Patent ID: 7673099

Claim:
A method of initializing a cache in connection with storing a received data set comprising: identifying a previously stored data set that is similar to the received data set using first metadata associated with said previously stored data set and second metadata associated with the received data set, wherein one or more attributes included in said first metadata match one or more attributes included in the second metadata, said one or more attributes of said first metadata that match one or more attributes in said second metadata including a first attribute indicating a source of said previously stored data set, wherein said previously stored data set is determined as similar to said received data set if there is at least a minimum level of synchronization therebetween, a degree of synchronization between said received data set and said previously stored data set being represented as a ratio in accordance with a number of differences detected between a first representation corresponding to the previously stored data set and a second representation corresponding to the received data set; wherein said minimum level of synchronization is determined by performing processing including comparing said ratio to a threshold; initializing a cache in accordance with said previously stored data set; and performing processing using data in said cache to store the received data set.