Patent ID: 6873993
Filing Date: 2005-03-29
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for identifying one or more portions of data in a database for comparison with a query input by a user, the query and the portions of data each comprising a sequence of sub-word units, said apparatus comprising: a memory for storing data defining a plurality of sub-word unit classes, each class comprising sub-word units that are confusable with other sub-word units in the same class; a memory for storing an index having a plurality of entries, each entry having an associated identifier for identifying the entry and each entry comprising: means for classifying each of the sub-word units in the input query into one of the plurality of sub-word unit classes and for defining one or more sub-sequences of query sub-word unit classifications; means for determining a corresponding identifier for an entry in the index for each of the one or more sub-sequences of query sub-word unit classifications; means for comparing the key associated with each of the determined identifiers determined by said determining means with the corresponding sub-sequence of query sub-word unit classifications; and means for retrieving one or more pointers from the index in accordance with the output of said comparing means, which one or more pointers identify the one or more portions of data in the database for comparison with the input query.