Compression of buffered data
US6625671B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | May 3, 1999 |
| Grant date | Sep 23, 2003 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | May 3, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F13/4059
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A method and apparatus is presented providing high-performance lossless data compression implemented in hardware for improving network communications. A compression module useful in a switching platform is also presented capable of compressing data stored in buffer memory. Instructions for a compression task are assigned to the compression module by a microprocessor writing a control block to a queue in stored local memory. The control block informs the compression module of the size and location of the unprocessed data, as well as a location in the buffer memory for storing the processed data and the maximum allowed size for the compressed data. Using this technique, the microprocessor can limit the compression of data to those data streams allowing compression, to those segments that are susceptible to compression, and to those segments that are large enough to show a transmission speed improvement via compression.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.