Methods and systems for partial page caching of dynamically generated content

• US 7,509,404 B2
• Filed: 03/05/2001
• Issued: 03/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Oracle International Corporation (Oracle Corporation)
• Inventors: Liu, Xiang, Venketaramani, Ramkumar, Zeng, Zheng, Lowenthal, Leslie Bruce, Agrawal, Alok, Mishra, Rajiv, Nakhoda, Shehzaad, Jacobs, Lawrence
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, THANH T
• Application Number:
  US09/800,115
• Publication Number:
  US 20020004813A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,941 Days
• Field of Search: 707/217, 707/9, 707/10, 718/101, 718/107, 709/217, 709/223, 700/9, 710/52
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching

Abstract

A method of servicing a request for a document over a computer network includes independently caching portions of pages called blocks. Each block includes a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source. When a request for a page is received over a computer network, one or more of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document may be retrieved from a cache memory. Any block that is not found in the cache memory is dynamically generated and a copy thereof is stored in the cache memory. The requested page may then be assembled from the page blocks retrieved from the cache memory and/or the dynamically generated page blocks.

Claims

1. A method of servicing a request for a document over a computer network, comprising the steps of:

receiving a request for a document, the requested document including a script that defines plurality of blocks, each block including a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source;

retrieving only some of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document from a memory, the memory storing the at least one of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document;

dynamically generating remaining blocks of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document that were not retrieved from the memory, that are not stored in the memory or that are stored in the memory but have been invalidated and storing a copy of each dynamically generated block in the memory;

assembling the requested document from both the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks, and

sending the assembled document over the computer network to an originator of the request.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of sending at least one of the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks over the computer network to an originator of the request.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the document includes an XML document.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the document includes an HTML document.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request includes an HTTP request.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory is a cache memory.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory is adapted to be shared among multiple processes.

8. The method of claim 1, further including the step of determining whether the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has been invalidated and carrying out the retrieving step only when the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has not been invalidated.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining at least one of an invalidation mechanism and an expiration time for each dynamically generated block that is stored in the memory.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of storing a placeholder block configured to enable an external data source to asynchronously publish data thereto.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the placeholder block is free of code to access and format data.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of accepting asynchronous input from an external data source, the asynchronous input updating at least one block stored in the memory.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory is maintained across a plurality of cache servers, and wherein a coherency mechanism maintains coherency of the memory across the plurality of cache servers.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the plurality of cache servers are distributed over a geographical area.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of associating at least one caching property to each dynamically generated block, the at least one caching property determining when the associated block is invalidated.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one caching property is stored along with the copy of each dynamically generated block stored in the memory.

17. A computer system for servicing a request for a document over a computer network, comprising:

at least one processor;

at least one data storage device;

a plurality of processes spawned by said at least one processor, the processes including processing logic for;

receiving a request for a document, the requested document including a script that defines plurality of blocks, each block including a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source;

retrieving only some of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document from a memory, the memory storing the at least one of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document;

dynamically generating remaining blocks of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document that were not retrieved from the memory, that are not stored in the memory or that are stored in the memory but have been invalidated and storing a copy of each dynamically generated block in the memory;

assembling the requested document from both the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks, and

sending the assembled document over the computer network to an originator of the request.

18. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising processing logic for sending at least one of the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks over the computer network to an originator of the request.

19. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the document includes an XML document.

20. The computer system of claim 19, wherein the document includes an HTML document.

21. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the request includes an HTTP request.

22. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the memory is a cache memory.

23. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the memory is adapted to be shared among multiple processes.

24. The computer system of claim 17, further including processing logic for determining whether the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has been invalidated and for carrying out the retrieving step only when the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has not been invalidated.

25. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising processing logic for determining at least one of an invalidation mechanism and an expiration time for each dynamically generated block that is stored in the memory.

26. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising processing logic for storing a placeholder block configured to enable an external data source to asynchronously publish data thereto.

