Claims
- 1. A memory device for storing pages of data, the pages of data being of fixed size, said memory device comprising:
- a) a first set of a plurality of memory spaces of said fixed size, said memory spaces of said first set storing an uncompressed version of one of said pages of data;
- b) a second set of a plurality of memory spaces smaller than said fixed size of said memory spaces, said memory spaces of said second set storing a compressed form of one of said pages of data;
- c) means for compressing each of said pages of data to produce a plurality of compressed pages, and means for detecting if a compressed page is smaller than a memory space of said second set; and
- d) means for selectively storing a compressed page of data in a memory space of said second set as said compressed version if the compressed page is smaller than a memory space of said second set, in response to said means for detecting; and
- including means for generating at least one error-correcting code for each one of each of said compressed pages, and wherein said means for selectively storing a compressed page of data in a memory space of said second set stores said error-correcting codes with said compressed pages; and including means for transferring said compressed pages as parallel 9-bit symbols to said means for generating an error-correcting code.
- 2. A memory device for storing pages of data, the pages of data being of a fixed size of bytes, said memory device comprising:
- a) a first set of a plurality of memory spaces of said fixed size, said memory spaces of said first set storing an uncompressed version of one of said pages of data;
- b) a second set of a plurality of memory spaces smaller than said fixed size of said memory spaces, said memory spaces of said second set storing a compressed form of one of said pages of data;
- c) means for compressing each of said pages of data to produce a plurality of compressed pages, and means for detecting if a compressed page is smaller than a memory space of said second set; and
- d) means for selectively storing a compressed page of data in a memory space of said second set as said compressed version if the compressed page is smaller than a memory space of said second set, in response to said means for detecting; and
- wherein said means for compression includes a lookahead buffer storing a first number of bytes of one of the pages of data, and includes a window buffer containing a second number of bytes of the one of the pages of data, said second number being larger than said first number, and means for comparing the first number of bytes in said lookahead buffer to all of the second number of the bytes in said window buffer and generating match symbols if multiple-byte matches are found in said comparing.
- 3. The memory device according to claim 2 wherein said lookahead buffer and said window buffer are of bit-parallel format, and said means for compressing has an output which includes an added bit that indicates whether or not said output of the means for compressing represents a compressed or non-compressed symbol.
RELATED CASE
This application is in part a continuation of Ser. No. 679,530 filed Apr. 2, 1991, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,260, which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 627,722, filed Dec. 14, 1990, now abandoned.
US Referenced Citations (10)
Foreign Referenced Citations (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
1169776 |
Jul 1989 |
JPX |
Non-Patent Literature Citations (2)
Entry |
Data Tape Drive to Battle 8 mm Tape Drive Head to Head Data Storage Report, Elsevier Advanced Technology Publications, Oct. 1990. |
Vaughan-Nichols, Steven J., Zippity PKzip, PC-Computing, v. 3, n. 2, p. 96(4) Feb., 1990. |
Continuations (1)
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Date |
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Parent |
627722 |
Dec 1990 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
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679530 |
Apr 1991 |
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