Caching techniques for streaming media

A computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure comprising:

• a URL data field for storing a value identifying at least one URL;
• a request count data field associated with the URL data field for storing a request count value for each of the at least one URLs, wherein the request count value is derived from the number of times that streaming media content associated with the at least one URL has been requested;
• and
• a request rate data field associated with the URL data field for storing a request rate value for the at least one URL, wherein the request rate value is derived from the time elapsed during the receipt of a predetermined number of requests for streaming media content associated with the at least one URL.

A proxy server for communicating between a local area network and a wide area network comprising:

• a non-streaming media proxy and cache module for proxying requests for non-streaming media content from nodes of the local area network and responses thereto from nodes of the wide area network, and for establishing and maintaining a cache for retrievably storing requested non-streaming media content;
• and
• a streaming media proxy and cache module comprising:
• a proxy module for proxying requests from nodes of the local area network for streaming media content and responses thereto from nodes of the wide area network;
• a streaming media cache for retrievably and selectively storing requested streaming media content;
• and
• a cache manager for establishing and maintaining the contents of the streaming media cache, wherein the cache manager determines whether to add a current requested item to the cache based on a calculated request count derived from the number of requests made for the current item and a calculated request rate derived substantially from an inverse of an average period of time elapsed between each set of two temporally adjacent requests for the current item.