Patent ID: 8463724

Claim:
A method comprising: obtaining a computer archive, the computer archive including a plurality of data elements, each of the data elements comprising one of a computer file and another computer archive; traversing the computer archive, the traversing of the computer archive including, for each one of the data elements: determining, using at least one processor, whether to process the one of the data elements based on a name of the one of the data elements, determining whether the one of the data elements is a computer file or another computer archive based on a determination that the one of the data elements is to be processed, extracting, based on a determination that the one of the data elements is a computer file, the computer file, traversing, based on a determination that the one of the data elements is another computer archive, the other computer archive completely prior to proceeding to a next one of the plurality of data elements of the computer archive, and skipping the one of the data elements based on a determination that the one of the data elements is not to be processed; and outputting a serial data stream representing the extracted computer files of the computer archive.