Data compression system and method

A method of compression encoding an input data set into variable compression ratio, variable length data packets, the method comprising:

• receiving a data set;
• determining whether the data set is an analog data set;
• converting, if the data set is determined to be an analog data set, the analog data set to a digital data set;
• determining the density of the data set;
• compressing the data set to produce a compressed data set, using a compression ratio determined by the density of the data set;
• determining the number of valid data bytes in the data set;
• removing any invalid data bytes from the data set;
• adjusting the length of the data set to produce a compressed, variable length data set that contains only valid data bytes;
• inserting at least set length information in the data set;
• and
• outputting the compressed, data set.

An apparatus for compressing and decompressing data, comprising:

• an input circuit that receives incoming data;
• a pre-compression data processor that converts, if the incoming data is analog data, the analog data to digital data, and divides the digital input data signal into fixed length data packets;
• a first compression and encoding processor that receives the at least one fixed length data packet, determines the amount of data in the at least one fixed length data packet, and compresses the at least one fixed length data packet into at least one compressed, fixed length data packet, using a determined data compression ratio;
• a second compression and encoding processor that converts the at least one compressed, fixed length data packet into at least one compressed, variable length data packet;
• a packet encoding processor that inserts a length code in the at least one compressed, variable length data packet;
• and
• an output circuit that outputs the at least one compressed, variable length data packet with the length code.

A system that compresses data, the system comprising:

• an input circuit that receives incoming data;
• a pre-compression data processor that converts, if the incoming data is analog data, the analog data to digital data, and divides the digital input data signal into fixed length data packets such that the length of a data packet having an increased data compression ratio is not readily discernible to be of reduced data reproduction quality when compared to a data packet having a decreased data compression ratio;
• a first compression and encoding processor that receives the at least one fixed length data packet, determines the amount of data in the at least one fixed length data packet, and compresses the at least one fixed length data packet into at least one compressed, fixed length data packet, using an appropriate data compression ratio, wherein the appropriate data compression ratio is determined based on the amount of data in the at least one fixed length data packet;
• a second compression and encoding processor that converts the at least one compressed, fixed length data packet into at least one compressed, variable length data packet by removing any unnecessary data bytes from the at least one compressed, fixed length data packet and leaving only valid data bytes in the at least one compressed, variable length data packet;
• a packet encoding processor that inserts a length code in the at least one compressed, variable length data packet;
• and
• an output circuit that outputs the at least one compressed, variable length data packet with the length code.