US Patent 7467126 Removal of stale information

Stale information is removed by a removal process so as to enhance the performance of a networked system. The networked system comprises a stored piece of information that has an accessed timestamp for defining the start of a stale period, which comprises a non-updating period preceding a decaying period. The networked system further comprises the removal process for removing the stored piece of information that has become stale because the stale period has expired and the stored piece of information has not been accessed during the decaying period.