Patent Publication Number: US-2009240787-A1

Title: Method and System for Redirecting an Electronic Content Request to an Alternate Content Transport Mechanism or Storage Site

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) 
     This application is a continuation of prior U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/172,244 entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR REDIRECTING AN ELECTRONIC CONTENT REQUEST TO AN ALTERNATE CONTENT TRANSPORT MECHANISM OR STORAGE SITE,” invented by Michael S. Denny and filed on Jun. 14, 2002. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE 
     The present disclosure is directed to a method and system for redirecting an electronic content request to an alternate content transport mechanism or alternate content storage site. 
     BACKGROUND 
     With the advent of the Internet, individual users, businesses, educational institutions, recreational institutions, and the like request and receive vast amounts of useful and entertaining content from a variety of sources. For example, requests are made over the Internet to web sites provided by news agencies, informational systems, and entertainment systems. Such requests typically include the user entering a uniform resource locator (URL) for the desired web site into an Internet browser application on the user&#39;s local computer. The content request travels across the Internet to the specified web site, and the user may then view or download information by pulling that information back across the Internet to the user&#39;s local computer. 
     In recent years, it has become popular for a variety of information content providers, particularly broadcast media providers such as news broadcast organizations, to package content according to the desires of their subscribers and transmit that content via satellite or via cable directly to the user&#39;s home, office, school, and the like. Once the information is received at the user&#39;s site, the information is stored in a local cache for later review by the user. For example, a user may subscribe to a popular sports news network to have the sports news network broadcast on an hourly basis all news clips pertaining to a given sport, for example basketball, or pertaining to a given sports team. Accordingly, each hour the content subscribed to by the user is packaged by the sports news network and broadcast via satellite or via cable to the user&#39;s local computer where it is stored for later review by the user. 
     Typically, the broadcast organizations that package information for delivery as described above also simultaneously publish that information on an Internet web site operated by each of those organizations. Often, a user logs onto the user&#39;s local personal computer and using their Internet browser application enters the URL of an Internet web site to obtain content to which the user has subscribed under the broadcast content mechanism, described above. For example, even if the user has subscribed to a sports news organization to have the sports information for a given sport sent to the user&#39;s home on a periodic basis, the user may still enter the URL of the Internet web site of the same sports news organization to receive the identical content that already has been broadcast to the user&#39;s home and has been stored for review by the user. Unfortunately, the user may have forgotten that the content the user is now requesting is available on the local cache, or the user may believe that the content the user is requesting is of a newer version or is otherwise different from the content stored on the local cache. 
     If the user&#39;s second content request is provided from the requested web site, the user will receive the identical content already stored on the local cache. Unfortunately, the user will have needlessly tied up the resources, including data link bandwidth and processing time, required to pull the content across the Internet to the user&#39;s local computer even though the requested content is already stored locally for access by the user. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       It will be appreciated that for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the Figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements are exaggerated relative to other elements. Embodiments incorporating teachings of the present disclosure are shown and described with respect to the drawings presented herein, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram showing components of a telecommunications system for providing broadcast media data and Internet-based data to an end-user site. 
         FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram showing components of a telecommunications system and illustrating the transmission of electronic content from a content provider to an end-user site via separate content transport mechanisms. 
         FIG. 3  is a simplified block diagram of the system illustrated in  FIG. 2  including a proxy management system for managing electronic content and illustrating a telecommunications system central office site including a transport proxy server for processing content requests according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a simplified block diagram illustrating the components of an end-user site for receiving, storing, and utilizing received broadcast media content and for processing electronic content requests through a transport proxy server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating steps performed by a method and system of the present disclosure for redirecting electronic content requests to an alternate content transport mechanism and storage site. 
         FIG. 6  is a simplified block diagram of the system illustrated in  FIG. 3  including a proxy management system for managing electronic content and illustrating a telecommunications system central office site including a transport proxy server for processing content requests according to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 7  is a simplified block diagram of the system illustrated in  FIG. 4  including the components of an end-user site and the components of a telecommunications system central office site for receiving, storing, and utilizing received broadcast media content and for processing electronic content requests through a transport proxy server according to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 8  is a flow diagram illustrating steps performed by a method and system of the present disclosure for redirecting electronic content requests to an alternate content transport mechanism and storage site according to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     In the following detailed description, references are made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration of specific embodiments or examples. These embodiments may be combined, other embodiments may be utilized, and structural changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The following detailed description is, therefore, not be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents. 
