Prior art — US Patent 8717204B2

To identify the most relevant prior art for US patent 8717204B2, I have examined the "Cited patents" section on its Google Patents page (which aggregates data from the USPTO). The patent itself also explicitly cross-references and incorporates several related patents by reference. Based on this, the two most relevant prior art references are U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,024 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,424, both by the same inventor and assignee.

Here is a breakdown of these key prior art references and their potential anticipation of US8717204B2's claims:

Most Relevant Prior Art for US8717204B2

1. U.S. Pat. No. 6,195,024 (Fallon '024)

Full Citation: US6195024B1, "Content Independent Data Compression Method and System"
Publication/Issue Date: February 27, 2001
Filing Date: March 11, 1999
Brief Description: This patent describes a method and system for optimally compressing an input data stream by employing a plurality of different encoders. The system processes a data block through multiple encoders and then selectively combines the compressed data blocks, choosing the output from the encoder that achieved the best compression ratio. This approach aims to provide optimal compression regardless of the input data's content. The patent also discusses a corresponding decompression system that identifies the type of compression applied and uses the appropriate decoder [cite: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6195024B1](/patent/US6195024B1)/en].
Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102:
- Claims 1, 11, and 16 (Method, Server, and System for Accelerating Data Transmission): US8717204B2 explicitly states that the data compression/decompression techniques disclosed in US6195024B1 "may be used in addition to, or in lieu of, the statistical based compression schemes described above" for providing accelerated data transmission. Furthermore, US8717204B2 describes and illustrates a "content-independent data compression system" (FIG. 5) and a "decompression system" (FIG. 6) that are directly stated to be detailed in US6195024B1. Therefore, any elements in claims 1, 11, or 16 of US8717204B2 that relate to using a content-independent compression scheme (or a system/method that switches to one when a content-dependent scheme is inefficient) for the purpose of achieving accelerated data transmission, increased effective bandwidth, or reduced latency, would likely be directly anticipated by US6195024B1. The core idea of applying an "optimal" compression method to reduce data size, which inherently leads to faster data movement, is present.

2. U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,424 (Fallon '424)

Full Citation: US6309424B1, "High speed data storage and retrieval system"
Publication/Issue Date: October 30, 2001
Filing Date: January 11, 2000
Brief Description: This patent details a system and method for achieving high-speed data storage and retrieval through the application of data compression prior to storage and decompression prior to retrieval. The stated goal is to effectively multiply the storage bandwidth and reduce latency, ensuring that the total time for compression, storage, and decompression is less than the time to store uncompressed data [cite: https://patents.google.com/patent/[US6309424B1](/patent/US6309424B1)/en].
Potential Anticipated Claim(s) under 35 U.S.C. § 102:
- Claims 1, 11, and 16 (Method, Server, and System for Accelerating Data Transmission): US8717204B2 acknowledges that the "concept of 'acceleration'" (defined by increasing effective bandwidth and reducing latency through compression) "may be applied to the storage and retrieval of data to any memory or storage device using the compression methods disclosed in the above-incorporated U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,195,024 and 6,309,424." US6309424B1 directly teaches the principle of "acceleration" via compression/decompression to achieve increased effective bandwidth and reduced latency, explicitly formulating this relationship mathematically. While US6309424B1 applies this to storage and retrieval, the underlying principle of accelerating data movement by reducing data volume through real-time compression is fundamentally the same. A PHOSITA could readily extend this known "acceleration" principle from data storage to data transmission. Therefore, the broad concept of a method, server, or system that "accelerates data transmission" by compressing and decompressing data in real-time to increase effective bandwidth and reduce latency, as claimed in US8717204B2, is potentially anticipated in its fundamental principles by US6309424B1.

These two references are particularly relevant because they originate from the same inventors and assignee, and US8717204B2 explicitly incorporates their teachings by reference, often describing the current invention as an application or extension of these prior works.