Modular and scalable high performance compression

A method, comprising:

• compressing a data block with a data compression system that comprises multiple compression units (CUs), each comprising a compression circuit, an input buffer, and a history buffer, wherein the compressing comprises:
• selecting one of multiple data compression modes;
• loading the input buffers and the history buffers with sub-blocks of the data block;
• identifying segments of the sub-blocks of the input buffers that match segments of the sub-blocks of the corresponding history buffers, by the corresponding compression circuits;
• and
• encoding the identified segments based on positions of the matching segments within the respective history buffers, by one or more of the compression circuits.

A system, comprising:

• a host processor configured to execute an application program;
• a data compression device configured to compress data associated with the application program;
• and
• a data storage device configured to store the compressed data;
• wherein the data compression device comprises multiple compression units (CUs), each comprising a compression circuit, an input buffer, and a history buffer;
• and
• wherein the data compression device further comprises input circuitry configured to load the input buffers and the history buffers with sub-blocks of a data block based on one of multiple selectable data compression modes.