Patent ID: 7644139

Claim:
A processing element in a dynamic content delivery architecture, said processing element comprising: communication means, for receiving a data structure from a content provider or a previous processing element in said dynamic content delivery architecture, the data structure including content and metadata that envelops the content; a metadata extractor adapted to extract from the data structure a portion of the metadata directed to the processing element; a cache adapted to store the portion of the metadata extracted by the metadata extractor; and a processor adapted to retrieve the portion of the metadata from the cache and apply the portion of the metadata to the data structure for outputting a modified data structure, said metadata extractor being further adapted to retrieve cached metadata from said cache if no metadata for the processing element exists in the data structure, said processor applying said retrieved cached metadata to the content of the data structure, wherein the communication means is further configured to pass the modified data structure to a subsequent processing element in said dynamic content delivery architecture, wherein said metadata extractor is further adapted to extract incremental metadata directed to the processing element, and wherein the metadata extractor is adapted to combine the extracted incremental metadata with metadata retrieved from the cache.