Patent ID: 6021470
Filing Date: 2000-02-01
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for selectively caching data in a computer network, comprising steps of:indicating particular data as exempt from being cached when said particular data has a specified characteristic, said specified characteristic being something other than main memory address location of said particular data;receiving a request from an application program running on a first computer system for a set of data, said request indicating whether said set of data is exempt;determining whether said set of data resides within a random access memory of the first computer system;in response to a determination that said set of data resides within said random access memory:retrieving said set of data from said random access memory; andproviding said set of data to said application program;in response to a determination that said set of data does not reside within said random access memory:retrieving said set of data from a mass storage device residing apart from said first computer system;determining from said request whether said set of data is exempt;in response to a determination that said set of data is not exempt:storing said set of data from said mass storage device into said random access memory of said first computer system; andproviding said set of data to said application program running on the first computer system;in response to a determination that said set of data is exempt:providing said set of data to said application program running on the first computer system without storing said set of data into the random access memory;if a second application running on a second computer system coupled to the computer network requests the set of data:providing the set of data to the second application program and storing the set of data in a second random access memory of the second computer system if the set of data is not exempt, otherwise not storing the set of data into the second random access memory of the second computer system if the set of data is exempt;wherein selecting the data that is to be exempt solely depend on an individual object basis, wherein the individual object includes choices of a page, a record, a field and a table; andsaid data which is designated as being exempt from being cached before it is retrieved is to be used only one time within a given time span, and said request by said application program indicate exempt data designation in a single operation.