Patent ID: 8135683

Claim:
A method, in a data processing system, for reducing the size of an object, the method comprising: dividing an object into a plurality of blocks, wherein each block of the plurality of blocks comprises a plurality of features, each of the plurality of features corresponding to one of a plurality of fingerprints; calculating a super fingerprint for each of the plurality of blocks to form a plurality of super fingerprints, wherein each of the set of the super fingerprints is calculated by merging ones of the plurality of fingerprints for a particular block of the plurality of blocks; responsive to dividing the object into the plurality of blocks, identifying identical blocks within the plurality of blocks; suppressing the identical blocks without differentially compressing the identical blocks; responsive to suppressing the identical blocks without differentially compressing the identical blocks, identifying similar blocks within the plurality of blocks; differentially compressing the similar blocks; performing data compression on at least one block within the plurality of blocks, wherein the at least one block is not differentially compressed, wherein the at least one block is not suppressed, and wherein the step of performing data compression on the at least one block forms a reduced object; and storing the reduced object in a computer storage readable media.