Angular2：将数组转换为 Observable

我有一个通过http从服务获取数据的组件，问题是我不想每次显示这个组件时都访问API后端.我希望我的服务判断数据是否在内存中，如果在内存中，则返回一个可观察的数组，如果不在内存中，则发出http请求.

我的组件

import {Component, OnInit } from 'angular2/core';
import {Router} from 'angular2/router';

import {Contact} from './contact';
import {ContactService} from './contact.service';

@Component({
  selector: 'contacts',
  templateUrl: 'app/contacts/contacts.component.html'
})
export class ContactsComponent implements OnInit {

  contacts: Contact[];
  errorMessage: string;

  constructor(
    private router: Router,
    private contactService: ContactService) { }

  ngOnInit() {
    this.getContacts();
  }

  getContacts() {
    this.contactService.getContacts()
                       .subscribe(
                         contacts => this.contacts = contacts,
                         error =>  this.errorMessage = <any>error
                       );
  }
}

我的服务

import {Injectable} from 'angular2/core';
import {Http, Response, Headers, RequestOptions} from 'angular2/http';
import {Contact} from './contact';
import {Observable} from 'rxjs/Observable';

@Injectable()
export class ContactService {

  private contacts: Array<Contact> = null;

  constructor (private http: Http) {

  }

  getContacts() {
    // Check first if contacts == null
    // if not, return Observable(this.contacts)? <-- How to?

    return this.http.get(url)
                    .map(res => <Contact[]> res.json())
                    .do(contacts => {
                      this.contacts = contacts;
                      console.log(contacts);
                    }) // eyeball results in the console
                    .catch(this.handleError);
  }


  private handleError (error: Response) {
    // in a real world app, we may send the server to some remote logging infrastructure
    // instead of just logging it to the console
    console.error(error);
    return Observable.throw(error.json().error || 'Server error');
  }
}