Server, client device and methods therein for handling cached content resources

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10298716-B2
Application number	US-201615103926-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 28, 2016
Priority date	Apr 28, 2016
Publication date	May 21, 2019
Grant date	May 21, 2019

Abstract

A server (500), a client device (502) and methods therein, for handling cached content resources. When receiving (5:3) a request from the client device (502) in a downloading session, the server (500) identifies (5:4) a set of caches (504, 506) that can be accessed by the client device (502). The server (500) then sends (5:6) a cache map to the client device (502) indicating that a first content resource is stored in a first cache (504) of the identified set of caches and a second content resource is stored in a second cache (506) of the identified set of caches. Thereby, the server (500) is able to adapt the cache map depending on which caches can be accessed by the client device (502), to ensure that the client device (502) can retrieve the content resources in an efficient manner.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method performed by a server for handling cached content resources, the method comprising:
receiving, from a client device in a downloading session, a request for a content resource;
identifying a set of caches that are accessible to the client device; and
sending a cache map to the client device in a response to the received request, the cache map indicating that the content resource is stored in a first cache and a second cache of the identified set of caches;
wherein the content resource is transferred, before sending the cache map to the client device, to at least one of the first cache or the second cache.

2. A method performed by a server for handling cached content resources, the method comprising:
receiving, from a client device in a downloading session, a request for a content resource;
identifying a set of caches that are accessible to the client device; and
sending a cache map to the client device in a response to the received request, the cache map indicating that the content resource is stored in a first cache and a second cache of the identified set of caches;
wherein the cache map comprises at least one selection criterion controlling which one of the first cache or the second cache should be selected by the client device for retrieving the content resource.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one selection criterion indicates that one of the first cache or the second cache should be selected for retrieving the content resource if a predefined condition is fulfilled.

4. The method according to claim 3 , wherein the predefined condition is related to any of: time of day or week, current position of the client device, current battery status in the client device, available memory space in the client device, current network throughput, and retrieval cost.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one selection criterion indicates one of the first cache or the second cache to be attempted first for retrieving the content resource.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the at least one selection criterion comprises priorities assigned to the first cache and the second cache to indicate an order for attempting to retrieve the content resource.

7. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the at least one selection criterion is configured in dependence on a current load on the first cache and a current load on the second cache.

8. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the cache map comprises a first encryption key useful for decrypting the content resource when retrieved from the first cache, and a second encryption key useful for decrypting the content resource when retrieved from the second cache.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the first encryption key is indicated by metadata in an entry for the first cache in the cache map, and the second encryption key is indicated by metadata in an entry for the second cache in the cache map.

10. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first cache and the second cache are polled to check if the content resource is stored in the first cache and the second cache before sending the cache map to the client device.

11. A server arranged to handle cached content resources, the server comprising:
communication circuitry configured to receive, from a client device in a downloading session, a request for a content resource; and
processing circuitry configured to:
identify a set of caches that are accessible to the client device; and
send, via the communication circuitry, a cache map to the client device in a response to the received request, the cache map indicating that the content resource is stored in a first cache and a second cache of the identified set of caches; and

wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to transfer the content resource to at least one of the first cache or the second cache, before the cache map is sent to the client device.

12. A server arranged to handle cached content resources, the server comprising:
communication circuitry configured to receive, from a client device in a downloading session, a request for a content resource; and
processing circuitry configured to:
identify a set of caches that are accessible to the client device; and
send, via the communication circuitry, a cache map to the client device in a response to the received request, the cache map indicating that the content resource is stored in a first cache and a second cache of the identified set of caches; and

wherein the cache map comprises at least one selection criterion controlling which one of the first cache or the second cache should be selected by the client device.

13. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one selection criterion indicates that one of the first cache or the second cache should be selected for retrieving the content resource if a predefined condition is fulfilled.

14. The server according to claim 13 , wherein the predefined condition is related to any of: time of day or week, current position of the client device, current battery status in the client device, available memory space in the client device, current network throughput, and retrieval cost.

15. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one selection criterion indicates that one of the at least two caches should be attempted first for retrieving the content resource.

16. The server according to claim 15 , wherein the at least one selection criterion comprises priorities assigned to the first cache or the second cache to indicate an order for attempting to retrieve the content resource.

17. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the at least one selection criterion is configured in dependence on a current load on the first cache or the second cache.

18. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the cache map comprises a first encryption key useful for decrypting the content resource when retrieved from the first cache, and a second encryption key useful for decrypting the content resource when retrieved from the second cache.

19. The server according to claim 18 , wherein the first encryption key is indicated by metadata in an entry for the first cache in the cache map, and the second encryption key is indicated by metadata in an entry for the second cache in the cache map.

20. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the processing circuitry is configured to poll the first cache and the second cache to check if the content resource is stored in the first cache and the second cache before sending the cache map to the client device.

21. A method performed by a client device for handling cached content resources, the method comprising:
receiving a cache map from a server during a downloading session, the cache map indicating that at least one content resource is stored in at least two caches that are accessible to the client device;
selecting, based on at least one selection criterion comprised in the cache map, one of the at least two caches; and
retrieving the at least one content resource from the selected cache.

22. The method according to claim 21 , wherein the at least one selection criterion indicates that one of the at least two caches should be selected for retrieving the at least one content resource if a predefined condition is fulfilled.

23. The method according to claim 22 , wherein the predefined condition is related to any of: time of day or week, current posit

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Håkansson Stefan
• Bergkvist Adam
• Holmberg Christer
• Lindström Daniel

Classifications

• H04L67/306

  User profiles · CPC title

• H04L67/2847 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/06

  specially adapted for file transfer, e.g. file transfer protocol [FTP] · CPC title

• H04L67/22

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04L67/42

  Electricity · mapped topic