CDN Accelerating Embedded Resource Delivery via Certificate Pushing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Content delivery networks (CDNs) face challenges in efficiently delivering embedded resources across multiple hostnames, leading to suboptimal web page loading times due to the need for multiple network connections and potential lack of authority for third-party resources.
Innovation Solution
A content delivery platform analyzes markup language documents to identify embedded resources, pushes additional certificates for authoritative hostnames, and prefetches or signs third-party resources to minimize network connections and ensure efficient delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the CDN delivers embedded resources from multiple hostnames using separate network connections, then the CDN can serve diverse content sources, but the web page loading time increases due to multiple connections
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple network connections into a single connection by pushing additional certificates to the client over the primary connection. This allows the CDN to serve embedded resources from multiple hostnames (including third-party domains) without requiring separate TLS handshakes, thereby reducing web page loading time while maintaining the ability to serve diverse content sources
Solution Approach 2:
The CDN performs preliminary actions by analyzing markup language documents to identify embedded resources and pushing certificates ahead of time before the client needs to access those resources. This preliminary certificate pushing eliminates the need for subsequent TLS handshakes when the client requests embedded resources from different hostnames, significantly reducing loading time
2Productivity
If the CDN pushes additional certificates for authoritative hostnames, then the number of network connections is reduced, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The CDN performs preliminary analysis of markup language documents and preliminary certificate pushing before the client actually needs to access embedded resources. By analyzing the HTML/SVG documents in advance and identifying all embedded resources, the CDN can prepare and push necessary certificates ahead of time, eliminating the need for complex real-time certificate negotiation when resources are requested
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses feedback from analyzing markup language documents to automatically determine which certificates need to be pushed. The CDN examines the embedded resource references in the documents and uses this feedback to selectively push only the necessary certificates, avoiding unnecessary complexity while maintaining efficient resource delivery
3Productivity
If the CDN prefetches third-party resources with origin signatures, then resource delivery efficiency improves, but the CDN's authority over those resources is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces origin signatures as an intermediary mechanism that allows the CDN to efficiently deliver third-party resources without claiming authority over them. The origin signature acts as a trust marker from the third-party origin server, enabling the CDN to prefetch and serve these resources while maintaining proper authorization boundaries. This intermediary approach resolves the conflict between delivery efficiency and authority
Data Source
AI summary
Among other things, this document describes systems, devices, and methods for improving the delivery of resources embedded on a web page. In one embodiment, a content delivery network analyzes markup language documents that clients have requested to embedded resources, such as linked references to images, scripts, fonts, cascading style sheets, or other types of content. This analysis may be conducted on the content server and/or asynchronously, in a dedicated analytical environment, to produce delivery instructions. Where embedded resources have hostnames for which the content delivery network is authoritative, and where certain conditions are met, servers can be instructed to push additional certificates for such hostnames over the primary connection. When embedded resources have hostnames for which the platform is not authoritative, and where certain conditions are met, servers can be instructed to pre-fetch and push such resources with a signature from the authoritative origin.