Saving bandwidth in transmission of compressed data

A system for transmitting content across a link in a communications network, the system comprising:

• a caching sender including a first cache at a sender end of the link, for examining specified traffic in the network to determine if the traffic is carrying any compressed content;
• and when the specified traffic is carrying compressed content, for decompressing at least one portion of the compressed content to obtain decompressed content, and comparing the decompressed content from the specified traffic with content of the first cache to determine if the first cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• and when the first cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic, determining an identifier associated with said decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• and
• a caching receiver at a receiver end of the link and including a second cache, for receiving the associated identifier from the caching sender, and using the associated identifier to reconstruct the decompressed content from the specified traffic.

An article of manufacture comprising:

• at least one tangible computer readable device having computer readable program code logic tangibly embodied therein to transmit content across a link in a communications network, the computer readable program code logic, when executing, performing the following:
• examining specified traffic in the network at a sender end of the link to determine if the traffic is carrying any compressed content;
• when the specified traffic is carrying compressed content, decompressing at least one portion of the compressed content to obtain decompressed content;
• comparing the decompressed content from the specified traffic with content of a sender cache to determine if the sender cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• when the sender cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic, determining an identifier associated with said decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• and
• using the associated identifier to reconstruct, at a receiving end of the link, the decompressed content from the specified traffic.

A method of saving bandwidth in transmission of compressed data, the method comprising:

• examining specified traffic in the network at a sender end of a network link to determine if the traffic is carrying any compressed content;
• when the specified traffic is carrying compressed content, decompressing at least one portion of the compressed content to obtain decompressed content;
• comparing the decompressed content from the specified traffic with content of a sender cache to determine if the sender cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• when the sender cache has content matching the decompressed content from the specified traffic, replacing said decompressed content from the specified traffic with an associated index;
• compressing said index to form a compressed identifier;
• sending the compressed identifier over the link to a receiver end of the link;
• at the receiver end of the link, decompressing the compressed identifier to form the index associated with the decompressed content from the specified traffic;
• and
• replacing the index with content from a receiver cache to reconstruct, at the receiver end of the link, the decompressed content from the specified traffic.