Patent Document ID: 9602130
Application ID: 15242359

Base Claim:
1. A method for comparing a search space character to a set of search characters to determine whether the search space character matches any character in the set of search characters, the method comprising: converting a first short binary representation of the search space character into a first long binary representation, the first long binary representation having a first bit value in a first position within the first long binary representation; converting a short binary representation of a first search character of the set of search characters into a second long binary representation; and determining that the search space character matches the first search character when a bit in the first position of the second long binary representation has a second bit value.

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Claim 5:
5. The method of claim 1 , comprising: converting a respective short binary representation of each search character of the set of search characters to form a corresponding set of respective long binary representations including the second long binary representation, the second long binary representation having the second bit value at a third position, each of the long binary representations of the set of respective long binary representations except the second long binary representation having a third bit value different from the second bit value; determining that the search space character matches one of the characters of the set of search characters when one of the long binary representations of the set of respective long binary representations has the second bit value at the first position; and determining that the search space character does not match one of the characters of the set of search characters when none of the set of respective long binary representations has the second bit value at the first position.