Patent ID: 8244911

Claim:
A method for decompressing multiple data streams, comprising: receiving a first packet of data of a first compressed data stream; directing the received first packet of the first compressed data stream to a selected one of a plurality of decompression functional units within a hardware-based decompression accelerator unit; obtaining decompression state information pertaining to the first compressed data stream; decompressing the received first packet of the first compressed data stream using the obtained decompression state information pertaining to the first compressed data stream within the selected decompression functional unit; receiving a packet of data of a second compressed data stream; directing the received packet of the second compressed data stream to the same selected decompression functional unit that the first compressed data stream was directed to; storing the decompression state information pertaining to the first compressed data stream; obtaining decompression state information pertaining to the second compressed data stream; decompressing the received packet of the second compressed data stream using the obtained decompression state information pertaining to the second compressed data stream within the selected decompression functional unit; receiving a second packet of data of the first compressed data stream; directing the received second packet of the second compressed data stream to the same selected decompression functional unit that the first and second data stream were directed to; storing the decompression state information pertaining to the second compressed data stream; obtaining the decompression state information pertaining to the first compressed data stream; and decompressing the received second packet of the first compressed data stream using the obtained decompression state information pertaining to the first compressed data stream within the selected decompression functional unit.