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. 23, 1999
Filed:
Mar. 31, 1998
Stephen A Dahl, Rochester, MN (US);
John C Endicott, Rochester, MN (US);
Peter J Heyrman, Rochester, MN (US);
R Karl Kirkman, Rochester, MN (US);
Richard G Mustain, Rochester, MN (US);
Jon H Peterson, Rochester, MN (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A data processing system includes at least one processor and data storage containing an array including N records having value-ordered entries. To find an entry matching a search value, W, a number of records to be searched, is set equal to N, and each of the W records is assigned to either a first set or a second set, where the first set includes X/2 of the W records and X is a smallest power of 2 equal to or greater than W. In response to a determination that the search value precedes the first record within the second set, a binary search of the first set of records is performed to identify a record including an matching entry. If the first entry of the first record within the second set matches the search value, the first record within the second set is identified. However, if the search value follows the first entry of the first record of the second set, the selected record is identified as containing an entry matching the search value only if W is equal to 1, and if W is not equal to 1, W is reset equal to a number of records within the second set and the above steps are repeated until a record containing a matching entry is identified. Following identification of the search value, at least one entry is retrieved from the identified record and contents of the at least one entry are processed within a processor.