Patent ID: 8493881

Claim:
A computerized method for maximizing use of communication bandwidth on an ISP communication system connecting at least one remote location to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), said ISP communication system having a maximum total downstream bandwidth available to transmit objects downstream from said ISP to said at least one remote location, said at least one remote location having a remote cache, said computerized method comprising: determining a bandwidth savings from remote caching for each requested object in a pool of cacheable objects as a function of a delivery cost/size of each requested object, a Time To Live (TTL)/expiry time of each requested object, and a frequency of request for each requested object, said pool of cacheable objects being requested objects contained in downstream unicast replies of downstream unicast communication traffic of said ISP communication system; prioritizing said requested objects in said pool of cacheable objects based on said determined bandwidth savings for each requested object in said pool of cacheable objects; determining a sub-group of said requested objects in said pool of cacheable objects to place in a queue of multicast cacheable objects to multicast to said remote cache at said at least one remote location based on said prioritized pool of cacheable objects and an available downstream multicast bandwidth; delivering objects in said queue of multicast cacheable objects to said remote cache at said at least one remote location via multicast transmissions downstream from said ISP to said remote location; intercepting requests sent upstream from said at least one remote location for objects contained in said remote cache at said remote cache; and responding to said intercepted requests by said remote cache at said at least one remote location with replies containing said requested objects contained in said remote cache such that upstream and downstream bandwidth on said ISP communication system is saved by excluding upstream requests for, and downstream replies containing, said requested objects contained in said remote cache.