Data services using location patterns and intelligent caching

• US 8,924,503 B2
• Filed: 12/07/2011
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Brech, Brad L.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHAW, PELING ANDREW
• Application Number:
  US13/313,779
• Publication Number:
  US 20130151652A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• US Class Current: 709/216
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/167 using a common memory, e.g. mailbox
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9574 of access to content, e.g. by caching
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0604 Improving or facilitating administration, e.g. storage management
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0647 Migration mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/067 Distributed or networked storage systems, e.g. storage area networks [SAN], network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/5681 Pre-fetching or pre-delivering data based on network characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Pre-caching may decrease the response time necessary for a wireless communication network to fulfill a user request. Pre-caching includes predicting what data the user will request next and preemptively fetching that data from a network (e.g., the Internet). Additionally, the wireless communication network may predict the geographic location of the mobile device when it makes the request. Instead of pre-caching the data in the memory of the mobile device, the data may be stored at a wireless access point that has a radiation pattern that covers the predicted geographic location of the mobile device. Once the wireless access point receives the request from the mobile device for the pre-cached data, the pre-cached data may be transmitted wirelessly to the mobile device, thereby avoiding having to forward the request to rest of the communication network.

Claims

1. A computer program product for pre-caching data in a communication network, the computer program product comprising:

a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code configured to;

determine a data usage pattern for a computing device, the data usage pattern comprising a plurality of previous requests from a user of the computing device to access data from the communication network;

determine a location pattern for the computing device, the location pattern comprising a previous physical location of the computing device;

predict, based on the data usage pattern, a future request from the computing device to access data from the communication network, wherein the previous and future requests access data at a same address;

predict a future physical location of the computing device based on the location pattern; and

select a storage location from a plurality of storage locations that are external to the computing device based on the predicted future physical location, wherein the storage location stores the data associated with the future request.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the previous request is associated with a time of occurrence, and wherein the previous physical location is associated with a time that the computing device was at the previous physical location, further comprising computer-readable program code configured to:

correlating the previous request to the previous physical location based on the time of occurrence and the time that the computing device was at the previous physical location.

3. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein determining the data usage pattern further comprises computer-readable program code configured to:

estimating a time frame that the future request will be submitted by the user based on the time of occurrence.

4. The computer program product of claim 2, wherein determining a location pattern for the computing device further comprises computer-readable program code configured to:

estimating a time frame that the computing device will be at the future physical location based on the time that the computing device was at the previous physical location; and

correlating the future physical location to a wireless access point that is configured to communicate wirelessly with the computing device.

5. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computing device transmits the previous request wirelessly, wherein the previous physical location is a geographic region associated with an antenna of a wireless access point, and wherein the computing device is not currently wirelessly coupled to the antenna.

6. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein the computing device is configured for wireless communication, and wherein the plurality of storage locations are each located in a same general physical location as an antenna configured to communicate wirelessly with the computing device.

7. A system for pre-caching data in a communication network, comprising:

a computer processor; and

a memory containing a program that, when executed on the computer processor, performs an operation for processing data, comprising;

determining a data usage pattern for a computing device, the data usage pattern comprising a plurality of previous requests from a user of the computing device to access data from the communication network;

determining a location pattern for the computing device, the location pattern comprising a previous physical location of the computing device;

predicting, based on the data usage pattern, a future request from the computing device to access data from the communication network, wherein the previous and future requests access data at a same address;

predicting a future physical location of the computing device based on the location pattern; and

selecting a storage location from a plurality of storage locations that are external to the computing device based on the predicted future physical location, wherein the storage location stores the data associated with the future request.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the previous request is associated with a time of occurrence, and wherein the previous physical location is associated with a time that the computing device was at the previous physical location, further comprising:

correlating the previous request to the previous physical location based on the time of occurrence and the time that the computing device was at the previous physical location.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the data usage pattern further comprises:

estimating a time frame that the future request will be submitted by the user based on the time of occurrence.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein determining a location pattern for the computing device further comprises:

estimating a time frame that the computing device will be at the future physical location based on the time that the computing device was at the previous physical location; and

correlating the future physical location to a wireless access point that is configured to communicate wirelessly with the computing device.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the computing device transmits the previous request wirelessly, wherein the previous physical location is a geographic region associated with an antenna of a wireless access point, and wherein the computing device is not currently wirelessly coupled to the antenna.

12. The system of claim 7, wherein determining the storage location further comprises:

determining at least two storage locations selected from the plurality of storage locations to cache data associated with the future request; and

caching the data associated with the future request at both of the at least two storage locations, wherein the computing device is not currently communicatively coupled to the at least two storage locations.