Hardware channel-parallel data compression/decompression

A device for multichannel data packing, comprising:

• a plurality of two-input multiplexers arranged 8 rows and 3 columns, wherein:
• each input of a multiplexer in a first column receives a respective bit stream of 8 channels of bit streams,
• each respective bit stream includes compressed pixel data with a bit-stream length based on data in the bit stream, and
• multiplexers in a last column generate an output that includes 8 channels of packed bit streams each having a same bit-stream length;
• a controller that controls the plurality of multiplexers so that the multiplexers in the last column output the 8 channels of bit streams that each have the same bit-stream length;
• and
• a processor to perform image-based inference based on the output.

A device for multichannel data unpacking unpacker, comprising:

• a plurality of two-input multiplexers arranged in 2N rows and N columns in which N is an integer greater than 1, wherein:
• each input of a multiplexer in a first column receives a respective bit stream of 2N channels of bit-streams,
• each respective packed bit stream includes compressed pixel data with a same bit-stream length, and
• multiplexers in a last column generate an output that includes 2N channels of unpacked bit-streams each having a bit stream length corresponding to unpacked data of the bit stream;
• and
• a processor to perform image-based inference based on the output.