System for storing and manipulating information in an information base
First Claim
1. An information base system comprising:
- (a) an information storage device;
(b) a file comprising a plurality of information records stored in said storage device, each record having at least one attribute with an orderable value;
(c) a topological map stored in said storage device for at least certain ones of said attributes, said map comprising a plurality of predetermined range codes representing a predetermined number of ranges of attribute values, said ranges collectively including the attribute values for all information records in the information base, and wherein said plurality of range codes are arranged in an array which defines a correspondence between each of said information records and the ranges to which they map;
(d) input means, cooperating with said information storage device, for receiving a query having specifications based upon specified parameters related to an attribute of the stored information records;
(e) means, responsive to the query received by said input means, for accessing the topological map based upon said query and for identifying from said map, without inspection of the information records, information records in the information base based upon the specifications of the query and for indicating whether each respective information record does, does not, or may meet the specifications of the query;
(f) means, responsive to the identifying means, for generating an output map and storing in said output map the identification of the information records in the information base based upon the specifications of the query; and
(g) output means, responsive to said output map generating means, for accessing the information records identified by the output map based upon the specifications of the query, and for displaying said information records identified by the output map.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system for the input, retrieval, manipulation and analysis of stored information in an information base. The system comprises an input device, a storage device, and an output device each capable of handling information base records. Each of the fields of the records is processed to produce a compact symbol or code corresponding to predefined ranges of values of an field. These codes are then stored in correspondence with the records which gave rise to them. The result of this processing is a topological map of the fields of the information base records. These topological maps may be retrieved and later processed to efficiently retrieve stored records, given any general unpreprogrammed query as input to the system. These topological maps may also be utilized in a process to determine correlations among the various fields of the records.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. An information base system comprising:
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(a) an information storage device; (b) a file comprising a plurality of information records stored in said storage device, each record having at least one attribute with an orderable value; (c) a topological map stored in said storage device for at least certain ones of said attributes, said map comprising a plurality of predetermined range codes representing a predetermined number of ranges of attribute values, said ranges collectively including the attribute values for all information records in the information base, and wherein said plurality of range codes are arranged in an array which defines a correspondence between each of said information records and the ranges to which they map; (d) input means, cooperating with said information storage device, for receiving a query having specifications based upon specified parameters related to an attribute of the stored information records; (e) means, responsive to the query received by said input means, for accessing the topological map based upon said query and for identifying from said map, without inspection of the information records, information records in the information base based upon the specifications of the query and for indicating whether each respective information record does, does not, or may meet the specifications of the query; (f) means, responsive to the identifying means, for generating an output map and storing in said output map the identification of the information records in the information base based upon the specifications of the query; and (g) output means, responsive to said output map generating means, for accessing the information records identified by the output map based upon the specifications of the query, and for displaying said information records identified by the output map. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for processing information in an information base system comprising
(a) storing in an information storage device a plurality of information records, each record having a plurality of attributes with an orderable value; -
(b) also storing in the information storage device, for at least certain ones of said attributes of the records, a typographical map which includes a plurality of range codes representing a predetermined number of ranges of attribute values, which ranges collectively include the attribute values for all information records it he information base, and an array of said range codes which defines a correspondence between each of said information records and the ranges to which they map; (c) receiving a query having specifications based upon specified parameters and logic related to one or more attributes of the stored information records; (d) accessing the topological maps for each attribute specified in the query and generating therefrom an output map having records which correspond to each of the information records in the information base and which indicate whether each respective information record does, does not, or may meet the specifications of the query; and (e) accessing the information records in the information base corresponding to the records in the output map and displaying at least one of the information records in the information base corresponding to the records in the output map in response to the query. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification