Method of generating a web page

• US 8,683,076 B2
• Filed: 05/30/2007
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/1998
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Level 3 Communications LLC (Lumen Technologies, Inc.)
• Inventors: Farber, David A., Greer, Richard E., Swart, Andrew D., Balter, James A.
• Primary Examiner(s): BLAIR, DOUGLAS B
• Application Number:
  US11/806,152
• Publication Number:
  US 20070233705A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,491 Days
• Field of Search: 709/219, 709/226, 709/245
• US Class Current: 709/245
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/957 Browsing optimisation, e.g. caching or content distillation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2209/509 Offload
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/505 considering the load
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/065 related to network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/301 Name conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• 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 67/10015 Access to distributed or replicated servers, e.g. using brokers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1006 with static server selection, e.g. the same server being selected for a specific client
• 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 67/1014 based on the content of a request
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1019 Random or heuristic server selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1021 based on client or server locations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1023 based on a hash applied to IP addresses or costs
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1025 : Dynamic adaptation of the criteria on which the server selection is based
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 : Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 : Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 : involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2895 : Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data provider application, e.g. reverse proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 : Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• 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
• 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 67/5682 : Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 : taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 : Network security protocols

Abstract

A method of generating a web page modifies uniform resource locators (URLs) of embedded resources in a web page. The modified URLs include data prepended to information from the original URLs. The prepended data may be a hostname or an network address that is resolvable to a shared network of servers.

Claims

1. A method for use in a system in which a plurality of content providers provide multiple resources to multiple clients, wherein each content provider provides at least some of its resources via one or more origin servers associated with that content provider, and wherein a web page of a content provider of said plurality of content providers includes at least one reference to a resource of said content provider, said reference comprising a first URL identifying said resource, said first URL including an original hostname associated with said content provider and a path, the original host name being an origin server name, the method comprising:

(A) providing a plurality of repeater servers distinct from said origin servers and configured to serve resources on behalf of the plurality of content providers;

(B) causing said first URL to be modified to produce a modified URL, said modified URL including at least a portion of said original hostname and a string of characters prepended to said at least portion of said original hostname, said string of characters being distinct from said original hostname, wherein at least some of said string of characters includes a repeater server name operable to cause the resource to be served to clients from at least one of the plurality of repeater servers instead of from an origin server associated with said content provider;

(C) a step for determining a Group Reduction Table and a Link Cost Table, wherein said Group Reduction Table and said Link Cost Table are operable for use in identifying the named repeater server; and

(D) providing, to said content provider, information related to the serving of at least the resource to clients by the at least one of the plurality of repeater servers.

2. A method as in claim 1 wherein at least some of said string of characters represent a new hostname distinct from said original hostname.

3. A method as in claim 2 wherein the original URL includes an original domain name and path and wherein the modified URL includes the new hostname prepended to the original domain name and path.

4. A method as in claim 3 wherein the resource is an embedded object.

5. A method as in claim 1 wherein at least some of the string of characters represent a fully qualified domain name.

6. A method as in claim 1 wherein the causing act comprises:

tagging the first URL using said string of characters.

7. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first URL has the form:

“

http;

//<

server>

/<

path>

”

where “

<

server>

”

is the origin server name and where “

<

path>

”

is a path to the resource designated by the first URL, and wherein the modified URL has the form;

“

http;

//<

repeater>

/<

server>

/<

path>

”

where “

<

repeater>

”

is the string of characters.

8. A method as in claim 1 wherein the first URL has the form:

“

http;

//<

server>

/<

path>

”

where “

<

server>

”

is the origin server name and where “

<

path>

”

is a path to the resource designated by the URL, and wherein the modified URL has the form;

“

http;

//<

repeater>

/<

server>

/<

path>

”

where “

<

repeater>

”

is a hostname.

9. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the causing act comprises:

replacing the first URL in the web page with the modified URL.

10. A method as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

in response to a request for the web page by a client, obtaining the web page from an origin server associated with said content provider, and serving the web page to the client in response to performance of the replacing act.

11. A method as recited in claim 10, wherein the obtaining, serving and replacing acts are performed by a repeater server.

12. A method as recited in claim 9, wherein the original hostname is resolvable to an origin server associated with said content provider.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to each of the at least one repeater servers being requested to serve the resource to a client;

checking to determine whether a copy of the resource is available in a cache storage of the repeater server;

if a copy of the resource is available in the cache storage of the repeater server, serving the copy of the resource to the client from the cache storage of the repeater server;

otherwise,

if a copy of the resource is not available in the cache storage of the repeater server, retrieving the resource from an origin server associated with the content provider prior to serving the resource to the client.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein the retrieving act comprises:

using at least the portion of the original hostname in the modified URL to retrieve the resource from the origin server associated with said content provider.

15. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

logging, by each of the plurality of repeater servers, information related to all resources served therefrom on behalf of said content provider, wherein said all resources includes the resource originally identified by the first URL.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein the logged information comprises one or more time stamps corresponding to service of the resource by each of the at least one repeater servers that serves the resource to a client.

17. A method as recited in claim 15, further comprising:

merging the information logged by each of the plurality of repeater servers, wherein the providing act comprises providing the merged information to said content provider.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising:

(C) using information contained in the modified URL to identify said content provider in response to a client request.

19. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein the client request comprises an HTTP Request and the modified URL is contained in an HTTP header associated with the client request.