Patents by Inventor Bruce Dickens

Bruce Dickens has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Date formatting and sorting for dates spanning the turn of the century
    Patent number: 5806063
    Abstract: Dates stored in symbolic form in a database are reformatted to permit easy manipulation and sorting of date-related information. Each date in M.sub.1 M.sub.2, D.sub.1 D.sub.2, and Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 format is converted to C.sub.1 C.sub.2, Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2, M.sub.1 M.sub.2, and D.sub.1 D.sub.2 format. To accomplish the conversion, a 10-decade window starting on Y.sub.A Y.sub.B is defined that encompasses all dates in the database. The value of C.sub.1 C.sub.2 is determined by the relative values of Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 and Y.sub.A Y.sub.B. The reformatted date information is particularly useful when the reformatting is in C.sub.1 C.sub.2 Y.sub.1 Y.sub.2 M.sub.1 M.sub.2 D.sub.1 D.sub.2 format, because sorting by date is accomplished using a pure numerical-value sort.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 3, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 8, 1998
    Assignee: McDonnell Douglas Corporation
    Inventor: Bruce Dickens