Content caching with special handling of multiple identical requests for content

• US 6,775,743 B2
• Filed: 09/12/2001
• Issued: 08/10/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2001
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Patel, Burzin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): ELMORE, STEPHEN C
• Application Number:
  US09/952,291
• Publication Number:
  US 20030051100A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,063 Days
• Field of Search: 711/118, 711/113, 711/154, 709/219, 709/245
• US Class Current: 711/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

The special handling of multiple identical requests for the content during content caching is disclosed. A request for content, such as a web page request received from a client, is received. At least one of two actions is then performed. First, in response to determining that the content is cacheable and that a previous request for the content has already been forwarded to a server responsible for the content, such as a web server, the request is not processed until a response to the previous request is received. Second, in response to determining that the content is non-cacheable, the request is forwarded to the server responsible for the content.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for content;

performing an action selected from the group of actions essentially consisting of;

in response to determining that the content comprises cacheable content and that a previous request for the content has already been forwarded to a server responsible for the content, waiting to process the request until a response to the previous request has been received;

in response to determining that the content comprises non-cacheable content, forwarding the request to the server responsible for the content;

in response to determining that the content comprises content unclassified as one of cacheable content and non-cacheable content,

forwarding the request to the server responsible for the content;

receiving a response to the request from the server responsible for the content, the response including the content and indicating whether the content is one of cacheable and non-cacheable;

returning the content in response to the request; and

,

where the response to the request from the server responsible indicates that the content is cacheable, caching the content.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the group of actions further essentially consists of, in response to determining that the content comprises cacheable content that has already been cached, returning the cacheable content that has already been cached in response to the request.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the content comprises content unclassified as one of cacheable content and non-cacheable content, where the response to the request from the server responsible for the content indicates that the content is non-cacheable, marking the content as non-cacheable.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the content comprises cacheable content and that the previous request for the content has already been forwarded to the server responsible for the content,

receiving the response to the previous request from the server responsible for the content, the response including the content; and,

returning the content in response to the previous request, the request, and any successive requests for the content.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising, in response to determining that the content comprises cacheable content and that the previous request for the content has already been forwarded to the server responsible for the content, caching the content.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response to determining that the content comprises non-cacheable content,

receiving a response to the request from the server responsible for the content, the response including the content;

and,

returning the content in response to the request.

7. A content caching system comprising:

a first storage to store cacheable content by identifiers of the cacheable content, the cacheable content received from one or more content servers;

a second storage to track outstanding requests for content sent to the one or more content servers by identifiers of the content; and

,

a mechanism to receive a new request for content including an identifier, and in response to determining that the second storage is tracking one or more other requests also having the identifier of the new request, adding the new request to the one or more other requests in the second storage.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mechanism, in response to determining that the content of the new request is stored in the first storage, retrieves the content from the first storage and returns the content in response to the new request.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the mechanism further receives a response to the one or more other requests and the new request from the one or more servers including the content, and returns the content in response to each of the one or more other requests and the new request.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the mechanism further adds the content to the first storage, and removes the one or more other requests and the new request from the second storage.

11. The system of claim 7, further comprising a third storage to list non-cacheable content of the one or more content servers by identifiers of the non-cacheable content.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the mechanism, in response to determining that the identifier of the new request is listed in the third storage, sends the new request to the one or more content servers, receives a response from the one or more servers including the content, and returns the content in response to the new request.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the mechanism, in response to failing to locate the identifier of the new request in the first, second, and third storages, adds the identifier to the second storage, and sends the new request to the one or more content servers.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the mechanism further receives a response from the one or more servers including the content and indicating whether the content is one of cacheable and non-cacheable, returns the content in response to the new request, and removes the identifier and any other identical identifiers for the content from the second storage.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the mechanism further adds the content and the identifier of the new request to the first storage where the response received from the one or more servers indicates that the content is cacheable, and further adds the content and the identifier of the new request to the third storage where the response received from the one or more servers indicates that the content is non-cacheable.

16. An article comprising:

a computer-readable medium; and

,

means in the medium for waiting to process a received request for content until a response is received to another request for the content that has been sent to a server responsible for the content, and for forwarding the received request to the server after determining that the content is non-cacheable.

17. The article of claim 16, wherein the medium is a recordable data storage medium.

18. The article of claim 16, wherein the medium is a modulated carrier signal.