Timelines are Publisher-Driven Caches: Analyzing and Shaping Timeline Networks

Cache networks are one of the building blocks of information centric networks (ICNs). Most of the recent work on cache networks has focused on networks of request driven caches, which are populated based on users requests for content generated by publishers. However, user generated content still poses the most pressing challenges. For such content time-lines are the de facto sharing solution. In this paper, we establish a connection between time-lines and publisher-driven caches. We propose simple models and metrics to analyze publisher-driven caches, allowing for variable-sized objects. Then, we design two efficient algorithms for timeline workload shaping, leveraging admission and price control in order, for instance, to aid service providers to attain prescribed service level agreements.