27. The computer system of claim 26, wherein the placeholder block is free of code to access and format data.

28. The computer system of claim 17, further comprising processing logic for accepting asynchronous input from an external data source, the asynchronous input updating at least one block stored in the memory.

29. The computer system of claim 17, wherein the memory is maintained across a plurality of cache servers, and wherein a coherency mechanism maintains coherency of the memory across the plurality of cache servers.

30. The computer system of claim 29, wherein the plurality of cache servers are distributed over a geographical area.

31. The computer system of claim 17 further comprising processing logic for associating at least one caching property to each dynamically generated block, the at least one caching property determining when the associated block is invalidated.

32. The computer system of claim 31, wherein the at least one caching property is stored along with the copy of each dynamically generated block stored in the memory.

33. A machine-readable storage medium having data stored thereon representing sequences of instructions which, when executed by computing device, causes said computing device to service a request for a document over a computer network, by performing the steps of:

receiving a request for a document, the requested document including a script that defines plurality of blocks, each block including a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source;

retrieving only some of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document from a memory, the memory storing the at least one of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document;

dynamically generating remaining blocks of the plurality of blocks defined in the script of the requested document that were not retrieved from the memory, that are not stored in the memory or that are stored in the memory but have been invalidated and storing a copy of each dynamically generated block in the memory;

assembling the requested document from both the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks, and

sending the assembled document over the computer network to an originator of the request.

34. The medium of claim 33, further comprising the step of sending at least one of the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks over the computer network to an originator of the request.

35. The medium of claim 33, wherein the document includes an XML document.

36. The medium of claim 35, wherein the document includes an HTML document.

37. The medium of claim 33, wherein the request includes an HTTP request.

38. The medium of claim 33, wherein the memory is a cache memory.

39. The medium of claim 33, wherein the memory is adapted to be shared among multiple processes.

40. The medium of claim 33, further including the step of determining whether the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has been invalidated and carrying out the retrieving step only when the at least one of the plurality of stored blocks has not been invalidated.

41. The medium of claim 33, further comprising the step of determining at least one of an invalidation mechanism and an expiration time for each dynamically generated block that is stored in the memory.

42. The medium of claim 33, further comprising the step of storing a placeholder block configured to enable an external data source to asynchronously publish data thereto.

43. The medium of claim 42, wherein the placeholder block is free of code to access and format data.

44. The medium of claim 33, further comprising the step of accepting asynchronous input from an external data source, the asynchronous input updating at least one block stored in the memory.

45. The medium of claim 33, wherein the memory is maintained across a plurality of cache servers, and wherein a coherency mechanism maintains coherency of the memory across the plurality of cache servers.

46. The medium of claim 45, wherein the plurality of cache servers are distributed over a geographical area.

47. The medium of claim 33, further comprising the steps of associating at least one caching property to each dynamically generated block, the at least one caching property determining when the associated block is invalidated.

48. The medium of claim 47, wherein the at least one caching property is stored along with the copy of each dynamically generated block stored in the memory.

49. A method of servicing a request for a Web page over a computer network, comprising the steps of:

identifying constituent blocks of the Web page, each of the constituent blocks including a portion of the Web page;

defining a caching property for each identified block, the caching property defining when each identified block is to be invalidated;

caching the identified blocks in a memory;

maintaining each of the cached blocks in the memory according to the defined caching property defined for each block;

servicing the request for the Web page by retrieving only some of the cached blocks of the requested Web page from the memory and dynamically generating remaining blocks of the constituent blocks of the requested Web page that were not retrieved from the memory, that are not stored in the memory or that are stored in the memory but have been invalidated and storing a copy of each dynamically generated block in the memory;

assembling the Web page from both the retrieved and dynamically generated blocks, and

sending the assembled Web page over the computer network.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein each of the constituent blocks includes a reference to a data source and code that is adapted to access the data source and to format the data accessed from the data source.

51. The method of claim 49, further including a step of storing a copy of any generated block in the memory.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the caching properties include at least one of a unique identifier, an expiration date, an expiration time and an invalidation rule.