US 8717203

US patent 8717203, titled "Data compression systems and methods," was invented by James J. Fallon and is currently assigned to Realtime Data LLC. The application for this patent (US14/035,561) was filed on September 24, 2013, and the patent was issued on May 6, 2014.

Abstract:
The patent describes systems and methods for fast and efficient data compression by combining content-independent and content-dependent data compression techniques. Specifically, it involves analyzing an input data stream's data blocks to identify their data type. If a data type is identified, content-dependent compression is performed. If the data type is not identified, content-independent compression is performed.

Independent Claims Overview:

• Claim 1 (Method for compressing data): This claim describes a method where a data block from an input stream is first analyzed to identify its data type. If the data type is identified, content-dependent data compression is applied to the block. If the data type cannot be identified, content-independent data compression is applied instead.

• Claim 7 (Method for compressing data with thresholds): Similar to Claim 1, this method analyzes a data block to identify its data type. If identified, content-dependent compression is performed, and the resulting compression ratio is compared against a first threshold. If the data type is not identified, or if the content-dependent compression ratio does not meet the first threshold, then content-independent data compression is performed on the data block.

• Claim 14 (Data compression system): This claim outlines a system including an input counter module to measure the size of a data block. It also features a content-dependent data recognition module that identifies the data type of the block. Based on this identification, either a content-dependent encoder module (if the type is identified) or a content-independent encoder module (if the type is not identified) is used to compress the data.

• Claim 20 (Data compression system with thresholds): This system claim combines elements of Claim 14 and the threshold logic of Claim 7. It includes an input counter, a content-dependent data recognition module, and a content-dependent encoder module. Additionally, it has a compression ratio module that calculates the compression ratio from the content-dependent encoder and compares it to a first threshold. A content-independent encoder module is used if the data type is not identified or if the content-dependent compression ratio fails to meet the specified threshold.

Legal Status and Litigation:
The patent US8717203B2 is currently listed as "Expired - Lifetime".

The patent family has been involved in significant litigation across various US District Courts, including the District of Delaware, Eastern District of Texas, Central District of California, Northern District of California, and District of Colorado. Appeals related to the patent have also been filed in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC), with case numbers such as 19-2204, 21-2291, 19-2198, and 21-2251. A case (23-498) was also filed in the U.S. Supreme Court. However, no specific CAFC dockets for the year 2026 are explicitly identified in the provided information.