Patent ID: 7526530

Claim:
A method of providing a file in response to a request, comprising: receiving, on a first computer system, the request for the file, the request comprising a message digest and a location corresponding to a second computer system other than the first computer system, the first computer system coupled to the second computer system over a network; determining whether a file having a hash result corresponding to the message digest was stored in a storage area prior to the receiving of said request step; responsive to the file having the hash result corresponding to the message digest being stored in the storage area prior to the receiving of said request step, providing the file from the storage area in response to the request; and responsive to no file having the hash result corresponding to the message digest being stored in the storage area prior to the receiving of said request step: retrieving the file from the second computer system responsive to the location; storing the file retrieved in the storage area; hashing the file using a hash function to produce a hash result; comparing the hash result with the message digest; and responsive to the hash result corresponding to the message digest, providing the file in response to the request.