Digital data processing method and means for word classification by

Abstract

Digital data processing means employing a method for separating acceptable spellings of words from nonacceptable spellings wherein each word comprises characters assigned positions. The character positions in each word are assigned increasing values from one end of the word to the other, positions of the same number of characters from the same end of each word being assigned the same value. Two words to be compared are called a query word and a candidate word. The method includes the following steps. A representation of a character in a given position of the query word is compared with representations of characters in the next lower position, the same position, and the next higher position in the candidate word and a compare type indication is formed representing a match or a mismatch between each query word character and the candidate word characters under comparison. The given position of the query word under comparison is changed to the next higher valued position of the query word and the preceding step is repeated to form another compare type indication. The compare type indications are processed to thereby form a spelling classification indication for one of the words under comparison representing an acceptable spelling or a nonacceptable spelling with respect to the other.