Patent ID: 8751638

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a content router configured to couple to a customer node and implement joint server selection (SS) and path selection (PS) to meet a user request for content and achieve multiple joint optimization objectives for transporting the requested content in a provider network, wherein implementing joint SS and PS comprises: selecting a plurality of content servers comprising the user-requested content; identifying a plurality of available content servers from the plurality of content servers, wherein availability is determined based on a predefined processing limit; identifying a plurality of paths to transport data from the available content servers; checking that a demand feasibility condition is satisfied, wherein the availability is relaxed if the demand feasibility condition is not satisfied; calculating an initial feasible flow capacity from the one or more available content servers to the content router; dividing the initial feasible flow capacity among the plurality of paths; and selecting at least one server and at least one path for obtaining the user-requested content.