     Referring now to the drawings, in which like numerals represent like elements through the several figures, aspects of the present disclosure and the exemplary operating environment will be described.  FIG. 1  is a simplified block diagram showing components of a telecommunications system for providing broadcast media data and Internet-based data to an end-user site. Broadcast media  100  is representative of any broadcast media organization, such as a news organization or information-content provider, that packages electronic content and transmits that content via satellite  130  or via cable (not shown) or other suitable transmission protocol to an end-user site  150  for subsequent review at the end-user site  150 . As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the broadcast media is received by a receiver  140  at the end-user site  150  for playback via a personal computer  160  or a television  195 . As should be understood by those skilled in the art, the broadcast media may be played back at the end-user site  150  using other devices, such as stereo equipment and personal digital assistants. In a typical setting, a broadcast media content provider, such as a news organization, packages clips of requested information, such as news relating to a particular topic and broadcasts that information to the end-user site  150  on a periodic basis such as hourly, daily or weekly. 
     Internet media  110  is representative of Internet-based web sites where electronic content is published by a variety of news organizations, entertainment providers, and general information content providers. Upon the request of an end user at the end-user site  150 , information content is pulled from the Internet media site  110  across the Internet  120  and across a data link  125  to the end-user site  150 . As described above, typically broadcast media organizations and institutions providing information content via the broadcast media  100  also publish that information on Internet-based web sites operated by those organizations to make the same content available to end users via the Internet media  110  and Internet  120 . Accordingly, identical information content may be received at the end-user site  150  via two separate content transports mechanisms. 
       FIG. 2  is a simplified block diagram showing components of a telecommunications system and illustrating the transmission of electronic content from a content provider to an end-user site via separate content transport mechanisms. With the increased volume of content requests in recent years, a number of content-distribution networks (CDN) have been developed for aggregating content from a number of sources or content providers at a content aggregator  210  for subsequent distribution to end users at an end-user site  150 . The content provider  200  is representative of a number of information-content providers such as a variety of news organizations, sports information systems, educational information systems and the like. 
     The information from a number of content providers  200  is combined or aggregated at the content aggregator  210  for subsequent transmission via the satellite  130  or a similarly effective cable system or other transmission system to the end-user site  150 . As should be understood by those skilled in the art, the content aggregator  210  may be in the form of a server system, including a collection of computers, databases, and memory storage units, capable of receiving and aggregating electronic content from a variety of content providers  200  for subsequent transmission to end users. In a typical environment, content aggregators are particularly useful for distributing audio, video, and multimedia content via satellite  130 , as illustrated in  FIG. 2 . Once the content is transmitted from the content aggregator  210  to the end-user site  150 , that information may be stored at the end-user site  150  for subsequent review by the subscriber to that information. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the content deposited with the content aggregator  210  by the content providers  200  typically is also published on an Internet web site  220  of the content provider for access by end users at an end-user site  150  via the Internet  120 . For example, a given sports news network, operating as a content provider  200 , may send to the content aggregator  210  all sports information related to a given sport, such as basketball, for provision to a subscriber at an end-user site  150 . Likewise, that same sports news network simultaneously may publish the same electronic content to the web site  220  for access by end users via the Internet  120 . 
       FIG. 3  is a simplified block diagram of the system illustrated in  FIG. 2  including a content management system or proxy management system for managing electronic content and illustrating a telecommunications system central office site including a transport proxy server for processing content requests according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. A transport proxy server  250  is located In a telecommunications systems central office site  240  for redirecting electronic content requests made by an end user via one transport mechanism to an alternate content transport mechanism in order to avoid the needless downloading of content to an end user where that content is already available to the end user via the alternate transport mechanism. As described in detail below, if the end user already has received and stored locally a particular electronic content from a content provider  200  via the content aggregator  210  and satellite system  130 , a subsequent request for the same content via a different transport mechanism, such as the Internet  120  and web site  220 , is intercepted by the transport proxy server  240 . The user&#39;s subsequent request for the same content is then directed back to the local storage medium at the end-user site  150  and is provided to the user. Provision to the user of electronic content already available to the end-user via the local storage medium at the end-user site  150  avoids connection to the web site  220  to pull the same information over the Internet  120  to the end-user site  150 . Data link bandwidth and processing time associated with the subsequent request to pull electronic content from the web site  220  across the Internet  120  is saved. 
