Method and apparatus for caching a media stream

A method for a plurality of proxy servers to cache and deliver media object content as a media content stream, said method comprising:

• grouping object blocks from each media object into a plurality of segments;
• implementing a cache assignment policy for selecting one or more segments of a media object to cache among said multiple proxy servers, said selected one or more segments comprising a partial replication to a proxy server;
• and,
• upon receipt of a user request for a media object, delivering a beginning cached segment of said requested media object and generating a prefetch request to retrieve remaining segments of said requested media object from another proxy server or content source.

A program storage device readable by a machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for caching media objects in a proxy device that implements a streaming application for enabling delivery of multimedia object streams across a network, said method steps comprising:

• a) receiving request for media object stream;
• b) grouping a requested media object into a plurality of segments, each segment comprising a consecutive number of blocks of a media object;
• c) determining a cache eligibility value for each non-cached segment, said cache eligibility value of a segment being a function of its distance to a start segment of said media object;
• and,
• d) caching segments based on said cache eligibility value.

A media content storage and delivery system comprising:

• one or more content servers for storing media object content;
• one or more proxy servers associated with a content server, a proxy server device having streaming application for delivering media object streams to a client;
• a cache admission means provided in one or more proxy servers for determining cache eligibility for segments of a media object based on a distance criteria from an assigned number value of a segment to a start segment of a requested media object;
• and,
• means for caching one or more media object segments based on said cache eligibility status.