Patent ID: 7464185

Claim:
A method of transferring data from a sending system to a receiving system in a network, the method comprising: compressing the data, by the sending system, according to a selected compression technique without regard to availability of a corresponding decompression technique at the receiving system; sending, by the sending system, the compressed data and an identifier identifying the selected compression technique in a message to the receiving system; determining, by the receiving system, if the corresponding decompression technique is locally available at the receiving system using the identifier; acquiring automatically, by the receiving system, the corresponding decompression technique from outside of the receiving system if the corresponding decompression technique is not locally available, said corresponding decompression technique being acquired in a compressed format that can be decompressed using a decompression technique that is locally available at the receiving system; and decompressing, by the receiving system, the compressed data using either the acquired or the locally available corresponding decompression technique; wherein acquiring the corresponding decompression technique includes sending, by the receiving system, a download request to the sending system, the download request including at least one identifier identifying a decompression technique that is locally available at the receiving system, and the at least one identifier is arranged in a sequence indicating an order of preference of the receiving system.