System and method for data decompression

A system for reconstructing data using literal references or a history reference from a compressed data stream, the system comprising:

• pipeline control logic for receiving literal reference data and history reference data, and converting the history reference data to a plurality of corresponding addresses;
• at least two history reference buffers in communication with the pipeline control logic, the history reference buffers being selectively accessed substantially simultaneously to retrieve previously stored uncompressed data associated with the corresponding addresses of the history reference data;
• and
• a plurality of output registers each in communication with a corresponding history reference buffer for substantially simultaneously receiving uncompressed data and providing the uncompressed data to an output channel.

A system for decompressing data read from a storage medium, the data represented as a series of literal references and history references, the history references being encoded in varying lengths and referring to previous data within a data stream, the system comprising:

• a multiple stage pipeline process for substantially simultaneously processing at least two bytes of data in parallel, the pipeline process including:
• a first stage for receiving literal and history references and converting the history references to a plurality of corresponding addresses, the first stage including pipeline control logic for directing data to subsequent stages;
• a second stage in communication with the first stage and having parallel buffers corresponding in number to the at least two bytes of data for selectively storing data and or addresses provided from the first stage based on the pipeline control logic;
• a third stage in communication with the first and second stages, the third stage having parallel literal buffers and parallel history buffers corresponding in number to the at least two bytes of data for selectively storing literal references and a predetermined number of bytes of previously processed uncompressed data, respectively;
• and
• a fourth stage in communication with the third stage, the fourth stage having parallel output buffers for storing uncompressed data and providing the uncompressed data to an output channel.