Patent ID: 8683002

Claim:
A method to retrieve content objects in a content delivery network (CDN) having a plurality of points of presence (POPs) distributed geographically by checking one or more neighboring servers before checking a parent server, the method comprising: receiving a first universal resource identifier (URI) at a first edge server having a first cache wherein: the first edge server is in a first POP of the plurality of POPs, and the first URI specifies a first content object; determining that the first cache does not hold the first content object; querying the one or more neighboring servers for the first content object, wherein the one or more neighboring servers each have a cache; determining that one or more caches of the one or more neighboring servers stores the first content object; serving the first content object from the one or more caches of the one or more neighboring servers; receiving a second URI at the first edge server, wherein the second URI specifies a second content object; determining that the first cache does not hold the second content object; querying the one or more neighboring servers for the second content object; determining that the one or more caches of the one or more neighboring servers do not hold the second content object; analyzing the second URI to determine the parent server, and requesting the second content object from the parent server after determining that the one or more caches of the one or more neighboring servers do not hold the second content object.