Patent ID: 8767728

Claim:
A method to implement network caching in an access network, the method comprising: receiving, at a tunnel gateway (TGW), a terminal request directed to a data server for a flow, the terminal request originating from a requesting terminal and forwarded to the TGW by a downlink (DL) endpoint through a FROM-DL tunnel, the DL endpoint being an endpoint of the FROM-DL tunnel; selecting, at the TGW, based on the FROM-DL tunnel, a network cache to handle the flow; and redirecting, at the TGW, the terminal request to the selected network cache through a TO-SELECTED-CACHE tunnel, the selected network cache being an endpoint of the TO-SELECTED-CACHE tunnel, wherein a mapping table associated with the TGW includes information regarding one or more from-lower tunnels for use by the TGW to receive tunnel messages from one or more lower endpoints located below the TGW, each from-lower tunnel being identifiable through a combination of a lower endpoint identifier and a from-lower tunnel identifier, and the from-lower tunnel identifier allowing a bearer of a flow associated with that from-lower tunnel to be differentiated from a bearer of a flow associated with another from-lower tunnel, one or more network caches capable of providing data to the one or more lower end points, one or more to-cache tunnels for use by the TGW to send tunnel messages to the one or more network caches, each to-cache tunnel being identifiable through a combination of a cache identifier and a to-cache tunnel identifier, and one or more flows for handling by the one or more network caches, wherein for each lower endpoint, there is a corresponding data path between that lower endpoint and an IP point of presence, that lower end point being located below the IP point of presence in that data path, and the TGW being located in between that lower endpoint and the IP point of presence in that data path, wherein the mapping table is arranged such that each from-lower tunnel is mapped to one of the one or more network caches, and such that each of the one or more flows is mapped to one of the one or more to-cache tunnels, wherein the FROM-DL tunnel is one of the one or more from-lower tunnels whose lower endpoint identifier identifies the DL endpoint and whose from-lower tunnel identifier is associated with a bearer of the flow related to the terminal request, wherein the TO-SELECTED-CACHE tunnel is one of the one or more to-cache tunnels whose cache identifier identifies the selected network cache and whose to-cache tunnel identifier is associated with the bearer of the flow related to the terminal request, and wherein the tunnel switch is arranged to select a network cache mapped to the FROM-DL tunnel in the mapping table as the selected network cache.