Patent ID: 6553413
Filing Date: 2003-04-22
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
A method of content delivery wherein participating content providers identify content to be delivered by a content delivery network service provider from a set of content servers associated with the content delivery network service provider, wherein a given object of a participating content provider is associated with a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that includes, in addition to a filename, an alphanumeric string that is resolvable in a domain name system (DNS) associated with the content delivery network service provider, the domain name system including a set of name servers, comprising:during a first DNS query performed on a first portion of the alphanumeric string, selecting a given one of the name servers in the domain name system associated with the content delivery network service provider; during a second DNS query performed at the given one of the name servers in the domain name system associated with the content delivery network service provider and on a second portion of the alphanumeric string together with the first portion, identifying a given server from the set of content servers associated with the content delivery network service provider; at the given server, receiving a request for the given object; and in response to the request, serving the given object from the given server.