112 results about "Web cache" patented technology

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for increasing the performance of world-wide-web traffic over the Internet. A distributed network of specialized nodes of two types is dispersed around the Internet. A web client's requests are directed to a node of the first type chosen to be close to the client, and the client communicates with this node using a standard protocol such as HTTP. This first node receives the request, and communicates the request to a node of the second type chosen to be close to the request's ultimate destination (e.g., a web server capable of generating a response to the request.) The first node communicates the request to the second node using a different, specialized, protocol that has been designed for improved performance and specifically to reduce traffic volume and to reduce latency. The second node receives communication from the first node using this specialized protocol, converts it back to a standard protocol such as HTTP, and forwards the request to the destination computer or server. Responses from the destination to the client take the corresponding reverse route, and also are carried over a specialized protocol between the two nodes. In addition, these nodes can employ other techniques such as web caches that avoid or improve some communication steps. Thus, specialized, proprietary, or complex protocols and techniques can be quickly deployed to enhance web performance without requiring significant changes to the clients or servers.

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for increasing the performance of world-wide-web traffic over the Internet. A distributed network of specialized nodes of two types is dispersed around the Internet. A web client's requests are directed to a node of the first type chosen to be close to the client, and the client communicates with this node using a standard protocol such as HTTP. This first node receives the request, and communicates the request to a node of the second type chosen to be close to the request's ultimate destination (e.g., a web server capable of generating a response to the request.) The first node communicates the request to the second node using a different, specialized, protocol that has been designed for improved performance and specifically to reduce traffic volume and to reduce latency. The second node receives communication from the first node using this specialized protocol, converts it back to a standard protocol such as HTTP, and forwards the request to the destination computer or server. Responses from the destination to the client take the corresponding reverse route, and also are carried over a specialized protocol between the two nodes. In addition, these nodes can employ other techniques such as web caches that avoid or improve some communication steps. Thus, specialized, proprietary, or complex protocols and techniques can be quickly deployed to enhance web performance without requiring significant changes to the clients or servers.

A distributed network-attached storage network provides content distribution using conventional file transfer protocols such as NFS and CIFS. A filer proxy accepts a client request and translates the client request to a file transfer protocol accepted at the file system having the file requested in the client request. The filer proxy generates a file handle for the file containing redundant filer proxy information to be used for failover to a backup filer proxy in the event of a network error or failure of an original filer proxy. The file handle also contains information for network security purposes such as detection of forged file handles.

A load balancing service for a plurality of customers performs load balancing among a plurality of customer Web servers. Requests for Web content are load balanced across the customer Web servers. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the load balancing service. A caching service is also provided that comprises a plurality of caching servers connected to a network. The caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored, e.g., images, video, text, and / or software. The caching servers respond to requests for Web content from clients. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the Web caching service

Upon receipt of a document request, a client assistant examines its cache for the document. If not successful, a server searches for the requested document in its cache. If the server copy is still not fresh or not found, the server seeks the document from its host. If the host cannot provide the copy, the server seeks it from a document repository. Certain documents are identified from the document repository as being fresh or stable. Information about each these identified documents is transmitted to the server which inserts entries into an index if the index does not already contain an entry for the document. If and when this particular document is requested, the document will not be present in the server, however the server will contain an entry directing the server to obtain the document from the document repository rather than the document's web host.

A network content service apparatus includes a set of compute elements adapted to perform a set of network services; and a switching fabric coupling compute elements in said set of compute elements. The set of network services includes firewall protection, Network Address Translation, Internet Protocol forwarding, bandwidth management, Secure Sockets Layer operations, Web caching, Web switching, and virtual private networking. Code operable on the compute elements enables the network services, and the compute elements are provided on blades which further include at least one input / output port.

