Patent ID: 8874095

Claim:
An apparatus for managing user traffic in a cellular network using proxy caches, the apparatus comprising: a memory; and at least one processor device, coupled to the memory, operative to: identify a group of the proxy caches that has correlated user traffic, wherein the correlated user traffic takes multiple paths through the cellular network and the proxy caches in the group are present along different paths through the cellular network, wherein the cellular network comprises multiple base stations at one or more of which the proxy caches are implemented and thus a user population for a given one of the proxy caches in the group is based on a low user population at the base stations in the cellular network, wherein the proxy caches that are present at the base stations physically located within a given geographical area are considered to have correlated user traffic and are grouped, and wherein the given geographical area is defined based on correlated user access patterns; observe cache requests for each of the proxy caches in the group; find one or more user access patterns in the cache requests for each of the proxy caches in the group, wherein at least one of the user access patterns is based on a probability distribution of items accessed from the proxy caches, and wherein the probability distribution is used to i) determine a probability of a given item being in a proxy cache in the group if that given item is in neighboring proxy caches in the group and ii) assign a probability of user access to each of the items; predict which items will be requested from the proxy caches in the group in the future based on the one or more patterns found in the cache requests; and pre-populate the proxy caches in the group with the items to increase a cache hit ratio even when the user population for a given one of the proxy caches in the group is based on the low user population at the base stations.