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:
Aug. 29, 2017
Filed:
Mar. 01, 2012
Timothy Smith, Waltham, MA (US);
Gabi Steinberg, Carlisle, MA (US);
Timothy Smith, Waltham, MA (US);
Gabi Steinberg, Carlisle, MA (US);
ATTIVIO, INC., Newton, MA (US);
Abstract
Some computer applications, such as database applications, generate sparse arrays that map identifiers to field values. To reduce memory usage, only those blocks of the array with non-empty entries are stored, and only the entries between and including the first non-empty entry and the last non-empty entry are stored. The offset and length of this range of non-empty entries is stored. To retrieve a value for an entry of the array, it is determined whether the entry is in an empty block or a non-empty block. If the entry is in an empty block, a null value is returned for the entry. If the entry is not in the stored range of entries for a non-empty block, a null value is returned for the entry. Otherwise, the value stored in the block for that entry is returned.