A method for a computer network includes sending a first request from a web client for resolving a first web address of a web page to a client DNS server, sending the first request from the client DNS server to a POP DNS server within a POP server network, using a probe server in the POP server network to determine traffic loads of a plurality of customer web servers, each of the customer web servers storing the web page, using the POP DNS server to determine a customer web server from the plurality of customer web servers, the customer web server having a traffic load lower than traffic loads of other customer web servers in the plurality of customer web servers, requesting the web page from the customer web server, the web page including static content represented by an embedded URL, sending the web page from the customer web server to the web client, sending a second request from the web client for resolving the URL to the client DNS server. sending the second request from the client DNS server to the POP DNS server within a POP server network, using the probe server to determine service metrics of a plurality of web caches within the POP server network, using the POP DNS server to determine a web cache from the plurality of web caches, the web cache having service metrics more appropriate for the second request than service metrics of other web caches in the plurality of web caches, requesting the static content from the web cache, sending the static content to the web client, and outputting the static content with the web client.

A network content service apparatus includes a set of compute elements adapted to perform a set of network services; and a switching fabric coupling compute elements in said set of compute elements. The set of network services includes firewall protection, Network Address Translation, Internet Protocol forwarding, bandwidth management, Secure Sockets Layer operations, Web caching, Web switching, and virtual private networking. Code operable on the compute elements enables the network services, and the compute elements are provided on blades which further include at least one input / output port.

A method and system for gathering enriched web server activity data in a global communications network in which requested information files are cached at a plurality of network devices. With the prevalence of web caching on the Internet, the origin web servers do not serve the majority of requests for web site content. A single pixel clear Graphics Image Format (GIF) request is added to the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) source file for a web page. Appended to the GIF request is a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) string of data that contains enhanced web activity data information, including the number of images (“hits”) that have to be retrieved by a client browser to build the web page, and the referring identifier that resulted in access to the web page. The single pixel clear GIF request is not cacheable and results in the request being transmitted to the origin web server when the client browser interprets the HTML file. The enriched data is stored in log files at the origin web server to accumulate an accurate number of hits on the web page.

Adaptive cooperative web caches construct and maintain routing and forwarding tables for efficient location of replicated web content data, thus reducing the time taken to fetch the requested web content data. The routing and forwarding tables in particular store decomposed web content identifiers and use compression techniques for efficient translation from a user request to the internet protocol address of the cache server where the replicated web content data can be retrieved.

Admission of new objects into a memory such as a web cache is selectively controlled. If an object is not in the cache, but has been requested a specified number of prior occasions (e.g., if the object has been requested at least once before), it is admitted into the cache regardless of size. If the object has not previously been requested the specified number of times, the object is admitted into the cache if the object satisfies a specified size criterion (e.g., if it is smaller than the average size of objects currently stored in the cache). To make room for new objects, other objects are evicted from the cache on, e.g., a Least Recently Used (LRU) basis. The invention could be implemented on existing web caches, on distributed web caches, in client-side web caching, and in contexts unrelated to web object caching.

Compressed Bloom filters that act as a message as well as a data structure provide smaller false positive rates, reduced bits broadcast and / or reduced computational overhead in distributed Web proxy servers and other distributed networks.

A client-server network system implements a multi-tier caching strategy for a user to access a document efficiently. When serving a document to client, the document is examined for embedded references to other documents. The embedded references are extracted and then assigned a priority. The documents referenced are obtained locally from the server cache or obtained from their respective web hosts and transmitted according to the assigned priority. If the client determines that it has the document, the transmission of is terminated. If the client or server determines that a newly requested document is one of the referenced documents being transmitted, the transmission is given a higher priority. In some instances, the server calculates a content difference between a current version of a referenced and a previous version and transmits this content.

The illustrative embodiments described herein are directed to a system, methods, and computer program product, for network acceleration and efficient indexing for caching file systems. For example, the disclosed embodiments achieve (1) high compression rate, (2) low disk seeks, and (3) low memory pressure using by introducing novel features such as, but not limited to, multi-resolution chunking and intelligent load shedding. In addition, the disclosed embodiments introduces a family of HashCache policies that enable large size web caching with little or no use of main memory.

A gateway for mobile communications comprises a cache for storing network data recently downloaded from a network, a foreign agent, and a packet filter that directs requests for the network data from a mobile node to the cache. The packet filter directs the requested network data from the cache to the mobile node by way of the foreign agent, without forwarding the requested network data to a home agent of the mobile node.

