Patent ID: 7218252

Claim:
A method for converting between character sets, the method comprising: generating a conversion character array that maps characters from a first character set into a second character set, the conversion character array being generated based on a conversion of a character string into a conversion character string, wherein the characters in the character string are represented in the first character set and wherein the characters in the conversion character string include the characters of the character string represented in the second character set; generating a conversion status array that corresponds to the conversion character array, the conversion status array comprising a plurality of entries that indicate which characters in the first character set are to be converted from the first character set to the second character set based on the conversion character array; selecting a dataset including characters, the characters being represented in the first character set; converting the dataset into the second character set, wherein converting the dataset includes (i) identifying, based on the conversion status array, the characters in the dataset that should be converted into the second character set using the conversion character array, and (ii) using the conversion character array to convert the identified characters in the dataset; and storing the dataset, as converted into the second character set, in a memory.