receiving an HTTP request for a first content object and outputting an HTTP response; and

an executable process configured for identifying a content operation identifier that identifies a corresponding second content object determined as relevant to the first content object by a predictive caching operation, the content operation identifier including a directive for prefetching the second content object as a content operation distinct from presentation of the first content object by the device, the executable process configured for supplying within the HTTP response the first content object and the content operation identifier, enabling the device to perform the prefetching of the second content object based on receipt of the content operation identifier within the HTTP response and distinct from the presentation of the first content object;

wherein the executable process is configured for adding to the first content object a content operation tag that specifies the content operation identifier including a directive tag specifying the corresponding content operation to be performed by the device and an object identifier that specifies a location of the second content object.

7. The server of claim 6, wherein the first content object is a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) document, the executable process configured for inline prepending the content operation tag into the HTML document.

8. The server of claim 7, wherein the content operation identifier further includes a second directive tag specifying purging a third content object from a cache.

9. A server configured for providing content to a device according to Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP), the server comprising:

an interface configured for receiving an HTTP request for a first content object and outputting an HTTP response; and

an executable process configured for identifying a content operation identifier that identifies a corresponding second content object determined as relevant to the first content object by a predictive caching operation, the content operation identifier including a directive for prefetching the second content object as a content operation distinct from presentation of the first content object by the device, the executable process configured for supplying within the HTTP response the first content object and the content operation identifier, enabling the device to perform the prefetching of the second content object based on receipt of the content operation identifier within the HTTP response and distinct from the presentation of the first content object;

wherein the executable process is configured for inserting into the HTTP response at least one extensible HTTP header that specifies the content operation identifier including said directive to be performed by the device and an object identifier that specifies a location of the second content object.

10. The server of claim 9, wherein the content operation identifier further includes a second directive specifying purging a third content object from a cache.