The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 1993
Filed:
Jun. 12, 1990
Robert L Lien, Batavia, IL (US);
AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ (US);
Abstract
A range of data that is included in a data file is represented among the records of the file by a record of a lower limit of the range and a separate, sequential, record of an upper limit of the range. Each searchable representation of a record, such as a table entry, has a pair of flags to identify the record as a range low limit or a range high limit, or neither. When a conventional binary search of the ordered file records is performed and completed and the sought-for datum is not found, the record last examined during the search is checked. If that last record is lower in the order than the sought-for datum and its low range limit flag is set, or if the record is higher in the order than the sought-for datum and its high range limit flag is set, then the sought-for datum is in the file and is a member of the included range.