Patents by Inventor Michael Burrows

Michael Burrows 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).

  • Patent number: 6067543
    Abstract: A method for searching a plurality of index entries in an index of a database including parsing a query into one or more terms with an operator, generating a basic stream reader object to sequentially read the location of the index to determine a target location for the term, and generating a compound stream reader object to reference the plurality of basic stream reader objects associated with the term related by the operator to produce locations of words within a single record.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 18, 1998
    Date of Patent: May 23, 2000
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 6047286
    Abstract: A system for indexing information includes a memory and processor. The memory stores an index to information. The processor receives a first signal representing a query for a phrase corresponding to a concatenation of adjacent portions of the information. The processor processes the first signal so as to generate a second signal representing an entry for the phrase to be stored as part of the index in the memory.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 1998
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2000
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 6021409
    Abstract: A system for indexing stored information includes a processor and memory. The processor parses the information into indexable words. Each word represents either a portion of the information or an attribute of one or more portions of the information. The memory stores index entries. Each index entry includes a word entry representing a unique one of the words, and one or more location entries indicating a location of the unique word within the information.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 8, 1998
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2000
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 6016493
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for generating a compressed index of information. The information is stored as a plurality of records in a database. Indexable portions of information are sequentially parsed to generate words and metawords. The words represent the portions, and the metawords represent attributes of the portions. A location is sequentially assigned to each word and metaword in the order that the portions are parsed to form pairs. The pairs are sorted first according to the words and metawords, and second according to the locations. Index entries are written to a memory for each unique word and metaword. Each index entry includes a word entry or a metaword entry, and one or more location entries. The word and metaword entries use a prefix encoding which indicates the number of bytes that the unique word or metaword of a next index entry has in common with the unique word or metaword of a previous index entry. The location entries use a delta value encoding.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: January 18, 2000
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 6009269
    Abstract: A computer implemented method detects concurrency errors in programs. Machine executable images of multiple program threads are instrumented to locate and replace instructions which affect concurrency states of the threads. Concurrency state information is recorded in a memory while the multiple threads are executing. The recorded concurrency state information is analyzed, and inconsistent dynamic concurrency state transitions are reported as concurrency errors.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 1997
    Date of Patent: December 28, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Burrows, Charles G. Nelson, Stefan Savage, Patrick G. Sobalvarro
  • Patent number: 6005503
    Abstract: In a computer implemented method, a list of variable size integers is encoded in a memory. Each variable size integer is expressed as a set of a minimum number of bytes. A fixed number the bytes of the sets are grouped with an associated bit map into a logical memory word unit. Each bit map has one continuation bit for each of the fixed number of bytes. Each continuation bit indicating whether or not a particular variable size integer continues into a following byte. An entry is stored in an array for each possible pattern of continuation bits of the bit maps. Each entry including a plurality of fields. There is one field for each of the fixed number of bytes in each group. Each field stories a length of a corresponding set of bytes expressing a particular variable size integer in the group. The entries provide a decoding table that is indexable by the bit maps to recover the list of variable size integers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: December 21, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5987519
    Abstract: The present invention provides a packet-based telemedicine system for communicating video, voice and medical data between a central monitoring station and a patient monitoring station which is remotely-located with respect to the central monitoring station. The patient monitoring station obtains digital video, voice and medical measurement data from a patient and encapsulates the data in packets and sends the packets over a network to the central monitoring station. Since the information is encapsulated in packets, the information can be sent over multiple types or combinations of network architectures, including a Community access Television (CATV) network, the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN), the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide are network (WAN), over a wireless communications network, or over an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network. Thus, a separate transmission protocol is not required for each different type of transmission media.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 1997
    Date of Patent: November 16, 1999
    Assignee: Georgia Tech Research Corporation
    Inventors: John W. Peifer, Andrew Hopper, Michael Burrow, Barry Sudduth, Samir Panchal, Andy Quay, W. Edward Price, John R. Searle
  • Patent number: 5970497
    Abstract: A computer implemented method indexes duplicate information stored in records having different unique addresses in a database. A fingerprint is generated for each record, the fingerprint is a singular value derived from all of the information of the record. The fingerprint is stored in the index as a unique fingerprint if the fingerprint is different than a previously stored fingerprint of the index. A reference to the unique address of the record is stored with the fingerprint. If the fingerprint is identical to the previously stored fingerprint, then store the reference to the address of the record with the previously stored fingerprint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 19, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5966703
    Abstract: In a computer implemented method, a plurality of records are stored in a database at unique record addresses. The information of each record is parsed into a set of individual words where each word represents a portion of the information of a particular record. A unique sequential location is assigned to each word so that the location of a first word of a next record sequentially follows the location of a last word of a previous record. Pairs are formed from the words and their assigned location. For attributes common to a particular record, generate a record metaword, and assign the location of the last word of the record to the metaword. For attributes common to subsets of words, generate a first and second field metaword, and assign the location of the first and last word of the subset to the first and second field metaword to form pairs.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5966710
    Abstract: A system for locating stored information using an index includes a memory and processor. The memory stores an index which includes a plurality of index entries. Each of the index entries corresponds to a respective one of a plurality of terms associated with the stored information and has one or more location identifiers. Each of the location identifiers represents a location within the information at which the corresponding term is associated with the information. The processor searches the stored index to identify the location identifiers of at least two index entries which correspond to terms of interest. The processor also determines the locations within the information which are represented by the identified location identifiers and at which the terms of interest have a relationship as indicated by a particular operator (e.g. "and").