     The transport proxy server redirects content requests to an alternate transport mechanism by matching a content request intercepted from the end-user site  150  against a database of content identifiers known to have been stored in the local cache at the end-user site  150  from an alternate transport mechanism. In order to provide the transport proxy server  240  with this information, content providers  200  via the content aggregator  210  may download to a proxy management system (PMS) the Uniform Resource Locators (URL) associated with Internet web sites  220  where content already transmitted to the end user site  150  via a first transport mechanism has been published for retrieval via the Internet  120 . When content is transmitted to end user sites  150 , according to the first transport mechanism and is published on Internet web site  220  for retrieval via a second transport mechanism, the PMS forwards to the transport proxy server  240  the URLs associated with the web site locations of that content. Accordingly, when an end user from the end-user site  150  requests content from a particular web site by typing into the user&#39;s Internet browser application a given URL, the transport proxy server  240  may compare that URL with an index or URLs received from the PMS to determine whether the content associated with the URL entered by the end user has already been received and stored at the end-user site via a different transport mechanism. 
       FIG. 4  is a simplified block diagram illustrating the components of an end-user site for receiving, storing, and utilizing received broadcast media content and for processing electronic content requests through a transport proxy server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the end-user site  150  may be the home of an end user, a business, educational institution, recreational institution, and the like. A personal computer  160  is provided for receiving and viewing electronic information content. The personal computer may have any suitable operating system with sufficient processing speed and memory capacity for maintaining and operating an Internet browser  165  for requesting, obtaining, storing and reviewing electronic content from the broadcast media transport mechanism or from the Internet media transport mechanism, described above. A suitable Internet browser includes Internet Explorer® manufactured by Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Wash. A client application  170  is stored and operates on the personal computer  160  for processing data content requests, retrieval, and review of content according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. The client application  170  may include a collection of individual, but linked software components and subroutines, including dynamic-link libraries and application programming interfaces for providing the functionality of the present disclosure. A content cache  180  is provided for receiving and storing electronic content, including audio, video, and multimedia content, from a broadcast media content provider  200  via the satellite  130  and satellite receiver  140 . Likewise, the broadcast content may be received via a cable system or other suitable transport device. A set-top box  185  is provided for directing content stored on the content cache  180  to the personal computer  160  or to a variety of other media devices, such as the television  195 , a stereo system (not shown), a personal digital assistant (not shown), or any other suitable electronic device for receiving and displaying or playing electronic content such as audio, video, or multimedia content. According to a typical embodiment, the set-top box  185  and content cache  180  may be integrated as a single device and may be supplied by the content providers  200  to allow the end users at end-user site  150  to receive and enjoy the requested content. 
     Referring still to  FIG. 4 , the transport proxy server  250  is located at a telecommunications central office site  240 . As is known to those skilled in the art, telecommunications service providers provide services to a variety of end users via central office sites located among collections of end users for distributing voice and data content from a broader telecommunications network to end users connected to a given central office  240 . According to the present disclosure, the transport proxy server  250  is located at the central office  240  for providing services in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure to the end-user site  150 . The end-user site  150  is illustrative of a number of end-user sites  150  that may be connected via voice trunk circuits and data links, such as the data link  125 , to the central office  240  for providing telecommunication services. 
     Referring to the central office  240 , the transport proxy server  250  is a general purpose computing system that provides services to other computers, such as the personal computer  160  that act as client computers to the transport proxy server  250 . The transport proxy server  250  includes general purpose computing capabilities, including data processing, data retrieval, data storage, and data transmission. The transport proxy server  250  includes memory capacity for containing application programs and associated data required for processing content requests received from the personal computer  160  according to an embodiment of the presents disclosure. According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the transport proxy server  250  may also save information acquired from elsewhere on the Internet  120  and make that information available to other computers in the immediate area, such as the personal computer  160 . For example, if several users connect to the same Internet web site  220  through the transport proxy server  250 , each page of information from the Internet web site  220  is downloaded from the Internet web site  220  only once to the transport proxy server and then is provided to all users. 
     The URL cache database  255  includes a memory storage system for storing content request information received by the transport proxy server  250  from the proxy management system  225 . According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, an index including the uniform resource locators (URL) associated with Internet-based web sites containing electronic content that has been transmitted according to the broadcast media transport mechanism, described above, to the end-user site and stored on the content cache  180  may be maintained on the database  255 . Paths to content stored in the content cache  180  may also be maintained on the database  255 . 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the personal computer  160  at the end-user site  150  is functionally connected to the transport proxy server  250  via a data link  125 . The data link  125  is illustrative of any telecommunications service line capable of carrying data from an Internet web site  220  across the Internet  120  to the personal computer  160  via the transport proxy server  250 . According to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the data link  125  includes a digital subscriber line (DSL) capable of high-speed and high-volume electronic data transmission. Electronic content transmitted from a web site  220  across the Internet  120  to the personal computer  160  is transmitted according to well-known transmission protocols including hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) and file transfer protocol (FTP). 
