Distributed cache for a wireless communication system

Abstract

In a wireless system comprising a plurality of radio base station, each base station services a portion of the system. A cache is associated with each base station. The cache stores files regularly requested by the remote unit within the coverage area of the corresponding base station. When a base station receives a message from a remote unit, it parses the message to determine if the message comprises a file request. If so, the base station determines whether the file is available from the cache. If available, the base station responds to the request by forwarding the requested file from the cache. If the file is not available, the base station forwards the message to a central controller, which retrieves the file via the Internet from the appropriate content server and provides it to the base station.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 09 / 388,236, filed Sep. 1, 1999. This application is incorporated by reference in its entirety.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0002] 1. Field of the Invention [0003] The invention relates generally to wireless communication systems and, more particularly, to digital data transfer in a wireless communication system. [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art [0005] Digital data communication systems are becoming more and more pervasive. For example, the Internet is commonly used to transfer digital data in the form of e-mail messages, web pages as well as audio, graphic and video information in digital format between many users and servers. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a typical Internet digital data system. The Internet “cloud”10 interconnects a large number of users and content servers. In order to gain access to the Internet cloud 10, an Internet service provider 12 acts as a gateway between...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0017] In a wireless system comprising a set of limited physical coverage areas, a base station provides service over a wireless link to a plurality of users within one of the limited physical coverage areas. The base station is coupled to an Internet service provider via a backhaul. The Internet service provider is coupled to many content servers via a digital data network. Each base station has an associated cache. The cache is used to store files and objects which are frequently requested by the users within the limited physical coverage area associated with the corresponding base station. When a user sends a message comprising a request for a file or object to the base station, the base station parses the message. If the requested file or object is available from the cache, the base station forwards the file or object to the user from the cache. In this way, the request need not be sent over the backhaul or over the digital data network, thereby greatly improving the response time of the wireless system.

Problems solved by technology

The wait experienced by the user is caused by the round-trip delay from the HTTP latency as all the HTML objects which compose the hypertext markup language (HTML) file are retrieved from the Internet.

Over such great distances, even if the messages were able to travel the speed of light, a significant latency would be accumulated by the numerous round-trip delays associated with retrieving each object.

Even if the storage capacity of the cache 16 is greatly increased, it is difficult to achieve a caching rate at greater than 60% based upon modern Internet usage patterns.

Typically, the finite capacity of the wireless link as well as the limited transmission rate of the wireless link can cause additional delays in the transmission of data between the Internet service provider and the user.

The reverse process carries the objects back to the user, incurring yet additional delays.

As noted above, the cumulative delay associated with transmission of the request over the wireless link as well as the other delays associated with response to the request can become intolerably high to the end-user.

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