Patent ID: 8458290
Filing Date: 2013-06-04
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A content delivery network (CDN) for storing content objects and delivering content objects over a network to a user computer, the CDN comprising: a switching fabric to receive and route requests for content objects from user computers to a particular edge server, the requests including a filename; and a plurality of points of presence (POPs) distributed geographically, each POP comprising: a metadata directory comprising a unique identifier assigner for assigning a unique identifier to a new content object; a content mapper coupled to a plurality of lookup listeners; and an edge server coupled to the switching fabric and to the content mapper, wherein the edge server is configured to receive a request for a content object from the switching fabric, the request including a file name and/or a path of the requested content object, and wherein the content mapper is configured to receive the file name and/or the path from the edge server; translate the file name and/or the path into a corresponding unique identifier, transmit, at least partially overlapping in time, the corresponding unique identifier to each of the lookup listeners, receive information identifying a location of a storage device of a plurality of storage devices storing the requested content object from one or more of the lookup listeners, and request the requested content object from the location, and wherein each lookup listener of the plurality of lookup listeners provides location information for any of a same set of storage devices that store at least some of a requested content object.