Methods and apparatus for compressing data streams

An apparatus for transmitting information operable to compressing and decompressing data via a communication network comprising:

• a probability distribution function (“PDF”) computation circuit configured to calculate a PDF in response to a scaler data stream;
• a PDF database coupled to the PDF computation circuit and configured to store a plurality of PDF templates and encoding identifiers;
• a PDF matching circuit coupled to the PDF computation circuit and capable of retrieving a PDF template and an encoding identifier from the PDF database in response to the PDF calculated by the PDF computation circuit;
• and
• an encoding circuit coupled to the PDF matching circuit and operable to generate compressed data in accordance with the scaler data stream and the encoding identifier which identifies an encoder utilized for encoding, wherein the encoding circuit forwards the compressed data and the encoding identifier to a receiver via a communication network.

An apparatus for transmitting information utilizing data compression and decompression via a communication network comprising:

• means for forwarding a data stream to probability distribution function (“PDF”) computation circuit for calculating a PDF in response to the data stream which includes at least a portion of scaler data;
• means for forwarding the PDF to a PDF matching circuit for identifying a PDF template;
• means for retrieving the PDF template and an encoding identifier from a PDF database in response to the PDF;
• means for generating compressed data in accordance with the data stream and the encoding identifier which identifies an encoder utilized for encoding;
• and
• means for transmitting the compressed data and the encoding identifier from a transmitter to a receiver over a communication network.