Routing device data caching

• US 9,191,374 B1
• Filed: 09/22/2014
• Issued: 11/17/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Belkin International Incorporated (Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Kim, Ryan Yong
• Primary Examiner(s): Lagor, Alexander
• Application Number:
  US14/493,075
• Time in Patent Office: 421 Days
• Field of Search: 713/153
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2834 Switching of information between an external network and a home network access arrangements H04L12/2856
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/742 Route cache; Operation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 49/252 Store and forward routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0464 using hop-by-hop encryption, i.e. wherein an intermediate entity decrypts the information and re-encrypts it before forwarding it
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0471 applying encryption by an intermediary, e.g. receiving clear information at the intermediary and encrypting the received information at the intermediary before forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/168 above the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/2885 Hierarchically arranged intermediate devices, e.g. for hierarchical caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5682 Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70

Abstract

A routing device capable of performing application layer data caching is described. Application data caching at a routing device can alleviate the bottleneck that an application data host may experience during high demands for application data. Requests for the application data can also be fulfilled faster by eliminating the network delays for communicating with the application data host. The techniques described can also be used to perform analysis of the underlying application data in the network traffic transiting though a routing device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, on a routing device, a previous request for application data;

transmitting the application data for the previous request without storing the application data in an application data cache of the routing device;

receiving, on the routing device after the previous request, a request for the application data and to establish a secure channel between a client device and an application data host;

sending a redirect response to the client device to indicate the request is being redirected;

establishing a client-side secure channel between the client device and the routing device, wherein the client-side secure channel terminates at the routing device, and the client-side secure channel is established after receiving a confirmation to establish the client-side secure channel;

establishing a host-side secure channel between the routing device and the application data host, wherein the host-side secure channel terminates at the routing device;

receiving the application data in an encrypted form from the application data host using the host-side secure channel;

decrypting the encrypted application data;

analyzing the decrypted application data to determine whether to cache the application data;

storing the application data in the application data cache of the routing device;

re-encrypting the application data for transmission; and

transmitting the re-encrypted application data to the client device using the client-side secure channel, wherein the application data remains stored in the application data cache of the routing device after the re-encrypted application data has been transmitted to the client device,

wherein the decryption of the encrypted application data is performed with a host-side secure channel session key, the re-encryption of the application data for transmission is performed with a client-side secure channel session key, and the application data being stored in the application data cache of the routing device is encrypted with a routing device encryption key, wherein the host-side secure channel session key, the client-side secure channel session key, and the routing device encryption key are all different from one another.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from another client device, another request for the application data; and

transmitting the application data stored in the application data cache to that other client device without requesting the application data from the application data host.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for other application data;

determining that the other application data is not to be cached; and

transmitting the other application data without storing the other application data in the application data cache of the routing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the application data is no longer to be cached; and

de-caching the application data from the application data cache of the routing device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the application data is stored as Open System Interconnection (OSI) application layer data without transport service headers in the application data cache of the routing device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the application data stored in the application data cache of the routing device is re-encrypted.

7. A routing device comprising:

a network interface including a plurality of physical layer components;

an application data cache;

one or more data processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing instructions, which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including;

receiving a previous request for application data;

transmitting the application data for the previous request without storing the application data in the application data cache of the routing device;

receiving, after the previous request, a request for the application data and to establish a secure channel between a client device and an application data host;

sending a redirect response to the client device to indicate the request is being redirected;

establishing a client-side secure channel between the client device and the routing device, wherein the client-side secure channel terminates at the routing device, and the client-side secure channel is established after receiving a confirmation to establish the client-side secure channel;

establishing a host-side secure channel between the routing device and the application data host, wherein the host-side secure channel terminates at the routing device;

receiving the application data in an encrypted form from the application data host using the host-side secure channel;

decrypting the encrypted application data;

analyzing the decrypted application data to determine whether to cache the application data;

storing the application data in the application data cache;

re-encrypting the application data for transmission; and

transmitting the re-encrypted application data to the client device using the client-side secure channel, wherein the application data remains stored in the application data cache after the re-encrypted application data has been transmitted to the client device,

wherein the decryption of the encrypted application data is performed with a host-side secure channel session key, the re-encryption of the application data for transmission is performed with a client-side secure channel session key, and the application data being stored in the application data cache of the routing device is encrypted with a routing device encryption key, wherein the host-side secure channel session key, the client-side secure channel session key, and the routing device encryption key are all different from one another.

8. The routing device of claim 7, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

receiving, from another client device, another request for the application data; and

transmitting the application data stored in the application data cache to that other client device without requesting the application data from the application data host.

9. The routing device of claim 7, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

receiving a request for other application data;

determining that the other application data is not to be cached; and

transmitting the other application data without storing the other application data in the application data cache.

10. The routing device of claim 7, further comprising instructions which when executed on the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations including:

determining that the application data is no longer to be cached; and

de-caching the application data from the application data cache.

11. The routing device of claim 7, wherein the application data is stored as Open System Interconnection (OSI) application layer data without transport service headers in the application data cache.

12. The routing device of claim 7, wherein the application data stored in the application data cache is re-encrypted.

13. The routing device of claim 7, further comprising:

an memory expansion port for coupling an external storage device to expand a storage capacity of the application data cache.

14. The routing device of claim 7, wherein the network interface includes at least one wireless physical layer transceiver.