N-hop content store-based caching policy and routing protocol for ICN

One of ICN's main advantages is that content can be retrieved from the content store (CS) of intermediate nodes, instead of original servers. However, CS information is not considered in the data plane of current native ICN routing protocols (i.e., in NDN and CCNx) in which Interest packets are forwarded mainly using forwarding information base (FIB). FIB is built based on name prefixes registered by content producers, lists next hops to name prefixes and use that information to forward Interests towards the producers. CS information at a node is used only to check the availability of the requested content at the local node on the routing path toward the producers, not to route Interest packets. This paper highlights the importance of CS information in routing and proposes N-hop CS-based caching policy and routing protocol. The main ideas are that based on the caching storage capacity and expected network performance, the caching policy encourages to cache popular content objects within N hops from consumers. The routing protocol exploits CS information of N-hops neighbors to route Interest packets toward nearby nodes which have the requested content, instead of toward producers.