Managing metadata in cloud driven, thin client video applications

A method comprising:

• receiving, by an application server, a first request;
• generating, by the application server, a first response to the first request;
• generating, by the application server, a first fingerprint tree corresponding to the first response wherein the first fingerprint tree uniquely identifies a first structure of the first response;
• sending, by the application server, the first response;
• caching, by the application server, the first fingerprint tree corresponding to the first response;
• receiving, by the application server, a second request;
• retrieving, by the application server in response to receiving the second request, the cached first fingerprint tree;
• generating, by the application server, an initial second response to the second request;
• generating, by the application server, an initial second fingerprint tree corresponding to the initial second response;
• determining, by the application server, a difference between the retrieved first fingerprint tree and the generated initial second fingerprint tree, wherein determining the difference comprises element by element comparison of the received first fingerprint tree with the generated initial second fingerprint tree;
• generating, by the application server, a final second response to the second request to include the difference between the first response and the initial second response based upon the determined difference between the retrieved first fingerprint tree and the generated initial second fingerprint tree;
• generating, by the application server, a final second fingerprint tree to include the difference between the retrieved first fingerprint tree and the initial second fingerprint tree based upon the determined difference between the retrieved first fingerprint tree and the generated initial second fingerprint tree;
• and
• sending, by the application server, the generated final second response.

A system comprising:

• a memory storage;
• and
• a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to:
• send a first request;
• receive, in response to sending the first request, a first response and a first fingerprint tree corresponding to the first response wherein the first fingerprint tree uniquely identifies a structure of the first response;
• cache the first response and the first fingerprint tree corresponding to the first response;
• send a second request and the first fingerprint tree;
• receive, in response to sending the second request and the first fingerprint tree, a final second response and a final second fingerprint tree, the final second fingerprint tree comprising a difference between the first fingerprint tree and an initial second fingerprint tree and the final second response comprising a difference between the first response and an initial second response, wherein the difference is determined by element by element comparison of the received first fingerprint tree with the generated initial second fingerprint tree;
• update the cached first response with the final second response;
• and
• update the cached first fingerprint tree with the final second fingerprint tree.