Method for prefetching of structured data between a client device and a server device

• US 8,078,759 B2
• Filed: 11/06/2003
• Issued: 12/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Tellique Kommunikationstechnik GmbH
• Original Assignee: Tellique Kommunikationstechnik GmbH
• Inventors: Seifert, Nils, Ott, Jörg
• Primary Examiner(s): Chea, Philip
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shepperd, Eric W
• Application Number:
  US10/702,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20040215717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,959 Days
• Field of Search: 709/232, 709/246, 792/232
• US Class Current: 709/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• 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 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1027 Persistence of sessions during load balancing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2876 Pairs of inter-processing entities at each side of the network, e.g. split proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/561 Adding application-functional data or data for application control, e.g. adding metadata
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams

Abstract

The invention relates to a method of more efficient data transmission, in particular transmission of structured data, such as web pages, in a system comprising a server means and a client means which are interconnected via a plurality of proxy means, including a server proxy means and a client proxy means.

Claims

1. A method of transmitting data in a system comprising a server and a client which are interconnected via a plurality of proxies, including a server proxy and a client proxy, comprising the steps of:

generating a conditional request from the client for a base file of a structured dataset to be fetched via the server in the system, and transmitting the conditional request to one of the plurality of proxies, said step of generating the conditional request comprising a condition;

deriving a modified request for the base file from the conditional request in the one proxy by changing the condition, the modified request being configured to always retrieve the base file from the server;

transmitting the modified request for the base file by the one proxy to the server;

receiving the modified request for the base file and analyzing the modified request in the server;

transmitting a reply dataset, including the base file, from the server to the one or another one of the plurality of proxies;

receiving the reply dataset and analyzing the reply dataset by the one or the another one of the plurality of proxies to determine information about a subfile of the base file; and

generating a request for the subfile of the base file by the one or the another one of the plurality of proxies and transmitting the request for the subfile to the server when information about the subfile is determined by analyzing the base file.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the subfile by the server to the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, and said step of transmitting a reply dataset includes analyzing information about a further subfile recursively by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of generating the conditional request includes using the condition comprised by the request for the base file for the request for the subfile.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of deriving a modified request for the base file includes deriving an unconditional request from the conditional request.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of transmitting a reply dataset includes transmitting status data together with the reply dataset from the server to the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

6. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and, depending on the result of this evaluation, forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client.

7. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client when the evaluation of the condition shows that forwarding of the reply dataset is not necessary.

8. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and, depending on the result of this evaluation, forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client, and said step forwarding the reply dataset includes annexing status data to the reply dataset and/or the status data and/or replacing at least parts of the status data by status data in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, when forwarding to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client.

9. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and, depending on the result of this evaluation, forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client;

said step of forwarding the reply dataset includes annexing status data to the reply dataset and/or the status data and/or replacing at least parts of the status data by status data in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, when forwarding to the other one of the plurality of proxies or the client; and

the status data annexed by said step of annexing or the status data replaced by said step of replacing in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies reveal to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client how the one or another one of the plurality of proxies evaluated the condition in said step of evaluating.

10. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and, depending on the result of this evaluation, forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client;

said step of forwarding the reply dataset includes annexing status data to the reply dataset and/or the status data and/or replacing at least parts of the status data by status data in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, when forwarding to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client; and

said step of annexing or replacing status data includes transmitting the status data supplemented or replaced by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies in the form of a header data record and/or as a component part of a cookie, an excerpt from a header data record and/or a cookie, or a hash sum across a header data record and/or a cookie.

11. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes evaluating the condition of the request for the base file in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies receiving the reply dataset from the server and, depending on the result of this evaluation, forwarding the reply dataset received and/or the status data to another one of the plurality of proxies or the client;

said step of forwarding the reply dataset includes annexing status data of the reply dataset and/or the status data and/or replacing at least parts of the status data by status data of its own in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, when forwarding to the other one of the plurality of proxies or the client;

said step of annexing or replacing status data includes transmitting the status data supplemented or replaced by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies in the form of a header data record and/or as a component part of a cookie, an excerpt from a header data record and/or a cookie, or a hash sum across a header data record and/or a cookie; and

said step of receiving the reply dataset includes checking at one of the plurality of proxies whether the client expresses the request for the subfile with the same or a comparable condition as the one proxy did.

12. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of transmitting a reply dataset includes forwarding only the status data or only parts of the base file together with the status data in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies when the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, in checking a reply dataset size of the reply dataset, determines that the size of the reply dataset checked exceeds a threshold value size.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said step of checking includes using the threshold value size which is user defined.

