Patent ID: 7664763

Claim:
A method comprising: transferring a first copy of a file over a network, wherein the first copy of the file is a compressed version of the file; storing information associated with the first copy of the file, wherein the information describes a result obtained by compressing the file to obtain the first copy of the file; determining whether to compress a second copy of the file, wherein the determining comprises accessing the information associated with the first copy of the file, determining whether the result obtained by compressing the first copy of the file was a desirable or undesirable result, wherein a desirable result is one that is useful according to a pre-defined standard of usefulness, and an undesirable result is one that is not useful according to the pre-defined standard of usefulness; in response to the result being a desirable result: selecting to compress the second copy of the file to produce a compressed second copy of the file, and transferring the compressed second copy of the file over the network; and in response to the result being an undesirable result: selecting to not compress the second copy of the file, and transferring the second copy of the file over the network.