Patent ID: 8745239

Claim:
A method of virtualizing request-responding resources, the method comprising: determining an edge server from a plurality of edge servers within a cloud to use to communicate with an end-user device based on an efficiency threshold, wherein: the edge server is within a first point of presence (POP) of a plurality of POPs: the plurality of POPs are part of a content delivery network˜ and the plurality of POPs are distributed geographically; receiving, at the determined edge server, a routed service request from the end-user device, wherein the service request includes identification information; based at least partly on the identification information, determining an application used to process the service request; forwarding the service request to a functioning compute platform operating over a network in communication with the determined edge server, wherein: the compute platform contains instructions for running a plurality of applications; the plurality of applications comprise the application; and the plurality of applications are not running on the compute platform before the service request from the end-user device is received; based at least partly on the identification information, identifying a version of requested service from amongst a plurality of versions after receiving the service request, wherein each of the plurality of versions is created prior to receiving any request for the content object; instantiating, at the compute platform, a virtual container, wherein the virtual container includes one or more resources and the application used to process the service request, wherein the instantiating occurs after the service request from the end-user device is received and includes the functionality of the identified version; and responding, by the virtual container via the edge server, to the service request from the end-user device.