Patent · US Expired

Network object cache engine

US7103794B2 · kind B2 · utility

37Cited by
54References
57Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 8, 1998
Grant dateSep 5, 2006
Priority date
Expiry dateMar 20, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F16/9574
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for caching information objects transmitted using a computer network. A cache engine determines directly when and where to store those objects in a memory (such as RAM) and mass storage (such as one or more disk drives), so as to optimally write those objects to mass storage and later read them from mass storage, without having to maintain them persistently. The cache engine actively allocates those objects to memory or to disk, determines where on disk to store those objects, retrieves those objects in response to their network identifiers (such as their URLs), and determines which objects to remove from the cache so as to maintain sufficient operating space. The cache engine collects information to be written to disk in write episodes, so as to maximize efficiency when writing information to disk and so as to maximize efficiency when later reading that information from disk. The cache engine performs write episodes so as to atomically commit changes to disk during each write episode, so the cache engine does not fail in response to loss of power or storage, or other intermediate failure of portions of the cache. The cache engine also sto…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.