A peer group can be established for sharing Web cache data among a set of computing devices through a peer-to-peer network. The Web cache data can be used by each of the computing devices to respond to requests issued over a client-server network from a Web browser running on that computing device. Web cache data can be exchanged among the peers of the peer group via the peer-to-peer network. A client request issued from a Web browser of one of the computing devices can be satisfied using Web cache data obtained from a different one of the computing devices in the peer group. The client request can be a request to one of the Web servers for Web content. The server associated with the request may never provide the Web content responsive to the client request, which is obtained instead from the different one of the computing devices.

A load balancing service for a plurality of customers performs load balancing among a plurality of customer Web servers. Requests for Web content are load balanced across the customer Web servers. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the load balancing service. A caching service is also provided that comprises a plurality of caching servers connected to a network. The caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored, e.g., images, video, text, and / or software. The caching servers respond to requests for Web content from clients. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the Web caching service.

Controlling access to secure data and services by versatile computers outside a secure environment, which communicates with limited dedicated devices such as game consoles, over a secure network such as a virtual private network. The versatile computing devices obtain access over an insecure network, such as the Internet, through a trusted partner Web site that authenticates users of the site and relays requests to the secure environment. The Web site uses a certificate for a predefined level of secure access to the secure environment. A link is established between a user's Web ID authenticated by the Web site and a gamer tag used within the secure environment. Access is limited as a function of the Web ID, gamer tag, and a Web site partner ID. A Web cache stores and provides some secure data, minimizing disruption to the secure environment's primary function to service the dedicated devices.

The present invention is directed to a client-server network system implementing a multi-tier caching strategy for a user to access a document efficiently. The system comprises a client cache assistant serving as proxy for web browsers, a remote cache server managing user-requested documents and a search engine repository storing a huge number of documents as a backup for the remote cache server. Upon receipt of a document request, the client cache assistant examines its client cache to identify the requested document. If not successful, the remote cache server then identifies a copy of the requested document in its own cache and transmits a content difference between the two copies to the client cache assistant. If the server copy is still not fresh or not found, the remote cache server seeks another copy of the requested document from the search engine repository and transmits another content difference to the client cache assistant. The client cache assistant merges the content differences and the original copy into a new copy of the requested document.

The invention is directed to techniques for managing access to data available from a data access device using a network switching protocol to manage content requests from clients. A data communications device receives a request for content from a client. The data communications device, such as a network switch, exchanges signals using the network switching protocol with one or more data access devices, such as a web cache. The data communications device can then select one data access device to provide the requested content to the client based, for example, on load balancing considerations. The data communications device sends a data transfer approval signal to the selected data access device. The selected data access device establishes a connection with the client using information, such as the client's network address, provided by the signals. The selected data access device then bypasses the data communications device and sends the requested content to the client. Using the network switching protocol, the data communications device can manage multiple, pipelined requests from the same client, while approving responses to the client from different data access devices, such as web caches and / or servers.

Methods and apparatus are described for intelligently assigning a portion of a cluster's traffic (e.g., buckets) to a cache system to minimize overloading of such cache system. In general terms, when a new cache system enters a cache cluster and / or starts up, the new cache system's full bucket allocation is not immediately assigned to the new cache system. Instead, only a portion of the full bucket allocation is initially assigned to the new cache system. In one embodiment, the new cache system's bucket assignment is gradually increased until the cache system is handling it's full bucket allocation or it becomes overloaded. The cache system's load is also checked periodically to determine whether it has become overloaded. When the cache system becomes overloaded, buckets are immediately shed from the cache system. In sum, the new cache system's load is adjusted until it is handling an optimum number of buckets.

An access point or on-ramp includes a web server interface that couples one or more guests to the Internet. A usage collector monitors the usage patterns of the guests, and web cache software selects web pages that may be of interest to the guests based on their usage patterns. Another embodiment includes a remote management server managing a plurality of access points. The remote management server also may be used to enhance the functionality of access points by providing enhanced recognition of usage patterns. Information may be downloaded from the remote management server to the access point once the server recognizes usage patterns.

