Patent ID: 8768895

Claim:
A method for transmitting or storing subsegments comprising: receiving a data stream or a data block; breaking the data stream or the data block into a plurality of segments; for at least one segment: breaking the at least one segment into a plurality of subsegments; identifying a previously stored or transmitted segment similar to but not identical to the at least one segment, wherein the identification is based at least in part on a value based on one or more of content of the at least one segment and metadata associated with the at least one segment; computing a fingerprint for at least one subsegment of the at least one segment; and using the fingerprint for the at least one subsegment of the at least one segment, determining whether the at least one subsegment is identical to a subsegment of the previously stored or transmitted segment that has been identified as similar to but not identical to the at least one segment, wherein determining comprises determining without directly comparing the content of the at least one subsegment with the content of the subsegment of the previously stored or transmitted segment.