System and Method for Hierarchical Compression

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• receive a first compressed data stream and a second compressed data stream at a network node, the second compressed data stream having been generated through higher-layer compression of a data stream at an upstream node;
• identify a first occurrence of a data block in the first compressed data stream;
• perform link-layer compression on at least the second compressed data stream to obtain a compressed traffic flow, wherein the instructions to perform link-layer compression on at least the second compressed data stream include instructions to identify a second occurrence of the data block in the second compressed data stream, and to replace the second occurrence of the data block in the second compressed data stream with a link-layer compression symbol associated with the data block;
• and
• forward the compressed traffic flow from the network node to a next hop node on the link.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• receive a compressed traffic flow from an upstream network node, the compressed traffic flow carrying compressed data that includes at least a first link-layer compression symbol and a first higher-layer compression symbol;
• and
• perform link-layer de-compression on the compressed traffic flow to obtain a compressed data stream, wherein the instructions to perform link-layer de-compression include instructions to determine that the first link-layer compression symbol is associated with a first data block, and replacing the link-layer compression symbol with the first data block, wherein the higher-layer compression symbol remains in the compressed data after the link-layer de-compression.

A method for compressing data over a link, the method comprising:

• receiving a compressed data stream, the compressed data stream having been generated through higher-layer compression of a data stream at an upstream node;
• identifying higher layer compression symbols in the compressed data stream;
• performing data chunking in-between the higher layer compression symbols to obtain one or more data chunks, wherein the data chunks and at least a first one of the higher layer compression symbols are positioned in a compressed data block of the compressed data stream;
• determining that the one or more data chunks match known data chunks of a known data block;
• comparing the compressed data block with the known data block to determine if the compressed data block matches the known data block;
• substituting a link-layer compression symbol for the compressed data block if the compressed data block matches the known data block, thereby obtaining a compressed traffic flow;
• and
• forwarding the compressed traffic flow from the network node to a next hop node on the link.

An apparatus comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a computer readable storage medium storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to:
• receive a compressed data stream, the compressed data stream having been generated through higher-layer compression of a data stream at an upstream node;
• identify higher layer compression symbols in the compressed data stream;
• perform data chunking in-between the higher layer compression symbols to obtain one or more data chunks, wherein the data chunks and at least a first one of the higher layer compression symbols are positioned in a compressed data block of the compressed data stream;
• determine that the one or more data chunks match known data chunks of a known data block;
• compare the compressed data block with the known data block to determine if the compressed data block matches the known data block;
• substitute a link-layer compression symbol for the compressed data block if the compressed data block matches the known data block, thereby obtaining a compressed traffic flow;
• and
• forward the compressed traffic flow from the network node to a next hop node on the link.