Patent ID: 6546422
Filing Date: 2003-04-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
A caching method for caching network contents of a packet transfer network, including packet relays for relaying accesses of clients to servers supplying contents, wherein a packet relay monitors accesses from said clients to said servers and caches responses corresponding to the accesses having higher accessing frequency and consuming larger resources, preferentially, when said packet relay monitors the accesses that corresponding responses are already cached in said packet relay, said packet relay returns the cached responses to said clients, comprising:monitoring accesses from said clients to said servers, by said packet relay; determining a cache priority by said packet relay on the basis of a product of relaying path lengths from said packet relay to said servers and the frequency of access from said clients to said servers; preferentially caching a response to said access to one of said servers having higher cache priority; and deleting an access having lower cache priority when a cache capacity becomes short for caching of a response corresponding to an access; wherein metrics up to said servers described in a routing table of said packet relay is used in lieu of a relaying path length.