Efficient content compression and decompression system and method

A method for decompressing a compressed piece of content, the method comprising:

• decompressing a compressed piece of content using JPEG wherein the compressed piece of content had been pre-processed to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions is decoded to generate a decompressed piece of content;
• and
• regenerating the suppressed one or more least significant data portions.

A method for pre-processing a piece of content so that the piece of content is more efficiently compressed, the method comprising:

• receiving a piece of content wherein the piece of content has one or more data portions including one or more least significant data portions;
• and
• suppressing one or more least significant raw data portions in a piece of content to generate a pre-processed piece of content that is compressed using JPEG that reduce the amount of data.

An apparatus for compressing a piece of content, the apparatus comprising:

• a hardware-based pre-processing unit that receives a piece of content, the pre-processing unit configured to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions in the piece of content to generate a pre-processed piece of content;
• and
• a hardware-based encoding unit, coupled to the pre-processing unit, the encoding unit configured to compress the pre-processed piece of content using JPEG that reduce the amount of data.

An apparatus for decompressing a compressed piece of content, the apparatus comprising:

• a hardware-based decoding unit that is configured to decompress a compressed piece of content using JPEG wherein the compressed piece of content, which had been pre-processed to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions, is decoded to generate a decompressed piece of content;
• and
• a hardware-based post-processing unit configured to regenerate the suppressed one or more least significant data portions.

An apparatus for pre-processing a piece of content so that the piece of content is more efficiently compressed, the apparatus comprising:

• a hardware-based pre-processing unit configured to receive a piece of content wherein the piece of content has one or more data portions including one or more least significant raw data portions;
• and
• wherein the hardware-based pre-processing unit is also configured to suppress one or more least significant raw data portions in a piece of content to generate a pre-processed piece of content that is compressed using JPEG that reduces the amount of data.