       FIG. 6  is a simplified block diagram of the system illustrated in  FIG. 3  including a proxy management system for managing electronic content and illustrating a telecommunications system central office site including a transport proxy server for processing content requests according to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure. According to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure, content transmitted from the content providers  200  via the content aggregator  210  and the satellite  130  or similar cable system or other transmission system is transmitted to a receiver  145  at the central office site  240 , as opposed to transmitting the content directly to an end user at the end-user site  150 . According to this embodiment of the present disclosure, content transmitted to the central office  240  is stored in a content cache at the central office  240  for subsequent distribution out to various end users at end-user sites  150 . 
     Referring now to  FIG. 7 , according to an alternative embodiment of the present disclosure, the central office  240  includes a content server  270  for receiving electronic content via the receiver  145  from the content providers  200  via the content aggregator  210 . Once the content server  270  receives content from the content providers  200 , that content is stored at a content cache  265  at the central office  240  for subsequent distribution to end users at end-user sites  150 . The content server  270  is a general purpose computing system similar to the transport proxy server  250  for communicating with and providing data to client computers such as the computer  160  located at the end-user site  150 . A separate data link  127  such as a DSL line, described above, connects the content server  270  with the personal computer  160  of the end-user. When the end user desires to review content received from the broadcast media transport mechanism, the client application  170  directs the personal computer  160  via the data link  127  to the content server  270  which in turn downloads information from the content cache  265  and transmits the information to the personal computer  160  for review by the end user. 
     According to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure, when the user of the personal computer  160  requests information from an Internet web site URL, the transport proxy server  250  searches the URL cache database  255  to determine whether the content associated with that URL is already stored on the local central office content cache  265 . If that content is stored locally on the content cache  265 , the transport proxy server  250  redirects the user&#39;s request to the content server  270 , and the content already stored on the content cache  265  is transmitted to the user via the data link  127 . 
     Operation 
       FIG. 5  is a flow diagram illustrating steps performed by a method and system of the present disclosure for redirecting electronic content requests to an alternate content transport mechanism and storage site. For purposes of description of the operational flow illustrated in  FIG. 5 , consider for example that an end user subscribes to electronic content from a content provider  200  via a content aggregator  210  for delivery directly to the user&#39;s home at an end-user site  150 . The method  500  begins at start step  505  and proceeds to step  510  where the user or subscriber receives content from a first transport. According to the present example, and according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the user receives the content in response to a subscription with the content provider  200 . For example, the user may have subscribed to news clips associated with a particular political candidate, or the user may have subscribed to all sports scores associated with a particular sport or groups of sports. In response to the user&#39;s subscription, the content along with the content of other content providers  200  is transmitted to the content aggregator  210  for transmission to the user at the end-user site  150 . 
     At step  515 , the content subscribed to by the user is transmitted vial the transmitter  215  to the satellite  130  and to the satellite receiver  140  at the end-user site  150 . The transmitted content is then directed to the content cache  180  and is stored for subsequent review by the user. If the user desires to review the content stored in the content cache  180 , the user selects the client application  170  on the personal computer  160  to download the subscribed content to the personal computer  160  for review by the user. Alternatively, the user may utilize the functionality of the set-top box  185  to direct the subscribed content to a separate medium such as the television  195  for review. 
     At step  520 , simultaneous with transmitting the content subscribed to by the user to the end-user site  150 , as described with reference to step  515 , the content provided by the content provider  200  to the end user is published on the web site  220  of the content provider  200  for provision to end users who request the content via the Internet  120 . Proxy information required by the transport proxy mechanism  250  for managing content requests in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure is forwarded to the proxy management system  225 . As described above, the proxy information includes an index of all uniform resource locators (URL) associated with web sites  220  from which content may be downloaded that is identical to content transmitted to end users from the alternate transport mechanism including the content aggregator  210 , satellite  130  and receiver  140 . Additionally, the proxy information includes paths to stored content on the content cache  180 . At step  525 , the PMS forwards the index of URLs and content paths to the transport proxy  250  via the Internet  120 . 
