US Patent 9208162 Generating a short hash handle

In one aspect, a method includes receiving hash signature, determining if there is an existing hash signature that matches the hash signature received, determining if there is an existing short hash handle that matches the hash signature received, designating n-1 least significant bits of the hash signature to be n-1 least significant bits of a n-bit short hash handle if there is not an existing short hash handle that matches the hash signature received and adding a hash handle bit to the n-1 bits to form the n-bit short hash handle.