METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR DELIVERING CONTENT TO DIFFERENTIATED CLIENT DEVICES

• US 20120203861A1
• Filed: 12/20/2011
• Published: 08/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Akamai Technologies, Inc.
• Inventors: Ludin, Stephen L., Flack, Martin T., Kobrin, Eric L., Kaufman, David H.
• Granted Patent: US 9,418,353 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals

Abstract

Methods and systems are disclosed for delivery of tailored content to differentiated devices, such as desktop, mobile, and tablet devices, over a computer network. In one embodiment, a proxy cache server has a content cache for storing previously retrieved objects like web pages or multimedia files. For at least some objects, several versions are stored, each version representing an object suited for a given set of client device characteristics. A device-equivalency data structure maintained at the proxy facilitates a determination of whether such cached versions can be used to service a current request. The versions might represent, for example, modified versions created using, e.g., mobile device transcoding techniques, in response to prior requests. They may also represent a set of alternate content created by a content provider and available from an origin server. Such methods and systems may be implemented in a distributed computing networks, e.g., a content delivery network.

Claims

1. A method operable in at least one content server for delivering content to a client over a computer network, the at least one content server having at least one processor and memory holding instructions for execution by the at least one processor, the method comprising:

receiving a request for web content from a particular client device;

determining that the particular client device has characteristics that match one of a plurality of sets of stored characteristics for client devices, each of said plurality of sets of stored characteristics being associated with one of a plurality of versions of said web content;

obtaining the version of the web content that is associated with the matching set of stored characteristics;

serving the obtained version of the web content to the particular client device, in response to the request for web content.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the characteristics of the particular client device from information in the request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising caching, in a cache local to the at least one content server, the version of the web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said caching uses a cache key associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein

(i) a given characteristic of the particular client device has a property associated with a value;

(ii) a given stored characteristic in the matching set of stored characteristics has a property associated with any of a value and a range of values,

and the method further comprises determining whether the given characteristic of the particular client device matches the given stored characteristic by;

determining whether the value of the given property of the particular client device matches the value, or falls within the range of values, of the given stored property.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein a given value is any of number, a Boolean, a string.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the version of web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics comprises any of:

retrieving that version from a cache local to the at least one content server, retrieving that version from an origin server, retrieving that version from a content adaptation engine.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in metadata executable at the at least one content server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in a header received from an origin server.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in information sent from a content adaptation engine in response to sending the content adaptation engine a request to modify web content to create a version of the web content.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the stored characteristics represent those characteristics taken into account to modify the web content.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the particular client device comprises a mobile device.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics includes a characteristic specifying a value or a range of values for any of the following properties:

display size, browser, javascript support, operating system, user_agent.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a data structure that maps a universal resource locator (URL) to a plurality of versions of that web content, each version being associated with one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the characteristics of the particular client device that match the one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics represents fewer than all of the known characteristics of the particular client device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the matching set of stored characteristics specifies one or more characteristics.

70. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the version of web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics comprises:

retrieving that version from a cache local to the at least one content server, using a cache key associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

17. Computer apparatus for delivering content to a client device over a computer network, the apparatus comprising:

circuitry forming at least one processor and memory holding instructions that, upon execution by the at least one processor, provide a special purpose machine that;

(i) receives a request for web content from a particular client device;

(ii) determines that the particular client device has characteristics that match one of a plurality of sets of stored characteristics for client devices, each of said plurality of sets of stored characteristics being associated with one of a plurality of versions of said web content;

(iii) obtains the version of the web content that is associated with the matching set of stored characteristics;

(iv) serves the obtained version of the web content to the particular client device, in response to the request for web content.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further holds instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the special purpose machine to:

determine the characteristics of the particular client device from information in the request.

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further holds instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the special purpose machine to:

cache, in a local cache, the version of the web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said caching uses a cache key associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein

(i) a given characteristic of the particular client device has era property and a value;

(ii) a given stored characteristic in the matching set of stored characteristics has a property associated with any of a value and a range of values,

and the memory further holds instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the special purpose machine to;

determine whether the given characteristic of the particular client device matches the given stored characteristic by;

determining whether the value of the given property of the particular client device matches the value, or falls within the range of values, of the given stored property.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein a given value is any of number, a Boolean, a string.

23. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein to obtain the version of web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics, the apparatus retrieves that version from any of:

a cache local to the at least one content server, an origin server, and a content adaptation engine.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in metadata executable by the apparatus.

25. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in a header received from an origin server.

26. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics is specified in information sent from a content adaptation engine in response to sending the content adaptation engine a request to modify web content to create a version of the web content.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the stored characteristics represent those characteristics taken into account to modify the web content.

28. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the particular client device comprises a mobile device.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein at least one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics includes a characteristic specifying a value or a range of values for any of the following properties:

display size, browser, javascript support, operating system, user_agent.

30. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory further holds instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the special purpose machine to:

provide a data structure that maps a universal resource locator (URL) to a plurality of versions of that web content, each version being associated with one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics.

31. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the characteristics of the particular client device that matches the one of the plurality of sets of stored characteristics represents fewer than all of the known characteristics of the particular client device.

32. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the matching set of stored characteristics specifies one or more characteristics.

33. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is a proxy server in a content delivery network (CDN) operated by a CDN service provider.

71. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein to obtain the version of web content associated with the matching set of stored characteristics, the apparatus retrieves that version from a cache local to the at least one content server, using a cache key associated with the matching set of stored characteristics.

34-69. -69. (canceled)