Patent ID: 7921078

Claim:
A method of distributing a new file from a server to a client, said client performing the steps of: sending a request for said new file to the server, said new file configured to execute a particular application; receiving a reference delta index corresponding to said new file from said server, wherein said reference delta index comprises a list of one or more new delta files and corresponding reference files for said new file resident on said client: searching the reference delta index for index entries corresponding to reference files that are stored in storage accessible to said client but extrinsic to the particular application; selecting a new delta file and corresponding reference file based on compression ratio values and said index entries in the reference delta index, wherein the compression ratio value is a measure of the reduction in file size between the new delta file and the corresponding reference file; requesting and obtaining the selected new delta file from said server; and generating said new file by applying said new delta file obtained from said server to corresponding reference file retrieved from said client.