Patent ID: 8443052

Claim:
In a content distribution system (CDS) comprising a plurality of content storage nodes (CSNs), each CSN including a storage device allocated between a local space and a federated space, a method for adapting the storage of content, comprising: receiving a content object request at a CSN; replacing a content object stored in local space of the CSN with the requested content object if a utility level of the content object stored in local space is less than a utility level of the requested content object; replacing a content object stored in federated space with the requested content object if a utility level of the content object stored in federated space is less than the utility level of the requested content object and the requested content object does not replace a content object stored in local space; replacing a content object stored in federated space with the replaced local space content object if the utility level of the content object stored in federated space is less than the utility level of the replaced local space content object.