     At step  530 , the end user utilizing the computer  160  requests content from a web site  220  via the Internet  120 . In order to make the request, the user opens an instance of the Internet browser application  165  and enters the URL of the web site associated with the requested content. At step  535 , the request is transmitted from the personal computer  160  across the data link  125  to the central office  240  and is received by the transport proxy server  250  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. At step  540 , the transport proxy server  250  checks the requested content URL against the URLs contained in the URL cache database  255 . As described above, the URL cache database  255  is populated with the index of URLs associated with content previously downloaded to the user&#39;s local content cache  180  according to the alternate transport mechanism. 
     At step  545 , a determination is made as to whether the requested content is cached at the local content cache  180 . If the URL requested by the user at step  530  is not located by the transport proxy server  250  on the URL cache database  255 , the method proceeds to step  550 , and the user&#39;s content request is processed. At step  555 , the user is connected by the transport proxy server  250  to the web site  220  associated with the user&#39;s content request. At step  560 , the content requested by the user is retrieved to the user&#39;s Internet browser application  165 , and at step  580 , the content is presented to the user for the user&#39;s review. 
     Referring back to step  545 , if the URL requested by the user at step  530  is located in the URL cache database  255  by the transport proxy server  250 , the method proceeds to step  565 , and the transport proxy server  250  obtains from the URL cache database  255  a path to the cached content located on the local content cache  180 . At step  570 , the transport proxy server  250  forwards the URL and path associated with the cached content to the client content application  170  via the data link  125 , as described above. At step  575 , the client content application  170  utilizes the URL and memory path received from the transport proxy server  250  to access the requested content stored on the content cache  180 . At step  580 , the requested content is displayed to the user at the user&#39;s personal computer  160 . The foregoing process is seamless to the user because the user has received the requested content quickly and efficiently after making the request without the need for pulling the content from a web site  220  across the Internet  120 , and thereby needlessly using data link bandwidth and processor time of various computing components between the web site  220  and the end user. 
       FIG. 8  is a flow diagram illustrating steps performed by a method and system of the present disclosure for redirecting electronic content requests to an alternate content transport mechanism and storage site according to an alternate embodiment of the present disclosure where content from the first transport mechanism is cached at the central office content cache  265 . 
     The method  800  begins at start step  805  and proceeds to step  810  where the user or subscriber receives content from a first transport is received at the central office content server  270 . At step  815 , the content subscribed to by the user is transmitted via the transmitter  215  to the satellite  130  and to the satellite receiver  145  at the central office site  240 . The transmitted content is then directed to the content cache  265  and is stored for subsequent transmission to an end user via the data link  127 . If the user desires to review the content stored in the content cache  180 , the user selects the client application  170  on the personal computer  160  to download the subscribed content to the personal computer  160  for review by the user. Alternatively, the user may utilize the functionality of the set-top box  185  to direct the subscribed content to a separate medium such as the television  195  for review. 
     At step  820 , simultaneous with transmitting the content subscribed to by the user to the central office content server  270 , as described with reference to step  815 , the content provided by the content provider  200  to the end user is published on the web site  220  of the content provider  200  for provision to end users who request the content via the Internet  120 . Proxy information required by the transport proxy mechanism  250  for managing content requests in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure is forwarded to the content management system or proxy management system  225 . As described above, the proxy information includes an index of all uniform resource locators (URL) associated with web sites  220  from which content may be downloaded that is identical to content transmitted to end users from the alternate transport mechanism including the content aggregator  210 , satellite  130  and receiver  140 . Additionally, the proxy information includes paths to stored content on the content cache  180 . At step  825 , the PMS forwards the index of URLs and content paths to the transport proxy  250  via the Internet  120 . 
     At step  830 , the end user utilizing the computer  160  requests content from a web site  220  via the Internet  120 . In order to make the request, the user opens an instance of the Internet browser application  165  and enters the URL of the web site associated with the requested content. At step  835 , the request is transmitted from the personal computer  160  across the data link  125  to the central office  240  and is received by the transport proxy server  250  according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. At step  840 , the transport proxy server  250  checks the requested content URL against the URLs contained in the URL cache database  255 . As described above, the URL cache database  255  is populated with the index of URLs associated with content previously downloaded to the central office content cache  265  according to the alternate transport mechanism. 
     At step  845 , a determination is made as to whether the requested content is cached at the central office content cache  265 . If the URL requested by the user at step  830  is not located by the transport proxy server  250  on the URL cache database  255 , the method proceeds to step  850  and the user&#39;s content request is processed. At step  855 , the user is connected by the transport proxy server  250  to the web site  220  associated with the user&#39;s content request. At step  860 , the content requested by the user is retrieved to the user&#39;s Internet browser application  165 , and at step  890 , the content is presented to the user for the user&#39;s review. 
