Patent ID: 7701366

Claim:
A method for compressing data, the method comprising: [a] designating the data as a working set of values; [b] designating at least one reference value within the working set of values; [c] generating a set of difference values using the working set of values; [d] evaluating at least one condition based on at least one characteristic of the set of difference values; [e] responsive to the at least one condition being satisfied, performing the steps comprising: determining at least one reference value bit length to encode the at least one reference value; determining at least one difference value bit length to encode at least some of the difference values within the set of difference values; and storing a compressed data record according to a pre-defined schema, the compressed data record comprising the at least one reference value bit length, the at least one difference value bit length, the at least one reference value, and the set of difference values; and [f] responsive to the at least one condition not being satisfied, designating the set of difference values as the working set of values and iterating by returning to step [b].