System and method for internet page acceleration including multicast transmissions

A method for caching data in a satellite communications system, the method comprising steps of:

• requesting at a remote client station a selected data page from a host station that is connected to a communications network, the remote client station being coupled to the communications network through the satellite communications system;
• storing information forming at least a portion of at least one data page in a cache;
• receiving the request at the cache for the selected data page;
• determining whether at least a portion of information forming the selected data page is stored in the cache;
• sending the information forming the selected page that is stored in the cache from the cache to the remote client station when information forming the selected page is stored in the cache;
• and
• sending a request from the cache to the host station through the satellite communications system for information forming the selected data page that is not stored in the cache.

A multicast system, comprising:

• a server content evaluator connected to a computer network, the computer network containing a plurality of stored pages of information each having a predetermined format, the server content evaluator determining in whether a particular page is capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications and assigning a unique index number to each page determined to be capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications;
• and
• a server content cache coupled to the server content evaluator storing index numbers assigned to pages of information determined to be capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications,
• the server content evaluator receiving a request from a client application for a selected page of information and sending the index number for the selected page to the client application when the selected page has an assigned index number stored in the server content cache.

A multicast system, comprising:

• a client content synchronizer receiving a request from a client application for a selected page of information, the selected page of information being stored on a computer network in a predetermined format that is capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications, the client content synchronizer sending the request for the selected page of information to a server content evaluator and receiving an index number assigned to selected page of information from the server evaluator;
• and
• a client content cache coupled to the client content synchronizer storing pages of information, each page of information have an assigned index number,
• the client content synchronizer sending the received index number for the selected page of information to the client content cache and receiving the selected page of information corresponding to the received index number, the client content synchronizer sending the selected page of information to the client application.

A method for multicasting data, the method comprising steps of

• receiving a request at a server content evaluator from a client application for a selected page of information, the server content evaluator being connected to a computer network, the computer network containing a plurality of stored pages of information each having a predetermined format;
• determining whether the selected page has a unique index number stored in a server content cache;
• when the selected page does not have a unique index number stored in the server content cache, requesting the selected page from the computer network;
• determining whether the received selected page is capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications;
• assigning a unique index number to the received selected page when the selected page is determined to be capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications;
• and
• sending the index number for the selected page to the client application.

A method for multicasting data, the method comprising steps of:

• receiving a request from a client application at a client content synchronizer for a selected page of information, the selected page of information being stored on a computer network in a predetermined format that is capable of being multicast to a plurality of client applications;
• sending the request for the selected page of information to a server content evaluator;
• receiving an index number assigned to selected page of information from the server evaluator;
• sending the received index number for the selected page of information to a client content cache;
• receiving the selected page of information corresponding to the received index number, and
• sending the selected page of information to the client application.

A method for caching data in a satellite communications system, the method comprising steps of:

• storing information forming at least a portion of at least one data page in a cache;
• receiving a request from a remote client station for selected information, the selected information being hosted at a host station that is connected to a communications network, the remote client station being coupled to the communications network through the satellite communications system;
• determining whether the request for the selected information is a request for an HTML file;
• when the request is for an HTML file, determining whether at least a portion of information forming the HTML file is stored in the cache;
• sending the information forming the HTML file that is stored in the cache from the cache to the remote client station when information forming the HTML file is stored in the cache;
• and
• sending a request from the cache to the host station through the satellite communications system for information forming the HTML file that is not stored in the cache.