Patent ID: 7979509

Claim:
A method for sharing a cache within a cluster of intermediate network devices positioned between a client device and a network server, the method comprising: intercepting, with a first intermediate network device of the cluster of intermediate network devices, a content request from the client device that requests network content stored to the network server, wherein the first intermediate network device does not include the shared-cache of the cluster; generating and issuing, with a cache client executing within the first intermediate network device, a cache access request in response to the content request intercepted from the client device, wherein the cache access request is separate from the content request and requests the network content of the content request, and wherein the cache access request is generated in accordance with a cache message protocol that is different from a protocol to which the intercepted content request corresponds; receiving, with a second intermediate network device of the cluster of intermediate network devices, the cache access request in accordance with the cache message protocol, wherein the second intermediate network device includes the cache and provides the cache as a shared cache of network content for the cluster of intermediate network devices, and wherein the second intermediate network device transparently services the cache access request as if the cache access request was generated by a local cache client executing within the second intermediate network device; accessing, with the second intermediate network device, the cache based on the cache access request received from the first intermediate network device to determine whether the cache contains the requested content; and transmitting, with the second intermediate network device, the requested content to the first intermediate network device after determining that the cache contains the requested content.