Prior art

I have searched the USPTO database for US patent 7161506. The patent is titled "Systems and methods for data compression such as content dependent data compression" and was issued on January 9, 2007. The application number is US10/668,768, filed on September 22, 2003, and claims priority from December 11, 1998.

The most relevant prior art for US patent 7161506, based on the citations within the patent itself, is:

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,024

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,024, issued on Feb. 27, 2001, to Fallon.
  • Publication/Filing Date: The priority date for this patent, as cited in US7161506, is December 11, 1998.
  • Brief Description: US7161506 states that it is a Continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/210,491, filed on Dec. 11, 1998, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,024. This indicates a close relationship and suggests that 6,195,024 likely describes fundamental aspects of data compression systems, potentially involving some form of content-independent or content-dependent compression, or the general framework upon which 7161506 builds.
  • Potentially Anticipates: This patent likely anticipates fundamental elements of the data compression and decompression systems described in US7161506. Given that 7161506 is a continuation of an application that led to 6,195,024, it is highly probable that many of the broader claims in 7161506, especially those related to the general concept of using multiple encoders or selecting compression techniques, would find direct or indirect anticipation in 6,195,024. For example, general claims about "systems and methods for data compression" or "employing a plurality of encoders applying a plurality of compression techniques" (as mentioned in the summary of 7161506) would need to be carefully compared with the claims of 6,195,024.

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,424

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,424, issued on Oct. 30, 2001, to Fallon.
  • Publication/Filing Date: US7161506 states that it is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/705,446, filed on Nov. 3, 2000, which is now U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,424.
  • Brief Description: As 7161506 is a Continuation-In-Part of an application leading to 6,309,424, this patent likely introduces further developments or refinements to the data compression technology disclosed in 6,195,024. It may detail more advanced aspects of content-dependent or content-independent compression, or specific implementations of the encoding/decoding processes.
  • Potentially Anticipates: Similar to 6,195,024, this patent would likely anticipate or render obvious several claims in US7161506, particularly those that elaborate on the core compression methodologies or system architectures. Claims related to "analyzing a data block...to identify a data type," "performing content dependent data compression," or "performing content independent data compression" (from the summary of 7161506) could potentially be anticipated or rendered obvious depending on the level of detail in 6,309,424.

• U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,761

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,761, issued on Sep. 23, 2003, to Fallon.
  • Publication/Filing Date: US7161506 states that it is a Continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/016,355 filed on Oct. 29, 2001, which is U.S. Pat. No. 6,624,761.
  • Brief Description: This patent, being a direct continuation, likely details further advancements or specific embodiments of the compression techniques. It might focus on particular combinations of content-dependent and content-independent methods, or perhaps real-time processing aspects as later emphasized in 7161506.
  • Potentially Anticipates: Given the direct continuation relationship, 6,624,761 could directly anticipate or make obvious many of the claims in 7161506, especially those concerning the combined use of content-dependent and content-independent compression, and the decision-making process between them. Any claims in 7161506 related to "performing content independent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is not identified" or "performing content dependent data compression on the data block, if the data type of the data block is identified" would be particularly susceptible to anticipation by this patent.

• U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,087

  • Full Citation: U.S. Pat. No. 5,467,087 to Chu, entitled "High Speed Lossless Data Compression System."
  • Publication/Filing Date: Not explicitly stated in the provided text for US7161506, but it is referred to as "conventional content dependent techniques" and "existing prior art".
  • Brief Description: This patent describes a data compression and decompression technique where a data pre-compressor identifies the data type of an input stream and generates a data type identification signal. A data compressor then selects a compression method from a preselected set to compress the input data stream, aiming for the best compression ratio for that data type.
  • Potentially Anticipates: US7161506 specifically identifies limitations of the Chu method, such as the difficulty in unambiguously identifying various data types and predicting the optimal encoding technique. However, it explicitly describes Chu's method as comprising "two phases, a data pre-compression phase 2 and a data compression phase 3" and "data decompression 4...comprised of two phases, a data type retrieval phase 5 and a data decompression phase 6". Therefore, any broad claims in US7161506 related to the general concept of identifying data types and then selecting a compression method based on that identification, or a multi-phase compression/decompression process, could be anticipated or rendered obvious by Chu. Specifically, claims related to the overall architecture of a content-dependent compression system or the high-level steps of recognizing data types and applying selected encoders might be affected.