Parallel processing of data having data dependencies for accelerating the launch and performance of operating systems and other computing applications

An apparatus for parallel decompression of a compressed file, the compressed file comprising a plurality of compressed blocks having independent data and dependent, run length encoded (“RLE”) data having data-dependent references spanning multiple compressed blocks of the plurality of compressed blocks, the apparatus comprising:

• a first, nonvolatile memory storing metadata indicating a start or end of each compressed block of the plurality of compressed blocks;
• a plurality of processors or processor cores, at least one processor or processor core, of the plurality of processors or processor cores, adapted to utilize the stored metadata to identify the start or end of a selected compressed block of the plurality of compressed blocks in a first pipelined stage;
• at least one processor or processor core, of the plurality of processors or processor cores, adapted to partially decompress a selected compressed block, of the plurality of compressed blocks, into independent data, dependent RLE data, and any linked dependent RLE data, in a second pipelined stage;
• and at least one processor or processor core, of the plurality of processors or processor cores, adapted to sequence the independent data, dependent RLE data, and linked dependent RLE data from a plurality of partial decompressions of the plurality of compressed blocks, to obtain data specified by the dependent RLE data and linked dependent RLE data, and insert the obtained data into corresponding locations to form an uncompressed data file, in at least one third pipelined stage.