Patent ID: 7606267

Claim:
A method of reducing the size of application layer messages in a network element, the method comprising the computer-implemented steps of: receiving one or more data packets at a network element; wherein the one or more data packets comprise network layer or transport layer headers having a destination address that differs from an address of the network element; determining whether the headers of the data packets match a particular set of criteria; in response to determining that the headers of the data packets do not match the particular set of criteria, forwarding the data packets without performing compression on application layer information contained in the data packets; and in response to determining that the headers of the data packets match the particular set of criteria, determining whether to compress an application layer message contained in the data packets by: assembling payloads of the data packets into an application layer message; determining whether the application layer message satisfies second criteria associated with a message classification; in response to determining that the application layer message does not satisfy the second criteria, forwarding the data packets without compressing the application layer message; and in response to determining that the application layer message satisfies the second criteria: compressing the application layer message into a compressed message; and sending the compressed message toward an application that is hosted on a device other than the network element.