Block-based data compression with shared exponents

A computing system, comprising:

• a logic subsystem;
• and
• a storage subsystem holding instructions executable by the logic subsystem to:
• divide a dataset of data elements into a plurality of blocks, such that each block includes a subset of data elements, and each block has a same predetermined size, wherein the dataset is represented using a first quantity of bits;
• calculate compressed floating point representations for the subset of data elements of each block, wherein the compressed floating-point representations are calculated by:
• for each data element in a block of the plurality of blocks, selecting a selected exponent from a set of two or more exponents, wherein two or more data elements of the block share the selected exponent;
• and
• for each data element in the block, calculating a mantissa value, such that the mantissa value and the selected exponent for the data element together comprise a compressed floating-point representation of the data element;
• and
• store the compressed floating-point representations for the subset of data elements of each block in a compressed representation of the dataset, wherein the compressed representation of the dataset is represented using a second quantity of bits, smaller than the first quantity of bits, to conserve storage space and memory bandwidth of a computing system.

A method for data compression to conserve memory bandwidth of a graphics processing unit (GPU), the method comprising:

• receiving a dataset of data elements to be processed by the GPU, the dataset of data elements represented using a first quantity of bits;
• dividing a dataset of data elements into a plurality of blocks, such that each block includes a subset of data elements, and each block has a same predetermined size;
• calculating compressed floating-point representations for the subset of data elements of each block, wherein the compressed floating-point representations are calculated by:
• for each data element in a block of the plurality of blocks, selecting a selected exponent from a set of two or more exponents, wherein two or more data elements of the block share the selected exponent;
• and
• for each data element in the block, calculating a mantissa value, such that the mantissa value and the selected exponent for the data element together comprise a compressed floating-point representation of the data element;
• storing the compressed floating-point representations for the subset of data elements of each block in a compressed representation of the dataset, wherein the compressed representation of the dataset is represented using a second quantity of bits, lower than the first quantity of bits;
• and
• transmitting the compressed representation of the dataset to the GPU for processing, such that transmission of the compressed representation of the dataset uses less memory bandwidth of the GPU as compared to transmission of the dataset of data elements.