Apparatus and method for peripheral device control with integrated data compression

A computer peripheral device requiring a stream of data from a connected computer, comprising:

• a data interface for receiving the stream of data from the connected computer in a compressed form;
• a state machine having inputs for monitoring status from sensors of the peripheral device and outputs for providing such as start and ready signals;
• receiving circuitry connected to the data interface and to the state machine;
• a data handling and decompression pipeline circuit connected to the receiving circuitry;
• and
• a data serializer connected to the data handling and decompression pipeline circuit and to an output port to data-using elements of the peripheral device;
• wherein the receiving circuitry latches data words from the incoming port, and provides the data words to the data handling and decompression pipeline circuit on receipt of ready signals from the state machine, wherein the data handling and decompression circuitry decompresses the incoming data stream and provides a resulting decompressed data stream to the data serializer, and wherein the data serializer provides a serialized digital data stream to the output port.

A method for providing a data stream to a peripheral device connected to a host computer, comprising steps of:

• (a) latching data words from an incoming compressed data stream from the host computer into a register in a data receiving circuit;
• (b) providing the data words one at a time on condition of a ready signal provided by a state machine connected to the data receiving circuit to a data handling and decompression pipeline circuit connected to the receiving circuitry;
• (c) decompressing the data words using a decompression engine in the data handling and decompression pipeline;
• (d) providing the decompressed data words as a decompressed data stream to a data serializer connected to the data handling and decompression pipeline;
• and
• (e) providing a decompressed digital data stream to data-using elements of the peripheral device via the data serializer.