CONTENT REPLACEMENT AND REFRESH POLICY IMPLEMENTATION FOR A CONTENT DISTRIBUTION NETWORK

• US 20100057995A1
• Filed: 10/14/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Citrix Systems, Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Original Assignee: Sycamore Networks Incorporated
• Inventors: TURNER, William M., HACK, Talbot, CAO, Yang, NICOLAZZO, Michael, SUBERRI, Moshe
• Granted Patent: US 9,208,104 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/133
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 12/121 using replacement algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0852 Delays
• 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

Abstract

A method for replacing, refreshing, and managing content in a communication network is provided. The method defines an object policy mechanism that applies media replacement policy rules to defined classes of stored content objects. The object policy mechanism may classify stored content objects into object groups or policy targets. The object policy mechanism may also define metric thresholds and event triggers as policy conditions. The object policy mechanism may further apply replacement policy algorithms or defined policy actions against a class of stored content objects. The media replacement policy rules are enforced at edge content storage repositories in the communication network. A computing device for carrying out the method, and a method for creating, reading, updating, and deleting policy elements and managing policy engine operations, are also provided.

Claims

1. An electronic device readable medium storing instructions for managing content in a communication network, the communication network having an access network with a cache, the medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine a content replacement rule that applies to an object in the cache, the content replacement rule defining a policy for when the object in the cache should be replaced; and

apply the content replacement rule at a location in the access network to replace the object in the cache when it is determined that the object in the cache should be replaced.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the content replacement rule comprises:

a content object key that defines an attribute of a data object;

a policy condition that evaluates the object key against a threshold value; and

a policy action that is taken if the policy condition is met.

3. The medium of claim 2, further storing instructions to cause the processor to modify a policy action using a policy action argument.

4. The medium of claim 1, further storing instructions to cause the processor to define an event trigger that specifies when to apply the content replacement rule based on a property of the communication network.

5. The medium of claim 1, further storing instructions to cause the processor to:

classify the object in the cache into an object group based on an attribute of the object; and

apply the content replacement rule based on the object group.

6. The medium of claim 5, further storing instructions to cause the processor to:

accept a content replacement policy at the location in the access network, wherein the content replacement policy comprises a plurality of content replacement rules.

7. The medium of claim 6, wherein the content replacement policy defines a different content replacement rule for different object groups.

8. The medium of claim 5, wherein classifying the object in the cache is done based on a user-defined classification.

9. The medium of claim 1, wherein the content replacement rule is user-defined.

10. A method in an electronic device for managing content in a communication network, the communication network having an access network with a cache, the method comprising:

determining a content replacement rule that applies to an object in the cache, the content replacement rule defining a policy for when the object in the cache should be replaced; and

applying the content replacement rule to replace the object in the cache when it is determined that the object in the cache should be replaced.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the content replacement rule comprises:

a content object key that defines an attribute of a data object;

a policy condition that evaluates the object key against a threshold value; and

a policy action that is taken if the policy condition is met.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising modifying a policy action using a policy action argument.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising defining an event trigger that specifies when to apply the content replacement rule based on a property of the communication network.

14. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

classifying the object in the cache into an object group based on an attribute of the object; and

applying the content replacement rule based on the object group.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising accepting a content replacement policy at the location in the access network, wherein the content replacement policy comprises a plurality of content replacement rules.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the content replacement policy defines a different content replacement rule for different object groups.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein classifying the object in the cache is done based on a user-defined or system-triggered classification.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the content replacement rule is user-defined.

19. An electronic device for managing content in a communication network, the communication network having an access network with a cache, the electronic device comprising:

a storage for storing a content replacement policy, the content replacement policy comprising a plurality of content replacement rules, each content replacement rule defining a policy for when an object in the cache should be replaced; and

a processor for executing instructions, the instructions causing the processor to;

proxy a network transport protocol; and

apply at least one of the content replacement rules to the object in the cache.

20. An electronic device readable medium storing device readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, provide a method for managing content in a communication network, the communication network having an access network with a cache, the instructions comprising:

instructions for receiving at least one content replacement rule defining a policy for determining when an object in the cache should be replaced;

instructions for incorporating at least one of the at least one content replacement rules into a content replacement policy;

instructions for enforcing the content replacement policy on the object in the cache.

21. The electronic device readable medium of claim 20, wherein the content replacement rules comprise:

a content object key that defines an attribute of a data object;

a policy condition that evaluates the object key against a threshold value; and

a policy action that is taken if the policy condition is met.

22. An electronic device readable medium storing instructions for managing content in a wireless content delivery network, the wireless content delivery network having an access network with a cache, the medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

determine a content replacement rule that applies to an object in the cache, the content replacement rule defining a policy for when the object in the cache should be replaced, the content replacement rule comprising;

a content object key that defines a type of a data object,

a policy condition that evaluates the object key against a threshold value, and,

a policy action that is taken if the policy condition is met; and

enforcing the policy action to replace the object in the cache when the policy condition is met.