COMPRESSED TELEMETRY FOR TIME SERIES DOWNHOLE DATA USING VARIABLE SCALING AND GROUPED WORDS

A method for transmitting data from a downhole location to a location at the surface of the earth includes determining a minimum value and a maximum value of M-samples of data values, determining a keycode for the M-samples of data values that provides an indication of the maximum and minimum values of the M-samples, and encoding the keycode and the data values into one or more encoded words. The one or more encoded words are then transmitted as an acoustic signal in drilling fluid by modulating a mud-pulser. The acoustic signal is received by a transducer uphole from the mud-pulser and converted into an electrical signal. The electrical signal is demodulated into a received encoded word, which is decompressed into the M-samples in accordance with the keycode. The M-samples are then received by a computer processing system disposed as the surface of the earth.