Patent ID: 8271610

Claim:
A method in one or more electronic devices for providing content to a user device in a communication network, the communication network comprising an access network and a core network, the method comprising: intercepting a content request from the user device, the content request comprising a request for data content formatted according to a network interface; querying a cache provided in an electronic caching device located in the access network to determine whether the data content is present in the cache; and retrieving the data content from the cache and forwarding the data content to the user device, if it is determined that the data content is present in the cache, wherein a network controller manages a plurality of network channels, and wherein the network controller has a first down-switch timer having a first timer value and a first up-switch threshold count having a first threshold size, and the network controller is caused to remain on a first network channel by activating a second down-switch timer having a second timer value less than the first timer value, and sending a ping of a second threshold size greater than the first threshold size to the core network.