Patent · US Expired

System and method for fast huffman decoding

US5615020A · kind A · utility

13Cited by
21References
9Claims
0Family size

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateMay 13, 1993
Grant dateMar 25, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 13, 2013

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH03M7/425
  • WIPO fieldBasic communication processes
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is provided for performing statistical decoding if a symbol in a data stream having byte boundaries wherein the symbol may have varying alignments with respect to the byte boundaries. The next byte of data is fetched from the data stream wherein the fetched byte contains at least a portion of the symbol. Based on this byte and on the current bit position, which is maintained by a state machine, either (a) a decoded value is obtained from a lookup table, or (b) further bytes are fetched and used to determine the decoded value. Each symbol has a prefix and free bits wherein the entire symbol may be included in the next byte, a boundary of the next byte may fall within a prefix, or a boundary of the next byte may fall within the free bits depending on the alignment of the symbol. Differing action routines, corresponding to differing symbols, may be selected for execution according to the decoded values determined in the symbols.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.