Method of facilitating computer sorting
First Claim
1. A machine method of generating a language dependent sortkey, to facilitate the alphabetical sorting of another alphabet using a common sorting routine, said method comprising the steps of:
- (a) storing in a master file encoded words, formed from characters each having a preselected value, to be sorted;
(b) providing a language dependent data file having an alphanumerical encoding table for the language of said another alphabet, the table including an encoding indicator, a first sort order entry and a second sort order entry;
(c) comparing said value of a character from one of the encoded words in the master file against the alphanumerical encoding table to determine its corresponding entry;
(d) retrieving the encoding indicator from said table, corresponding to said corresponding entry, which indicates if the encoding process will be a one-to-one character encoding, a one-to-two character encoding, or an ignore character encoding;
(e) if the encoding indicator indicates the encoding is one-to one, utilizing the value in the first sort order entry, for said sortkey;
(f) if the encoding indicator indicates that the encoding is one-to-two, utilizing the values in both the first sort order entry and the second sort order entry, for said sortkey; and
(g) if the encoding indicator indicates that the encoding is an ignore encoding, ignoring any values for said sortkey; and
repeating from step (c) for each of the characters in the master file.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of facilitating the alphabetical dictionary sorting, by computer, of words based upon characters from a multilingual alphabet, especially the repertoire of characters defined in the new standard alphabet known as ISO 8859/1. This invention uses an encoding scheme to determine the language dependent sort orders for the characters defined in ISO 8859/1. This encoding scheme removes the dependency of sorting on the character set'"'"'s internal collating representation. This method allows the same sorting software to support many (if not all) of the languages supported by the alphabet. By storing the language dependent sort orders as data files, the sorting software is immune to the user'"'"'s language and hence is highly portable. The number of languages supported is directly proportional to the number of data files available.
-
Citations
2 Claims
-
1. A machine method of generating a language dependent sortkey, to facilitate the alphabetical sorting of another alphabet using a common sorting routine, said method comprising the steps of:
-
(a) storing in a master file encoded words, formed from characters each having a preselected value, to be sorted; (b) providing a language dependent data file having an alphanumerical encoding table for the language of said another alphabet, the table including an encoding indicator, a first sort order entry and a second sort order entry; (c) comparing said value of a character from one of the encoded words in the master file against the alphanumerical encoding table to determine its corresponding entry; (d) retrieving the encoding indicator from said table, corresponding to said corresponding entry, which indicates if the encoding process will be a one-to-one character encoding, a one-to-two character encoding, or an ignore character encoding; (e) if the encoding indicator indicates the encoding is one-to one, utilizing the value in the first sort order entry, for said sortkey; (f) if the encoding indicator indicates that the encoding is one-to-two, utilizing the values in both the first sort order entry and the second sort order entry, for said sortkey; and (g) if the encoding indicator indicates that the encoding is an ignore encoding, ignoring any values for said sortkey; and repeating from step (c) for each of the characters in the master file. - View Dependent Claims (2)
-
Specification