Method for content-aware redirection and content renaming

• US 8,306,022 B1
• Filed: 08/26/2005
• Issued: 11/06/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cranor, Charles D., Gopalakrishnan, Raman, Green, Matthew D., Kalmanek, Charles Robert Jr., Shur, David Hilton, Sibal, Sandeep, van der Merwe, Jacobus E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sheikh, Ayaz
• Assistant Examiner(s): Haliyur, Venkatesh
• Application Number:
  US11/213,610
• Time in Patent Office: 2,629 Days
• Field of Search: 370228-503, 709203-240, 455/445
• US Class Current: 370/356
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1034 Reaction to server failures by a load balancer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context

Abstract

The present invention is directed to mechanisms for content-aware redirection and content exchange/content discovery that permit a request for content to be redirected to a particular advantageous server that can serve the content.

Claims

1. A method for distributing content in a packet-switched network comprising:

receiving, from a client of one of a plurality of content providers, a request for content identified by a resource identifier, wherein the resource identifier is defined by a service provider of the packet-switched network to associate a plurality of different second resource identifiers with the resource identifier, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers comprises a unique name provided by a different one of the plurality of content providers to identify the content, wherein each of the plurality of content providers is a customer of the service provider of the packet-switched network;

querying a mapping service using the resource identifier for a list of servers in the packet-switched network that store the content, wherein the mapping service is implemented in accordance with a centralized mapping server, wherein the mapping service uses a uniform resource identifier mapping protocol;

receiving the list of servers; and

redirecting the client to one server of the list of servers using a second resource identifier of the plurality of different second resource identifiers, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers further comprises a uniform resource locator.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client is redirected using a protocol-based redirection.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the resource identifier is a uniform resource name.

4. A method for distributing content in a packet-switched network comprising:

storing in a database a list of servers in the packet-switched network that store content identified by a resource identifier, wherein the resource identifier is defined by a service provider of the packet-switched network to associate a plurality of different second resource identifiers with the resource identifier, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers comprises a unique name provided by a different one of a plurality of content providers to identify the content, wherein the database is deployed in a centralized server, wherein each of the plurality of content providers is a customer of the service provider of the packet-switched network, wherein the database uses a uniform resource identifier mapping protocol;

updating the database as content stored on each of the list of servers changes;

responding to a query from a client of one of the plurality of content providers requesting the content identified by the resource identifier with the list of servers that store content, wherein the list of servers is used to redirect the client to one server of the list of servers using a second resource identifier of the plurality of different second resource identifiers, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers further comprises a uniform resource locator.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the database is updated in response to update messages received from the servers.

6. An apparatus for distributing content in a packet-switched network comprising:

a server configured to;

receive, from a client of one of a plurality of content providers, a request for content identified by a resource identifier, wherein the resource identifier is defined by a service provider of the packet-switched network to associate a plurality of different second resource identifiers with the resource identifier, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers comprises a unique name provided by a different one of the plurality of content providers to identify the content, wherein each of the plurality of content providers is a customer of the service provider of the packet-switched network;

query a mapping service using the resource identifier of the content for a list of servers in the packet-switched network that store the content, wherein the mapping service is implemented in accordance with a centralized mapping server, wherein the mapping service uses a uniform resource identifier mapping protocol;

receive the list of servers; and

redirect the client to one server of the list of servers using a second resource identifier of the plurality of different second resource identifiers, wherein each of the plurality of different second resource identifiers further comprises a uniform resource locator.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the server is configured to redirect the client using a protocol-based redirection.

8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the server is configured to redirect the client using a helper file.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 wherein the resource identifier is a uniform resource name.