Connection End-Point Proxies for WAN Data Preloading
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Solution Overview
Problem
Wide Area Networks (WANs) pose performance bottlenecks due to lower bandwidths and higher latencies compared to Local Area Networks (LANs), leading to inefficient data transport and access issues, especially in large distributed enterprises where data needs to be accessed from centralized data centers, and existing solutions are complex, costly, and prone to errors.
Innovation Solution
The use of user affinities and dynamic user location information to selectively preload data or representations of data in network caches, such as email proxy caches and connection end-point proxies, to optimize data delivery and reduce latency, errors, and bandwidth limitations by anticipating user requests and preloading data based on user interactions and locations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If data is replicated to distributed servers to improve access performance, then data access speed improves, but system complexity and deployment cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces proxy servers as intermediary components between clients and origin servers. These proxies cache data locally and serve requests without requiring full server replication. The proxy acts as a mediator that reduces the complexity of direct server-to-client data delivery while maintaining performance benefits through local caching and intelligent request routing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements selective data copying to proxy servers rather than full server replication. Only specific data objects that are frequently accessed or predicted to be needed are copied to distributed proxies. This reduces the complexity of maintaining multiple complete server copies while still achieving fast local access for critical data.
2Loss of time
If proxy caches are deployed to improve data access performance, then latency is reduced, but cache management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements self-service mechanisms where proxy servers automatically manage their own caching operations. The system uses automatic cache invalidation, predictive preloading based on access patterns, and self-organizing cache structures. This eliminates the need for manual cache management while reducing latency through automated optimization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates feedback mechanisms that monitor cache hit rates, access patterns, and data freshness. This feedback is used to dynamically adjust caching strategies, invalidate stale entries, and preload anticipated data. The feedback loop automatically optimizes cache performance without manual intervention, reducing both latency and management complexity.
3Reliability
If all available data is duplicated in each location to ensure data availability, then data access reliability improves, but bandwidth consumption and storage costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by making cache content specific to each proxy's location and user base. Each proxy caches data that is locally relevant and frequently accessed by its user population, rather than duplicating all data everywhere. This ensures high data availability for local users while minimizing redundant bandwidth consumption and storage costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements partial replication by caching only the necessary portion of data at each proxy location. Rather than duplicating all available data, the system selectively caches data based on access patterns, user preferences, and prediction algorithms. This achieves sufficient data availability for most use cases while significantly reducing bandwidth and storage requirements compared to full replication.
4Measurement precision
If manual configuration is used to place content in proxy caches, then data placement precision improves, but error rate and operational cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual configuration with self-service automated content placement. The proxy system automatically analyzes access patterns, predicts future requests, and places content in optimal cache locations without human intervention. This eliminates configuration errors while maintaining high placement precision through algorithmic optimization based on actual usage data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses feedback from actual data access patterns to continuously optimize content placement. The system monitors which data objects are accessed most frequently and at what locations, then automatically adjusts caching strategies to place the right content in the right places. This feedback-driven approach achieves high placement precision while eliminating manual configuration errors and reducing operational costs.
Data Source
AI summary
In a network supporting transactions between clients and servers over a network path having operating characteristics to overcome, data is transported to overcome the operating characteristics using user affinities and dynamic user location information to selectively preload data, or representations, signatures, segments, etc. of data, in order to overcome the one or more operating characteristic. Examples of operating characteristics to overcome include bandwidth limitations, errors and latency. The dynamic location information can be stored in data structures accessible by agents of a data server and the data structures are populated based on user activities with respect to proxies associated with user locations, or the dynamic location information can be obtained implicitly as proxies maintain connections after termination by clients and the use of those maintained connections for preloading of data for the users associated with those clients. The data being preloaded can be protocol-specific data or protocol-independent data.