Abstract: When making digital data recordings using some form of computer or calculator, data is input in a variety of ways and stored on some form of electronic medium. During this process calculations and transformations are performed on the data to optimize it for storage. This invention involves designing the calculations in such a way that they include what is needed for each of many different processes, such as data compression, activity detection and object recognition. As the incoming data is subjected to these calculations and stored, information about each of the processes is extracted at the same time. Calculations for the different processes can be executed either serially on a single processor, or in parallel on multiple distributed processors. We refer to the extraction process as “synoptic decomposition”, and to the extracted information as “synoptic data”. The term “synoptic data” does not normally include the main body of original data.