Patent ID: 6614789
Filing Date: 2003-09-02
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
A method for comparing a data set comprised of at least two data strings of indeterminate length in a common character set, the method comprising the steps of:comparing said data strings to identify the existence, or non-existence, of a common prefix portion, if a common prefix portion exists, then setting a specific check point character such that the probability of a character in the character set being greater than the check point character is about equal to the probability of a character in the character set being less than the check point character; if the common prefix portion comprises the entirety of one of said data strings, then comparing a first additional character in a longer length data string to the check point character to determine if the first additional character is less than or equal to the value of the check point character, with the longer length data string having a lesser value if the value of the first additional character is less than or equal to the value of the check point character and the longer length data string having a greater value if the first additional character is greater than the value of the check point character, if the common prefix portion comprises less than the entirety of said data strings, then comparing a first discriminant character in each of the data strings to determine if one discriminant character is less than or greater than another discriminant character, then if the value of the first discriminant character of one of the data strings is less than the first discriminant character of another data string, the data string has a lesser value, if the value of the first discriminant character of one of the data strings is greater than the first discriminant character of another data string, the data string has a greater value, and if the value of the first discriminant character or each data string is equal, comparing the next character in each data string.