Method and apparatus for selecting cache and proxy policy
First Claim
1. A server, comprising:
- a media serving engine to distribute media content;
a cache engine coupled to the media serving engine, the cache engine to cache the media content;
a storage device to store a plurality of server policies, each server policy defining operating characteristics of the server, with one of the plurality of server policies being a currently active server policy, the plurality of server policies comprising a first server policy determining the server is to operate as a cache server and further comprising a second server policy, defined by a system administrator, determining the server is to operate as an origin server, the plurality of server policies comprising;
prefetching policies for causing the cache server to identify a media content, determine a particular time period during which the media content should be downloaded, and download the media content from the origin server without yet receiving a request for the media content; and
frequency policies such that for each time the request is made for the media content, the frequency policies cause the cache server to determine a version of the media content and whether the version of the media content is acceptable or a new version of the media content is to be downloaded from the origin server;
a processor coupled to the storage device, the processor to control operation of the server based on the currently active server policy and the second server policy,wherein the media serving engine distributes the media content to a plurality of client devices while concurrently ignoring the first cache policy to operate as the cache server and implementing the second cache policy to operate as the origin server, the origin server being a source of the media content.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A cache server includes a media serving engine that is capable of distributing media content. A cache engine is coupled to the media serving engine and capable of caching media content. A set of cache policies is accessible by the cache engine to define the operation of the cache engine. The cache server can be configured to operate as either a cache server or an origin server. The cache server also includes a data communication interface coupled to the cache engine and the media serving engine to allow the cache engine to receive media content across a network and to allow the media serving engine to distribute media content across the network. The cache policies include policies for distributing media content from the media server, policies for handling cache misses, and policies for prefetching media content.
363 Citations
15 Claims
-
1. A server, comprising:
-
a media serving engine to distribute media content; a cache engine coupled to the media serving engine, the cache engine to cache the media content; a storage device to store a plurality of server policies, each server policy defining operating characteristics of the server, with one of the plurality of server policies being a currently active server policy, the plurality of server policies comprising a first server policy determining the server is to operate as a cache server and further comprising a second server policy, defined by a system administrator, determining the server is to operate as an origin server, the plurality of server policies comprising; prefetching policies for causing the cache server to identify a media content, determine a particular time period during which the media content should be downloaded, and download the media content from the origin server without yet receiving a request for the media content; and frequency policies such that for each time the request is made for the media content, the frequency policies cause the cache server to determine a version of the media content and whether the version of the media content is acceptable or a new version of the media content is to be downloaded from the origin server; a processor coupled to the storage device, the processor to control operation of the server based on the currently active server policy and the second server policy, wherein the media serving engine distributes the media content to a plurality of client devices while concurrently ignoring the first cache policy to operate as the cache server and implementing the second cache policy to operate as the origin server, the origin server being a source of the media content. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
-
-
6. An apparatus, comprising:
-
a storage device to store a first cache policy and a second cache policy, wherein the first cache policy causes the apparatus to operate as a cache server and the second cache policy causes the apparatus to operate as an origin server, and wherein the first cache policy or the second cache policy is a currently active cache policy; a media serving engine to distribute media content to a plurality of client devices while concurrently ignoring the first cache policy to operate as the cache server and implementing the second cache policy to operate as the origin server, the origin server being a source of the media content; a cache engine coupled to the media serving engine and the storage device, the cache engine to process media based on the currently active cache policy, wherein the first and second cache policies include; policies for handling cache misses when the cache server does not contain content requested by a client, the policies for handling cache misses are further to determine whether a copy of the requested content should be cached by the cache server to satisfy future requests for the previously requested content; policies for, when the copy of the requested content is cached by the cache server, determining whether existing cached content should be deleted to release storage space on the cache server; policies for, when a determination is made that existing cached content should be deleted, determining a least frequently requested content of the existing cached content to be deleted; policies for prefetching media content not yet requested by the client, wherein the policies for prefetching media content cause the cache server to identify media content, determine a particular time period during which the media content should be downloaded, and download the media content from the origin server prior to receiving a request from the client; and frequency policies such that for each time the request is made for the media content, determining a version of the media content and whether the version of the media content is acceptable or a new version of the media content is to be downloaded from the origin server. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A method, comprising:
-
configuring a server based on a cache server policy, the cache server policy causing the server to operate as a cache server for a first plurality of client devices; operating the server according to operating characteristics of the cache server policy, the cache server policy causing the server to identify a media content, determine a particular time period during which the media content should be downloaded, and download the media content from another server, the cache server policy further causing the server to, for each time the request is made for the media content, determine a version of the media content and whether the version of the media content is acceptable or a new version of the media content is to be downloaded from the origin server; receiving a request for additional media content stored on the server from a second plurality of client devices differing from the first plurality of client devices; and providing the additional media content to the second plurality of client devices while concurrently ignoring the cache server policy such that the server operates as an origin server, the origin server being a source of the additional media content. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
-
Specification