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Object-oriented interface for an index

  • US 5,809,502 A
  • Filed: 08/09/1996
  • Issued: 09/15/1998
  • Est. Priority Date: 08/09/1996
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A computer implemented method for searching an index of a database, the database including a plurality of records, each record having a unique record address in the database, comprising:

  • organizing the index as a plurality of index entries, each index entry including a word and an ordered list of locations where the word occurs in the database, the word representing a unique piece of information of the database;

    ordering the index entries first according to the collating order of the words, and second according to the collating order of the locations of each word;

    parsing a query into terms and operators, each term associated with a corresponding index entry, the operators relating the terms;

    generating a basic stream reader object for each term, the basic stream reader object to sequentially read the locations of the corresponding index entry to determine a target location;

    generating a compound stream reader object for each operator, the compound stream reader object referencing the plurality of basic stream reader objects associated with the terms related by the operator, the compound stream reader object to produce locations of words within a single record according to the operator.

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