A high performance block compression algorithm for small systems-software and hardware implementations

Abstract

Summary form only given. A new algorithmic approach to block data compression, using a highly contextual codification of the dictionary, that gives substantial compression-rate advantages over existing technologies, is described. The algorithm takes into account the limitations and characteristics of small systems, such as a low consumption of memory, high speed and short latency, as required by communication applications. It uses a novel construction of the prefix-free dictionary, a simple but powerful heuristic for filtering out the non-compressed symbols and a predictive dynamic prefix coding for the output entities. It also employs universal codification of the integers, allowing a very fast and direct implementation in silicon. A dynamic compression software package is detailed. Also, several techniques developed to maximize the usable disk-space and the software speed, among others, are discussed.