METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RETRIEVING DATA REPRESENTING A POSTAL ADDRESS FROM A PLURALITY OF POSTAL ADDRESSES
First Claim
1. A method for retrieving a desired postal address from a plurality of postal addresses, the method comprising:
- receiving input data having one or more input terms for finding the desired postal address from a first database including data representing the plurality of postal addresses, each postal address being formed of one or more postal address elements;
processing the input terms to generate processed input terms;
searching a dictionary for entries in the dictionary corresponding to one or more of the processed input terms, each entry in the dictionary corresponding to at least one of the postal address elements of the first database, wherein the dictionary is in the form of a tree data structure having a plurality of nodes including a root node and a multiplicity of leaf nodes, a path from the root node to one of the leaf nodes representing one of the postal address elements; and
outputting data representing a postal address, if any, represented in the first database that has postal address elements that correspond with each of the entries of the dictionary that correspond to the input data.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method for retrieving a desired postal address from a plurality of postal addresses. The invention can feature receiving input data having input terms for finding the desired postal address from a first database of postal addresses where each postal address is formed of a plurality of postal address elements, searching a dictionary for entries in the dictionary corresponding to the input terms, determining that each entry in the dictionary that corresponds to the input terms corresponds to postal address elements of one or more postal addresses in the first database, and outputting data representing the desired postal address. The desired postal address is found in the first database if an address in that database has postal address elements that correspond with each of the entries of the dictionary that corresponds to one or more of the input terms.
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Citations
1 Claim
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1. A method for retrieving a desired postal address from a plurality of postal addresses, the method comprising:
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receiving input data having one or more input terms for finding the desired postal address from a first database including data representing the plurality of postal addresses, each postal address being formed of one or more postal address elements; processing the input terms to generate processed input terms; searching a dictionary for entries in the dictionary corresponding to one or more of the processed input terms, each entry in the dictionary corresponding to at least one of the postal address elements of the first database, wherein the dictionary is in the form of a tree data structure having a plurality of nodes including a root node and a multiplicity of leaf nodes, a path from the root node to one of the leaf nodes representing one of the postal address elements; and outputting data representing a postal address, if any, represented in the first database that has postal address elements that correspond with each of the entries of the dictionary that correspond to the input data.
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Specification