HYPERTEXT MARKUP LANGUAGE CACHE SYSTEM AND METHOD

摘要

A cache management system for a set top box that improves the loading speed of hypertext markup language (HTML) documents that are provided by web servers through a distributed communications system. The cache management system includes a set top box with a processor and memory that includes cache. A plurality of HTML documents stored in the cache. A cache manager manages the cache and calculates a removal factor for each of the HTML documents. The cache manager removes at least one of the HTML documents based on its removal factor until sufficient room is available for an additional HTML document when a user requests access to the additional HTML document and insufficient cache is available to store the additional HTML document. A table is accessible by the cache manager and is stored in memory of the set top box. The HTML documents are arranged in an ordered list in the table based on the removal factors. The cache manager employs hysteresis when removing the HTML documents from the cache to create room for the additional HTML document when the user requests access to the additional HTML document and insufficient cache is available to store the additional HTML document. The cache manager provides hysteresis by continuing to remove the HTML documents until a predetermined extra amount of the cache is available. The cache manager also continues to remove the HTML documents until available system memory is above a breathing room threshold. The cache manager keeps the maximum number of relevant web pages in cache to maximize loading speed.