Proxy Cache Server Device Equivalency Content Adaptation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing content delivery systems face challenges in efficiently delivering tailored content to diverse client devices, particularly mobile devices with limited capabilities and bandwidth, as they often require multiple content versions and lack effective methods for real-time adaptation and caching.
Innovation Solution
A proxy cache server with a content cache and device-equivalency-class data structure that stores multiple versions of content, allowing for on-the-fly adaptation and caching based on client device characteristics, enabling efficient delivery of device-suited content by matching client device characteristics with cached versions and adapting content in real-time for future use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If multiple versions of content are stored for different device types, then content delivery accuracy is improved, but system complexity and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal content adaptation system that can serve multiple device types through a single adaptive framework rather than maintaining separate content versions for each device. The system uses device capability detection and on-the-fly adaptation to make one content delivery infrastructure serve universal needs across smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other devices.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically changes content parameters (format, resolution, encoding) based on detected device characteristics rather than pre-defining multiple static versions. This allows the same content to be adaptively transformed to match the requesting device's capabilities, reducing the need for maintaining multiple fixed content versions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If content is adapted in real-time for each device, then content suitability is improved, but processing time and computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary device capability detection and classification before content adaptation, caching device profiles and capability information. This preliminary action allows the system to quickly identify the appropriate adaptation parameters without re-analyzing device capabilities for each content request, reducing processing time while maintaining suitability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies adaptation only to the specific content parameters that differ between devices rather than reprocessing entire content files. For example, only video resolution or image format is changed while other content elements remain unchanged, reducing computational overhead while maintaining device suitability.
3Speed
If device-specific content versions are pre-authored and published, then delivery speed is improved, but the number of versions required escalates rapidly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments device characteristics into key capability categories (display resolution, processing power, network bandwidth, supported formats) rather than treating each device as a unique entity requiring its own content version. This segmentation allows grouping devices into capability-based categories, reducing the number of content versions needed from potentially thousands to a manageable set covering major capability tiers.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of pre-creating content versions for each device type and hoping for cache hits, the system inverts the approach by detecting actual device capabilities at request time and adapting content accordingly. This ensures the correct content version is always delivered without requiring pre-computation of all possible device-specific versions.
4Productivity
If a proxy cache server stores multiple content versions, then cache hit rate is improved, but memory usage and storage costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system stores content in a normalized format with adaptive parameters rather than pre-rendering multiple fixed versions. The proxy cache server stores the base content once and maintains adaptation parameters that can be applied on-demand based on device capabilities, dramatically reducing storage requirements while maintaining high cache hit rates through intelligent parameter matching.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses lightweight content representations and parameter sets rather than full content copies for each device version. The proxy cache stores compact device capability profiles and content adaptation parameters that are much smaller than actual content files, enabling efficient caching with minimal storage overhead while maintaining high cache effectiveness.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems are disclosed for delivery of tailored content to differentiated devices, such as desktop, mobile, and tablet devices, over a computer network. In one embodiment, a proxy cache server has a content cache for storing previously retrieved objects like web pages or multimedia files. For at least some objects, several versions are stored, each version representing an object suited for a given set of client device characteristics. A device-equivalency data structure maintained at the proxy facilitates a determination of whether such cached versions can be used to service a current request. The versions might represent, for example, modified versions created using, e.g., mobile device transcoding techniques, in response to prior requests. They may also represent a set of alternate content created by a content provider and available from an origin server. Such methods and systems may be implemented in a distributed computing networks, e.g., a content delivery network.