     Referring back to step  845 , if the URL requested by the user at step  830  is located in the URL cache database  255  by the transport proxy server  250 , the method proceeds to step  865 , and the transport proxy server  250  obtains from the URL cache database  255  a path to the cached content located on the central office content cache  265 . At step  870 , the transport proxy server  250  forwards the URL and path associated with the cached content to the client content application  170  via the data link  125 , as described above. 
     At step  875 , in response to receipt of the URL and content path from the transport proxy server  250 , the client application  170  calls the content server  270  located at the central office  240  via the data link  127  to obtain the requested content for presentation to the user at the personal computer  160 . At step  880 , the content saver  270  locates the requested content using the path to the requested content at content cache  265 . At step  885 , the content server  270  sends the requested content to the client application  170  via the DSL data link  127 . At step  890 , the client application  170  presents the requested content to the user via the personal computer  160 . The method ends at step  895 . 
     As described above with reference to the various embodiments of the present disclosure, the transport proxy server intercepts content requests from an end user and determines whether that content has already been downloaded and stored locally, either at an end-user site or at a telecommunications system central office site. If the requested content has been transmitted and stored locally via a first transport mechanism, the transport proxy server of the present disclosure redirects the user&#39;s request so that the request is filled utilizing the locally stored content so as to avoid the needless use of data link bandwidth and processor time to download the same information a second time from an Internet-based web site via a second transport mechanism. 
     The present application also discloses a method and system for redirecting an electronic content request to an alternate content transport mechanism. Generally described, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, electronic content received from a first transport mechanism, such as a satellite broadcast system, is transmitted to and stored at an end-user content cache. If the user subsequently requests content from an alternate transport mechanism, such as the Internet, a transport proxy server intercepts the request. The transport proxy server compares the URL entered by the user with a database of URLs associated with web site content that has been transmitted to and stored at the user&#39;s local content cache via the first transport mechanism. If the content requested by the user is presently stored on the user&#39;s local content cache, the user&#39;s request is redirected to the device or access application for the first transport mechanism which then retrieves and delivers the requested content from the local storage cache. Needless connection to the Internet web site to obtain the content via the second transport mechanism is avoided. 
     More particularly, the method and system of the present disclosure include requesting and receiving content from a first transport mechanism and storing that content in an end user&#39;s site. If a user requests content from a second transport mechanism, a determination is made as to whether the requested content is stored at the end user&#39;s site. If the requested content is stored at the end user&#39;s site, the requested content is accessed from the end user&#39;s site in response to the request for the content. The content received from the first transport mechanism may be stored at a local content cache at the end user&#39;s site, or the content may be stored at a content cache at a telecommunications system central office site. 
     When the content is delivered to the end user&#39;s site via the first transport mechanism, the content is also stored for delivery to the end user&#39;s site via the second transport mechanism. Storage for delivery via the second transport mechanism includes publishing the content on an Internet web site of the provider of the content stored at the end user&#39;s site via the first transport mechanism. In addition to storing the information for delivery to the end user&#39;s site via the Internet web site of the provider of the content, the provider of the content prepares location information for associating the content sent to the end user&#39;s site via the first transport mechanism with content stored for delivery via the second transport mechanism. Location information so prepared is saved to a content management system and includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) designating the location of the content via the Internet web site. Location information provided to the content management system is forwarded to a transport proxy server located at a telecommunications system central office site. When a request is made for content via the second transport mechanism, the request is intercepted by the transport proxy server, and a determination is made as to whether the requested content is stored at the end user&#39;s site. The determination includes parsing a database of location information to determine whether the requested content has location information associated with content stored at the end user&#39;s site. That is, a determination is made as to whether a URL entered as part of the request for content via the second transport mechanism is associated with a web site containing the same content that has been stored at the end user&#39;s site and that is accessible at the end user&#39;s site via the first transport mechanism. 
     If the content requested via the second transport mechanism is already stored at the end user&#39;s site via the first transport mechanism, the request for content is redirected back to the end user&#39;s site, and the requested content is downloaded from the local content cache at the end user&#39;s site. Likewise, if the requested content is already stored at a local content cache at the telecommunications system central office site, the request for information via the second transport mechanism is redirected to the local consent cache at the telecommunications system central office site and the content is downloaded to the end user&#39;s site for presentation to an end user. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications or variations may be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. Other embodiments of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein.