Mapping system with house number representation
First Claim
1. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, wherein each said house number has up to 14 numeric or alphanumeric characters.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A four-byte data structure for representing alphanumeric or numeric house numbers (addresses) for use in a mapping system. The data structure has the same field size as that used for representing house numbers with numeric characters. One bit of the data structure is used to determine the presence of a non-numeric character in the house number. If the bit stream defined by bit positions 30-28 is either "000" or "100" or 101" or "110" or "111", then fourteen bits represent the numeric portion preceding the alphabetic character, ten bits represent the numeric portion succeeding the alphabetic character, two bits represent leading zeroes preceding any alphabetic and numeric characters and two bits represent leading zeroes disposed after an alphabetic character and before a numeric character succeeding the alphabetic character. If the bit stream defined by bit positions 30-28 is "001", then one bit identifies whether the first character of a house number is numeric or non-numeric, thirteen bits identify the alphabetic character used in a house number, ten bits represent house numbers larger than 999 or represent characters other than the alphabetic characters, ten bits represent the numeric portion of a house number and two bits represent leading zeroes.
45 Citations
27 Claims
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1. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, wherein each said house number has up to 14 numeric or alphanumeric characters.
- 2. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, and wherein at least one bit in the data structure indicates the presence of non-numeric characters in said house number.
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21. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, and wherein at least eight bits in the data structure identify the non-numeric character used in said house number.
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22. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, and wherein at least two bits in the data structure indicate the number of leading zeroes, when said leading zeroes are defined to include only those zeroes which may appear after a non-numeric character and before a numeric character succeeding said non-numeric character of said house number.
- 23. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, and wherein at least two bits in the data structure indicate the number of leading zeroes if a bit stream "000" or "100" or "101" or "110" or "111" is present at bit positions 30-28, when said leading zeroes are defined to include only those zeroes which may appear before any numeric character p receding any non-numeric character in said house number.
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26. In a mapping system, an exactly four-byte binary data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium for storing and representing substantially all house numbers, wherein each byte is 8 binary digits, wherein each said house number is either a string of numeric characters or a string of characters having numeric, alphabetic and special printable characters, and wherein at least one bit in the data structure identifies whether a numeric or an alphabetic character represents the first character of said house number.
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27. A method of representing a house number in a mapping system including a data structure encoded on a computer-readable medium, comprising the steps of:
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establishing a house number data structure; assigning exactly four bytes having 32 bits to represent each house number, wherein said house number is all numeric characters or is numeric and special printable characters, and wherein at least one bit in the data structure indicates the presence of non-numeric characters in said house number.
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Specification