A load balancing service for a plurality of customers performs load balancing among a plurality of customer Web servers. Requests for Web content are load balanced across the customer Web servers. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the load balancing service. A caching service is also provided that comprises a plurality of caching servers connected to a network. The caching servers host customer content that can be cached and stored, e.g., images, video, text, and / or software. The caching servers respond to requests for Web content from clients. The load balancing service provider charges a fee to the customers for the Web caching service

Web server and Web cache operations to permit efficient user authorization and cross-domain authentication without repeated login requirements are described. Techniques to prevent unauthorized use of protected resources are also discussed.

A method and system for gathering enriched web server activity data in a global communications network in which requested information files are cached at a plurality of network devices. With the prevalence of web caching on the Internet, the origin web servers do not serve the majority of requests for web site content. A single pixel clear Graphics Image Format (GIF) request is added to the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) source file for a web page. Appended to the GIF request is a Common Gateway Interface (CGI) string of data that contains enhanced web activity data information, including the number of images (“hits”) that have to be retrieved by a client browser to build the web page, and the referring identifier that resulted in access to the web page. The single pixel clear GIF request is not cacheable and results in the request being transmitted to the origin web server when the client browser interprets the HTML file. The enriched data is stored in log files at the origin web server to accumulate an accurate number of hits on the web page.

The invention discloses an updating method of Web butter and an updating device of Web buffer, which are used for solving the problem that in the prior art, the local resource utilization rate in the Web buffer is not high. The method comprises the following steps: receiving an access request message of a user, judging whether an URL (Uniform Resource Locator) which is consistent with an URL contained by the access request message exists in a corresponding relationship table of a local resource identifier and the URL; if no, judging a local resource with the content which is the same as the content of an external resource on a corresponding storage position of the URL contained in the access request message in an external network exists in the butter; and if yes, the corresponding relationship of the identifier of the local resource with the content which is the same as the content of the external resource and the URL in the access request message is stored in the corresponding relationship table.

The invention discloses a method and device for providing web cache information in a search engine. The method includes the steps that a search keyword corresponding to a current search result page given by the current search engine and a URL of at least one search result displayed in the current research result page are obtained; the search keyword and the URL are sent to a preset cache server for search, so that a web cache matched with the search result is obtained; an access entry of the matched web cache is displayed in the search result page; when an operation focus moves to the access entry, the webpage content of the matched web cache is obtained from the cache server, a suspension layer is created on the upper layer of the current search result page, and the webpage content of the matched web cache is displayed in the suspension layer. Through the method and device, a user can obtain the content information of the web cache more conveniently and rapidly, and the method and device are beneficial to improving the utilization rate of the web cache information.

A gateway for mobile communications comprises a cache for storing network data recently downloaded from a network, a foreign agent, and a packet filter that directs requests for the network data from a mobile node to the cache. The packet filter directs the requested network data from the cache to the mobile node by way of the foreign agent, without forwarding the requested network data to a home agent of the mobile node.

A network of point of presence servers sharing a hostname includes a first network probe server configured to determine traffic loads of a plurality of customer web servers, and configured to determine latency of web cache servers in the network of point of presence servers, each of the customer web servers storing a web page, a first domain name server coupled to the first network probe server, configured to receive a request from a user for the web page at a first web address, the first web address including the hostname, configured to determine a customer web server from the plurality of customer web servers that is appropriate for the request, the customer web server having a traffic load lower than traffic loads of remaining customer web servers from the plurality of customer web servers, configured to determine an IP address of the customer web server, configured to return the IP address of the customer web server, configured to receive a request from the user for static content on the web page at a second web address, the second web address including the hostname, and configured to determine a web cache server from the network of point of presence servers that is appropriate for the request, the web cache server having a latency lower than latency of remaining web cache servers within the network network of point of presence servers, and the web cache server configured to retrieve the static content, and to provide the static content to the user.