Patent ID: 8738678

Claim:
A method executable by data processing hardware to find an output value of a desired rank in a set of data samples, wherein each of the data samples comprises a set of digital bits each having either a first value or a second value and wherein the output value is represented by a set of output bits each having either the first value or the second value, the method comprising the steps of: receiving each of the data samples in the data set at the data processing hardware; for each of the digital bits, sequentially treating the bit as an active bit and computing a value of one of the output bits based upon the values of the active bits of the data samples, wherein the computing for each active bit comprises: determining the value of the output bit based upon a comparison of the desired rank with a count of the data samples that remain in consideration and that have a value of the active bit equal to the first value; if the comparison indicates that the value of the output bit is the first value, then excluding all data samples having the active bit equal to the second value from further consideration; and if the comparison indicates that the value of the output bit is the second value, then adjusting the desired rank and excluding all data samples having the active bit equal to the first value from further consideration; and after computing the output values of each of the output bits, outputting the output value from the computed output bits.