Data compression/decompression system

A method for compressing data, comprising:

• receiving a data stream;
• sub-dividing the data stream into a plurality of intervals each having a fixed length;
• applying the plurality of intervals to a plurality of data compression algorithms;
• determining which of the plurality of data compression algorithms was most effective over a sub-portion of the data stream;
• and
• increasing the length of each of the intervals in response to improving data compression efficiency with a corresponding increase in the length of each of the fixed intervals.

A data processing system, comprising:

• an input memory configured to receive a compressed data stream, the compressed data stream comprising a plurality of intervals, the length of the intervals responsive to improving data compression efficiency over a corresponding increase in length of the intervals;
• a controller communicatively coupled with the input memory, the controller configured to apply information indicative of the data compression algorithm used to compress the data stream in order to generate a control signal;
• and
• a plurality of data decompressors each selectively coupled to an output of the input memory to receive the compressed data stream, wherein a particular data decompressor is coupled to the input memory in response to the control signal to generate a reproduction of a clear text version of the compressed data stream.

A method for decompressing compressed data, comprising:

• receiving a compressed data stream, the compressed data stream comprising a plurality of intervals, the length of the intervals responsive to improving data compression efficiency over a corresponding increase in length of the intervals;
• identifying which of a plurality of data decompression algorithms is appropriate to apply over the plurality of intervals within the data stream;
• determining the length of the compressed intervals of the data stream;
• and
• applying the identified data decompression algorithm to the received compressed data stream for the length in bytes generated in the determining step.

A computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium, the computer program, comprising:

• a first code segment that receives a data stream, the first code segment configured to forward the data stream to a plurality of data compression algorithms to generate a plurality of compressed representations of the data stream;
• a second code segment configured to receive and compare the compressed representations of the data stream, wherein the second code segment selectively forwards one of the plurality of compressed representations;
• and
• a third code segment configured to increase the length of each of a plurality of intervals used to generate the plurality of compressed representations in response to improving data compression efficiency with a corresponding increase in the length of each of the plurality of intervals.