System and methods for invalidation to enable caching of dynamically generated content

A system for producing dynamically generated content in response to user content requests that generate database queries, comprising:

• a database management system;
• a web server for receiving user requests for dynamically generated content and for providing said dynamically generated content;
• and
• an application server coupled between the database management system and the web server for generating database polling queries corresponding to said requests and for supplying resulting data from the database to said web server,
• the system performing an invalidation method to invalidate dynamically generated content generated by said system and stored in caches of network devices, said method comprising:
• receiving updates to the database management system;
• periodically performing processing on a set of received queries to identify queries for which corresponding dynamically generated content will be invalidated as a result of said updates;
• and
• sending invalidation messages to devices storing said corresponding content of said identified queries,
• wherein said processing is performed using a delayed version of said database that reflects the state of the database at the beginning of a preceding processing cycle, and an update log that reflects all updates since the beginning of the preceding processing cycle.

In a system for producing dynamically generated content in response to user content requests that generate database queries, a method for invalidating dynamically generated content stored in caches of network devices, comprising:

• receiving updates to a database of the system;
• periodically performing processing on a set of received queries to identify queries for which corresponding dynamically generated content will be invalidated as a result of said updates;
• and
• sending invalidation messages to devices storing said corresponding content of said identified queries,
• wherein said processing is performed using said database, which is prevented from being updated during said processing so as to reflect the state of the database at the beginning of said processing, and an update log that reflects all updates to the database since the beginning of the preceding processing cycle.

A system for producing dynamically generated content in response to user content requests that generate database queries, comprising:

• a database management system;
• a web server for receiving user requests for dynamically generated content and for providing said dynamically generated content;
• and
• an application server coupled between the database management system and the web server for generating database polling queries corresponding to said requests and for supplying resulting data from the database to said web server,
• the system performing an invalidation method to invalidate dynamically generated content generated by said system and stored in caches of network devices, said method comprising:
• receiving updates to the database management system;
• periodically performing processing on a set of received queries to identify queries for which corresponding dynamically generated content will be invalidated as a result of said updates;
• and
• sending invalidation messages to devices storing said corresponding content of said identified queries,
• wherein said processing is performed using said database, which is prevented from being updated during said processing so as to reflect the state of the database at the beginning of said processing, and an update log that reflects all updates to the database since the beginning of the preceding processing cycle.

In a system for producing dynamically generated content in response to user content requests that generate database queries, a method for invalidating dynamically generated content stored in caches of network devices, comprising:

• receiving updates to a database of the system;
• periodically performing processing on a set of received queries to identify queries for which corresponding dynamically generated content will be invalidated as a result of said updates;
• and
• sending invalidation messages to devices storing said corresponding content of said identified queries,
• wherein said processing is performed using said database, which is freely updated during said processing, and a portion of an update log of said database that reflects updates to the database made prior to the beginning of said processing.

A system for producing dynamically generated content in response to user content requests that generate database queries, comprising:

• a database management system;
• a web server for receiving user requests for dynamically generated content and for providing said dynamically generated content;
• and
• an application server coupled between the database management system and the web server for generating database polling queries corresponding to said requests and for supplying resulting data from the database to said web server,
• the system performing an invalidation method to invalidate dynamically generated content generated by said system and stored in caches of network devices, said method comprising:
• receiving updates to the database management system;
• periodically performing processing on a set of received queries to identify queries for which corresponding dynamically generated content will be invalidated as a result of said updates;
• and
• sending invalidation messages to devices storing said corresponding content of said identified queries,
• wherein said processing is performed using said database, which is freely updated during said processing, and a portion of an update log of said database that reflects updates to the database made prior to the beginning of said processing.