Cache eviction during off-peak transactions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11070850-B2
Application number	US-202016855415-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2020
Priority date	Nov 28, 2011
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

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

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
determining, by a computing device, for a time duration, request activity for content stored in at least one second content cache;
determining, based on the request activity and a high request activity threshold, that at least one time period of request activity satisfies the high request activity threshold for content stored in the at least one second content cache;
determining, based on the at least one time period of request activity satisfying the high request activity threshold, a future first time period associated with an expected increase in request activity for content stored in a first content cache;
determining, based on the future first time period associated with an expected increase in request activity for content stored in the first content cache, to cache content in the first content cache before the future first time period; and
causing first content to be cached in the first content cache before the future first time period.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining the first content based on content stored in the at least one second content cache during the at least one time period of request activity satisfying the high request activity threshold.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the first content cache comprises causing the first content to be cached during at least a portion of a future second time period, the method further comprising:
determining, based on request activity for content stored in the first content cache and on a low request activity threshold, the future second time period.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the
first content cache comprises:
evicting a portion of content from the first content cache; and
causing, after the evicting, the first content to be cached in the first content cache.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the first content cache comprises:
causing the first content to be cached using at least an amount of cache space determined based on an amount of cache space occupied by a portion of the first content stored in the at least one second content cache.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining that at least one time period of request activity satisfies the high request activity threshold for content stored in the at least one second content cache comprises determining a first time frame of a first day, and
wherein the determining the future first time period comprises determining the first time frame of the first day of a different week.

7. 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.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the first content cache comprises causing the first content to be cached during at least a portion of a future second time period, the method further comprising:
determining, as the future second time period, a next time period of anticipated low request activity for content stored in the first content cache closest in time to the future first time period.

9. A method comprising:
monitoring, by a computing device and for a time duration, first request activity associated with a first content cache and second request activity associated with at least one second content cache;
comparing the monitored first request activity to a low request activity threshold;
comparing the monitored second request activity to a high request activity threshold;
determining, based on the comparing of the monitored first request activity to the low request activity threshold and the comparing of the monitored second request activity to the high request activity threshold, a time period associated with:
at least one time period of low request activity for the first content cache, and at least
one time period of high request activity for the at least one second content cache; and

causing first content to be cached in the first content cache during at least a portion of the time period.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining the time period comprises determining, as the time period, a next time period of anticipated low request activity for content stored in the first content cache closest in time to a time period of anticipated high request activity for content stored in the first content cache.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the first content cache comprises:
causing the first content to be cached using at least an amount of cache space determined based on an amount of cache space occupied by a portion of the first content stored in the at least one second content cache.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
determining the first content based on content stored in the at least one second content cache during at least one time period of request activity satisfying the high request activity threshold.

13. The method of claim 9 , 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 9 , wherein the causing the first content to be cached in the
first content cache comprises:
evicting a portion of content from the first content cache; and
causing, after the evicting, the first content to be cached in the first content cache.

15. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine, for a time duration, request activity for content stored in at least one second content cache;
determine, based on the request activity and a high request activity threshold, that at least one time period of request activity satisfies the high request activity threshold for content stored in the at least one second content cache;
determine, based on the at least one time period of request activity satisfying the high request activity threshold, a future first time period associated with an expected increase in request activity for content stored in a first content cache;
determine, based on the future first time period associated with an expected increase in request activity for content stored in the first content cache, to cache content in the first content cache before the future first time period; and
cause first content to be cached in the first content cache before the future first time period.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
determine the first content based on content stored in the at least one second content cache during the at least one time period of request activity satisfying the high request activity threshold.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the one or more processors cause the apparatus to:
cause the first content to be cached in the first content cache by causing the first content to be cached during at least a portion of a future second time period; and
determine, based on request activity for content stored in the first content cache and on a low request activity threshold, the future second time period.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the computer-executable instructions, when
executed by the one or m

Assignees

• Tivo Corp

Inventors

• Field Brian
• Van Doorn Jan

Classifications

• H04L67/5682

  Policies or rules for updating, deleting or replacing the stored data · CPC title

• H04L67/568

  Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching · CPC title

• H04N21/231

  Content storage operation, e.g. caching movies for short term storage, replicating data over plural servers, prioritizing data for deletion · CPC title

• H04N21/2221

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