Search-on-the-fly with merge function
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A computer-implemented method for displaying data comprising:
- determining a database schema for a database;
providing a list of database fields, wherein the list includes a descriptor indicating a data category;
receiving a search selection for a database field on the provided list of database fields;
determining a number of characters included in each entry in the selected database field; and
if the number of characters included in each entry exceeds a specified amount of characters, displaying a portion of each entry in the selected database field, wherein a number of characters displayed in each portion is less than or equal to the specified amount of characters; and
if the number of characters included in each entry does not exceed the specified amount, displaying each entry in its entirety.
4 Assignments
Litigations
1 Petition
Accused Products
Abstract
Sort-on-the-Fly/Search-on-the-Fly data retrieval or analysis provides an intuitive mechanisms for accessing databases, allowing a user to access or obtain information about data in the database without having to know anything about the database structure. A user selects a desired term, and the method or apparatus delivers all instances of the desired term, even if a specific file or table does not contain the instance. The database need not have a specific file (in a flat database) or a table (in a relational database) of names. The user may specify other criteria, or constraints to narrow the search results, or for other reasons. The method or apparatus then conducts further analysis or searching using this criteria and produces a second result. Further narrowing or broadening of the process is permitted, with search-on-the-fly returning results based on any new constraints. If the returned information would be too large to be conveniently displayed at a terminal, the process executes a truncation routine so that the returned data is easily displayed.
99 Citations
23 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method for displaying data comprising:
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determining a database schema for a database; providing a list of database fields, wherein the list includes a descriptor indicating a data category; receiving a search selection for a database field on the provided list of database fields; determining a number of characters included in each entry in the selected database field; and if the number of characters included in each entry exceeds a specified amount of characters, displaying a portion of each entry in the selected database field, wherein a number of characters displayed in each portion is less than or equal to the specified amount of characters; and if the number of characters included in each entry does not exceed the specified amount, displaying each entry in its entirety. - View Dependent Claims (2)
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3. A computer-implemented method for formatting data for display, comprising:
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generating a list of data fields; receiving a first data field selection from the list of data fields; determining a first quantity indicative of a number of characters in each entry of the selected data field; if the first quantity exceeds a specified limit, reducing a number of characters to be displayed for each entry from the selected data field, comprising; performing a truncation that reduces the number of characters to be displayed from the selected data filed, comparing the reduced number of characters to the specified limit, and if the reduced number of characters exceeds the specified limit, repeating the truncation and comparing steps until the reduced number of characters to be displayed from the selected data field is less than or eciual to the specified limits; and displaying the reduced number of characters for each entry from the selected data field. - View Dependent Claims (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer-implemented method for searching a database, comprising:
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generating a list of data fields; receiving a first data field selection from the list of data fields; receiving a first constraint, wherein the first constraint is related to a data element in a data field; generating a first search result based on the first constraint; displaying a menu, wherein the menu is populated with the first search result; receiving one or more subsequent constraints; conducting a second search, wherein the one or more subsequent constraints are used to search at least data associated with the first search result to generate a second search result; determining a first ciuantity indicative of a number of entries of the selected data field; if the first Quantity exceeds a specified limit, reducing a size of data to be displayed from the selected data field, comprising; performing a truncation that reduces the size of the data to be displayed from the selected data field, comparing the reduced size to the specified limits, and if the reduced size to the specified limit, repeating the truncation and comparing steps until the size of the data to be displayed from the selected data field is less than or equal to the specified limit; and displaying data from the selected data field. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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Specification