Systems and Methods for Cache Optimization

• US 20080201331A1
• Filed: 02/15/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Eriksen, Bjorn Marius Aamodt, Laraki, Othman
• Granted Patent: US 8,065,275 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/10
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A server computer identifies a cached document and its associated cache update history in response to a request or in anticipation of a request from a client computer. The server computer analyzes the document'"'"'s cache update history to determine if the cached document is de facto fresh. If the cached document is de facto fresh, the server computer then transmits the cached document to the client computer. Independently, the server computer also fetches an instance of the document from another source like a web host and updates the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a server computer,

identifying a document for a client computer and a cache update history associated with the document;

checking the document against predefined criteria, the predefined criteria including that the document'"'"'s content is invariant over a predefined set of parameters and the document'"'"'s content is deemed fresh according to the document'"'"'s cache update history;

transmitting the document from the server computer to the client computer and fetching an instance of the document from a different source if the document satisfies at least a subset of the predefined criteria; and

updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content has an estimated age lower than those of a predetermined portion of past content updates for which information is recorded in the document'"'"'s cache update history.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

if the fetched instance is different from the document transmitted to the client computer, sending the fetched instance of the document to the client so as to replace the document transmitted to the client computer.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

alerting the client computer if the fetched instance of the document is different from the document transmitted to the client computer.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the document in response to a request from the client computer, the request including multiple request headers; and

transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content matches a set of the request headers according to a predefined standard.

6. The method of claim 1, including:

preloading the document to the client computer in anticipation of a subsequent request for the document;

fetching an instance of the document from the different source upon receipt of the subsequent request; and

updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

7. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a server computer,

identifying a document for a client computer;

transmitting the document to the client computer;

fetching an instance of the document from a different source; and

notifying the client computer to serve the document in response to a request after validating the document using the fetched instance of the document.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the document is validated if the document and the fetched instance of the document have identical content.

9. The method of claim 7, including:

preloading the document to the client computer in anticipation of a subsequent request for the document;

fetching an instance of the document from the different source upon receipt of the subsequent request; and

notifying the client computer to serve the preloaded document in response to a request after validating the preloaded document using the fetched instance of the document.

10. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

at a server computer,

identifying a document for a client computer;

encrypting the document using a key;

transmitting the encrypted document to the client computer;

fetching an instance of the document from a different source; and

sending the key to the client computer to decrypt the encrypted document and serve the document to a request after validating the document using the fetched instance of the document.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the document is validated if the document and the fetched instance of the document have identical content and the document contains no private information associated with a user.

12. The method of claim 10, including:

preloading the encrypted document to the client computer in anticipation of a subsequent request for the document;

fetching an instance of the document from the different source upon receipt of the subsequent request; and

sending the key to the client computer to decrypt the encrypted document and serve the document to a request after validating the document using the fetched instance of the document.

13. A system for serving documents to a user at a client device, comprising:

memory;

at least one processor; and

at least one program stored in the memory and executed by the at least one processor, the at least one program including;

instructions for identifying a document for a client computer and its associated cache update history;

instructions for checking the document against predefined criteria, the predefine criteria including that the document'"'"'s content is invariant over a predefined set of parameters and the document'"'"'s content is deemed fresh according to the document'"'"'s cache update history;

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer and fetching an instance of the document from a different source if the document satisfies at least a subset of the predefined criteria; and

instructions for updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content has an estimated age lower than those of a predetermined portion of past content updates for which information is recorded in the document'"'"'s cache update history.

15. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for sending the fetched instance of the document to the client computer so as to replace the document transmitted to the client computer using if the fetched instance is different from the document transmitted to the client computer.

16. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for alerting the client computer if the fetched instance is different from the document transmitted to the client computer.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for identifying the document in response to a request from the client computer, the request including multiple request headers; and

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content matches a set of the request headers according to a predefined standard.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising:

instructions for preloading the document to the client computer in anticipation of a subsequent request for the document;

instructions for fetching an instance of the document from the different source upon receipt of the subsequent request; and

instructions for updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

19. A computer program product for use in conjunction with a computer system, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium and a computer program mechanism embedded therein, the computer program mechanism comprising:

instructions for identifying a document for a client computer and its associated cache update history;

instructions for checking the document against predefined criteria, the predefine criteria including that the document'"'"'s content is invariant over a predefined set of parameters and the document'"'"'s content is deemed fresh according to the document'"'"'s cache update history;

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer and fetching an instance of the document from a different source if the document satisfies at least a subset of the predefined criteria; and

instructions for updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content has an estimated age lower than those of a predetermined portion of past content updates for which information is recorded in the document'"'"'s cache update history.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for sending the fetched instance of the document to the client computer so as to replace the document transmitted to the client computer using if the fetched instance is different from the document transmitted to the client computer.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for alerting the client computer if the fetched instance is different from the document transmitted to the client computer.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for identifying the document in response to a request from the client computer, the request including multiple request headers; and

instructions for transmitting the document to the client computer if the document'"'"'s content matches a set of the request headers according to a predefined standard.

24. The computer program product of claim 19, further comprising:

instructions for preloading the document to the client computer in anticipation of a subsequent request for the document;

instructions for fetching an instance of the document from the different source upon receipt of the subsequent request; and

instructions for updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.

25. A system for serving documents to a user at a client device, comprising:

memory;

a processor;

means for identifying a document for a client computer and its associated cache update history;

means for checking the document against predefined criteria, the predefine criteria including that the document'"'"'s content is invariant over a predefined set of parameters and the document'"'"'s content is deemed fresh according to the document'"'"'s cache update history;

means for transmitting the document to the client computer and fetching an instance of the document from a different source if the document satisfies at least a subset of the predefined criteria; and

means for updating the document'"'"'s cache update history using the fetched instance of the document.