Fast direct access to variable length codes

TL;DR

This paper introduces new methods for direct random access to individual letters in variable length encoded sequences, optimizing access time and memory usage, and outperforming existing techniques.

Contribution

It presents novel methods for direct access to variable length codes with improved efficiency and trade-offs over prior approaches.

Findings

Proposed methods outperform existing ones in access time

Memory efficiency is improved in the new methods

Trade-offs allow customization between speed and memory usage

Abstract

We consider the issue of direct access to any letter of a sequence encoded with a variable length code and stored in the computer's memory, which is a special case of the random access problem to compressed memory. The characteristics according to which methods are evaluated are the access time to one letter and the memory used. The proposed methods, with various trade-offs between the characteristics, outperform the known ones.