Patent ID: 8427495

Claim:
A method for writing a sequence of data blocks, wherein the size of the data blocks is smaller than the size of data stored in a unit of compressible memory, said method comprising the steps of: receiving a first data block to be written; temporarily holding the first data block in a buffer for a fixed number of clock cycles; subsequently receiving one or more additional data blocks to be written; temporarily holding the one or more additional data blocks in the buffer for the fixed number of clock cycles; determining if the received data blocks are sufficient to completely cover the same unit of compressible memory; and if the received data blocks are not sufficient to completely cover the same unit of compressible memory, reading the data in the same unit of compressible memory to which the first data block is to be written, decompressing the data, modifying the decompressed data with the first data block, and writing the modified data into the same unit of compressible memory; or if the received data blocks are sufficient to completely cover the same unit of compressible memory, combining the first data block and the one or more additional data blocks into a single coalesced write operation to the same unit of compressible memory without first reading the data in the same unit of compressible memory.