Patent ID: 8904044

Claim:
A method for changing or modifying the compression technique employed by a client device transmitting a data stream to a server of a data collection system, the method comprising the steps of: detecting at least one change to at least one contextual condition of a user of the client device, wherein the at least one contextual condition of the user of the client device comprises one of a location of the user and an activity of the user; selecting a different compression technique or modifying the parameters of the currently instantiated compression technique in response to the at least one change to the at least one contextual condition of the user of the client device, wherein the compression technique selected is a lossless compression algorithm when the at least one change to the at least one contextual condition of the user of the client device implies at least a desirability for transmission of accurate data, and a lossy compression algorithm when the at least one change to the at least one contextual condition of the user of the client device implies at least a desirability for transmission of less than accurate data; and altering the currently instantiated compression technique of at least one client device in accordance with the one or more modifications to form a modified compression technique through which the data stream will be compressed before being sent to a server of the data collection system.