14. The method as claimed in claim 5, wherein said step of transmitting status data includes forwarding only the status data or only parts of the base file together with the status data in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies when the one or another one of the plurality of proxies, in checking a transmission bandwidth available for transmitting the reply dataset, determines that the transmission bandwidth checked is below a threshold value bandwidth.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, wherein said step of checking includes using the threshold value bandwidth which is user defined.

16. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting modification information including date and/or version information for the base file or subfile in addition to transmitting the base file or the subfile by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of transmitting modification information includes transmitting the modification information as a header data record by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16, wherein said step of transmitting modification information includes transmitting the modification information as electronic user or cookie information by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

19. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of annexing the modification information generated by the one or another one of the plurality of proxies to the reply dataset.

20. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said step of receiving the reply dataset includes generating proxy status information in response to the conditional request for the base file in the one proxy and transmitting the proxy status information to the client.

21. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of making an assumption regarding the base file and/or the subfile as to whether the base file or subfile comprises another subfile in the server proxy, and deriving the modified request from the conditional request when a made assumption is that the base file or subfile comprises another subfile.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, wherein said step of using the server proxy includes making the assumption on the basis of the type of file of the base file or subfile.

23. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of making an evaluation of the condition in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies and answering the request for the base file itself by suitable status information.

24. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of evaluating script information in the base file and/or the subfile in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies.

25. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of decompressing the compressed data of the reply data set when the reply data set comprises the compressed data.

26. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of modifying the request for the base file of the subfile, that the reply dataset cannot comprise any compressed data.

27. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of buffering data from the reply dataset in the one or another one of the plurality of proxies for which caching is not allowed.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein said step of using the one or another one of the plurality of proxies includes using the buffered reply dataset only for replying to a limited number of further requests by the same client.

29. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein said step of using the one or another one of the plurality of proxies includes using the buffered reply dataset only for replying to a limited number of further requests by the same client, and that the upper limit for the limited number of further requests is 1.

30. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein said step of using the one or another one of the plurality of proxies includes buffering the buffered reply dataset only as long as the buffered reply dataset is requested by the client within a respective time interval each.

31. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of transmitting the storage information to the server proxy indicating which base file(s) and/or subfile(s) still is/are buffered, and evaluating in the server proxy the storage information received in order to suppress electronic requests for the base file or subfile still buffered and/or prevent forwarding of the base file or subfile still buffered from the server proxy.

32. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of generating the request for subfile of the base file by the client proxy and transmitting to the server, and aborting the request for the subfile in the client proxy when the client proxy receives at least parts of the subfile.

33. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of executing prioritization for forwarding by forwarding the base file with preference in the server proxy.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, further comprising the step of expanding a transmission bandwidth portion used for the forwarding of the base file.

35. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of providing the server and the server proxy comprised by a server-end and providing the client and the client proxy comprised by a client-end;

transmitting the request for the base file from the server proxy to the server together with address information identifying an inquiring client-end;

receiving the address information identifying the inquiring client-end in the server;

transmitting the request for the subfile from the server proxy to the server together with said address information or some other address information identifying the inquiring client-end;

receiving the request for the subfile and said address information or some other address information identifying the inquiring client-end in the server.

36. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the reply dataset and/or the status data between at least two of the plurality of proxies at least partly compressed.

37. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of transmitting the reply dataset and/or the status data between at least two of the plurality of proxies at least partly encrypted.

38. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including a computer program for transmitting data in a system comprising a server means and a client means which are interconnected via a plurality of proxy means, including a server proxy means and a client proxy means, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

means recorded on an electronic data storage medium for generating a conditional request by the client means for a base file of a structured dataset to be fetched via the server means in the system and for transmitting the request to one of the plurality of proxy means, said conditional request comprising a condition;

means recorded on the electronic data storage medium for deriving a modified request for the base file from the conditional request in the one proxy means by changing the condition, the modified request being configured to always retrieve the base file from the server;

means recorded on an electronic data storage medium for transmitting the modified request for the base file from the one proxy means to the server means;

means recorded on the electronic data storage medium for receiving and analyzing the modified request for the base file in the server means;

means recorded on the electronic data storage medium for transmitting a reply dataset, including the base file, from the server means to the one or another one of the plurality of proxy means;

means recorded on the electronic data storage medium for receiving and analyzing the reply dataset by the one or the another one of the plurality of proxy means to determine information about a subfile of the base file; and

means recorded on the electronic data storage medium for generating a request for the subfile of the base file by the one or the another one of the plurality of proxy means and for transmitting the request for the subfile to the server means when information about the subfile is determined by analyzing the base file.