Cache eviction during off-peak transaction time period

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10681394-B2
Application number	US-201113304761-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 28, 2011
Priority date	Nov 28, 2011
Publication date	Jun 9, 2020
Grant date	Jun 9, 2020

Abstract

Transaction activity of a cache maintaining content may be monitored to determine periods of transaction activity below a first threshold amount of transactions. A period of anticipated transaction activity above a second threshold amount of transactions may be determined. A period of anticipated transaction activity below the first threshold may be selected based upon the monitored periods of transaction activity below the first threshold and the determined period of anticipated transaction activity above the second threshold. Content then may be evicted from the cache during the selected period of anticipated transaction activity.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
monitoring, by a computing device, for a time duration, request activity for content stored in a first content cache and content stored in at least one second content cache;
determining, based on the monitored request activity, at least one first time period of request activity for content stored in the first content cache;
determining, based on the monitored request activity, at least one second time period of request activity for content stored in the at least one second content cache, wherein the monitored request activity in the at least one first time period is lower than the monitored request activity in the at least one second time period;
determining, based on the at least one first time period of request activity for content stored in the first content cache and the at least one second time period of request activity for content stored in the at least one second content cache, an eviction time period for the first content cache; and
evicting, during the eviction time period, a portion of the content from the first content cache.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, as the eviction time period, a time period of anticipated request activity closest in time to an additional time period of anticipated request activity, wherein the time period of anticipated request activity is based on the first time period, and wherein the additional time period of anticipated request activity is based on the second time period.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evicting comprises:
determining that at least two versions of content exist in the first content cache, wherein the at least two versions of content in the first content cache correspond to different resolutions;
determining which of the at least two versions has a smaller file size; and
after determining that a first version of the at least two versions has a smaller file size, evicting the first version of the at least two versions.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evicting comprises:
determining that at least two versions of content in the first content cache exist, wherein the at least two versions of content in the first content cache correspond to a same content for different times and comprise a first version of first content and a second version of the first content, wherein the second version of the first content is a more recent version of the first content;
evicting the first version of the first content; and
maintaining the second version of the first content.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the evicting comprises:
determining that at least two versions of content in the first content cache exist, wherein the at least two versions of content in the first content cache comprise a first formatted version of first content, a second formatted version of the first content, and an associated audio version of the first content; and
determining which version of the at least two versions of content in the first content cache to evict, wherein the determining which version to evict comprises maintaining the associated audio version of the first content based on at least one of the first formatted version of the first content or the second formatted version of the first content being maintained.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prepopulating the first content cache above a second amount of cache space with new content.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the prepopulating the first content cache above the second amount of cache space with the new content comprises:
monitoring request activity of the at least one second content cache to determine periods of request activity above a request activity threshold for a first contents stored in the at least one second content cache; and
prepopulating the first content cache above the second amount of cache space with the first content stored in the at least one second content cache.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining at least one time period of anticipated request activity for content stored in the first content cache based on the at least one second time period.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the at least one first time period of request activity for content stored in the first content cache is based on a low request activity threshold that comprises a first rate of requests for content stored in the first content cache.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the at least one first time period of request activity comprises determining a first time frame of a first day during which request activity for content stored in the first content cache is below a low request activity threshold comprising a first rate of requests for content stored in the first content cache, and
wherein the determining the eviction time period comprises determining that a third time period of request activity corresponds to the first time frame of the first day of a different week.

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the determining the at least one second time period of request activity for content stored in the at least one second content cache is based on a high request activity threshold that comprises a second rate of requests.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein the evicting the content from the first content cache comprises:
evicting the content from the first content cache during the eviction time period and before the additional time period of anticipated request activity.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first content cache and the at least one second content cache are geographically located in different time zones.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the portion of the content from the first content cache is evicted until content remaining in the first content cache occupies an amount of cache space that is below a first amount of cache space.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first amount of cache space is determined based on an amount of cache space occupied by a portion of content in the at least one second content cache.

16. A method comprising:
monitoring, for a time duration, request activity for content stored in a first content cache and content stored in at least one second content cache;
comparing the monitored request activity to a first request activity threshold;
comparing the monitored request activity to a second request activity threshold, wherein the first request activity threshold is lower than the second request activity threshold;
determining, based on the comparing of the monitored request activity to the first request activity threshold and the comparing of the monitored request activity to the second request activity threshold, an eviction time period associated with both at least one first time period of request activity for content stored in the first content cache and at least one second time period of request activity for content stored in the at least one second content cache; and
evicting a portion of the content from the first content cache during at least a portion of the eviction time period.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising:
determining at least one time period of anticipated request activity for content stored in the first content based on the at least one second time period of request activity for content stored in the at least one second content cache.

18. The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
determining, as the eviction time period, a time period of anticipated request activity closest in time to an additional time period o

Assignees

• Field Brian
• Van Doom Jan
• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Field Brian
• Van Doom Jan

Classifications

• H04L67/289

  Intermediate processing functionally located close to the data consumer application, e.g. in same machine, in same home or in same sub-network · CPC title

• H04N21/23106

  involving caching operations (prefetching while addressing of a memory level in which the access to the desired data or data block requires associative addressing means within memory systems or architectures G06F12/0862; caching at an intermediate stage in a data network H04L67/568) · CPC title

• H04N21/2221

  being a cable television head-end (CATV in broadcast systems H04H20/78) · CPC title

• H04L67/2852

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04N21/23113 Primary

  involving housekeeping operations for stored content, e.g. prioritizing content for deletion because of storage space restrictions (storage management, e.g. defragmentation G06F3/0604; snloading stored programs G06F9/445; housekeeping operations in file systems, e.g. deletion policies G06F16/10; buffering arrangements in a network node or in an end terminal in packet networks H04L49/90) · CPC title