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 9, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 12, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5963954
    Abstract: A method for mapping a plurality of index entries in an index of a database includes parsing one or more records into elements, allocating each of the elements to one of a plurality of element groupings, and storing a representation of each of the elements in an index in conjunction with representations of other of the elements within its element grouping.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1998
    Date of Patent: October 5, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5915251
    Abstract: A method indexes a database so that records including literal values, and numeric values within a specified range can be located. The range is selected from an interval of values. Each record of the database is indexed by storing index entries in a memory. Each index entry includes a literal word entry representing a unique portion of information of the database, and one or more numeric location entries indicating occurrences of the portion of information. A plurality of sets of subintervals are generated from the numeric interval of values. Each set of subintervals includes all of the values of the interval. A first set includes one subinterval for each value of the interval, and each next set includes one interval for a group of adjacent subintervals of a previous set. The subinterval of the last set is the entire interval of numeric values. Each subinterval is represented by a unique literal which can be indexed as a word entry in the index.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 3, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventors: Michael Burrows, Andrew L. Hisgen
  • Patent number: 5914679
    Abstract: In a computer implemented method for encoding digital values that are arranged in a successively increasing order, a delta value is determined for each pair of immediately successive values. The delta values are the differences between the pair of immediately successive values. For each delta value which can be encoded as a single byte, a logical zero is stored in the least significant bit of the single byte, and the delta value is stored in the most significant bits of the single byte. Otherwise, for each delta value which must be encoded as a plurality of bytes, a logical one is stored in the least significant bit of the first byte of the plurality of bytes, and a first portion of the delta value is stored in the most significant bits of the first byte. In this case, a logical zero is stored in the most significant bit of the next byte, and a next portion of the delta value is stored in the least significant bits of the next byte.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 27, 1998
    Date of Patent: June 22, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5887159
    Abstract: A computer implemented method for dynamically setting hint fields of instructions. Machine executable code is modified during execution to locate and replace instructions having hint fields. The instructions are replaced with calls to intercept the execution flow and redirect to procedures of a monitor. During execution of the machine executable code, hint information is recorded in a memory. The recorded hint state information is analyzed to determine the most frequently occurring or best hint value. When a best hint value has been determined, the replaced instructions are restored with best hint values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 1996
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5864863
    Abstract: A system indexes Web pages of the Internet. The pages are stored in computers distributively connected to each other by a communications network. Each page has a unique URL (universal record locator). Some of the pages can include URL links to other pages. A communication interface connected to the Internet is used for fetching a batch of Web pages from the computers in accordance with the URLs and URL links. The URLs are determined by an automated Web browser connected to the communications interface. A parser sequentially partitions the batch of specified pages into indexable words where each word represents an indexable portion of information of a specific page, or the word represents an attribute of one or more portions of the specific page. The parser sequentially assigns locations to the words as they are parsed. The locations indicates the unique occurrences of the word in the Web. The output of the parser is stored in a memory as an index. The index includes one index entry for each unique word.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: January 26, 1999
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5852820
    Abstract: A computerized method optimizes an index of information stored as records of a database in response to queries made to the index. The index is generated by storing index entries in a memory. Each index entry includes a word entry immediately followed by one or more location entries. The word entry encodes a unique portion of information of the records, and the location entries encode occurrences of the unique portion of information in the records. A query phrase is processed, the phrase corresponds to a concatenation of adjacent portions of indexed information. A measure of the amount of time required to process the phrase is recorded in a journal. Periodically, the journal is processed and new index entries are generated for the phrases if the processing of the phrase exceeds some predetermined threshold time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1998
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5832500
    Abstract: A computer implemented method searching an index of a database composed of records storing information. Each record has a unique address in the database. The database is indexed by storing index entries in a memory. Each index entry includes a word entry representing a unique portion of information of the database and one or more location entries pointing to occurrences of the unique portions in the database. The index entries are organized according to a collating order of the words. The location entries of each word are stored in a sequential order. A query is parsed into terms and operators, the operators relate the terms, and each term is associated with one of the index entries. A basic reader object is opened for each term. The basic reader object reads location entries of the index entry. A compound reader object is opened for each operator, the compound reader object reads locations of the index entries corresponding to the terms related by the operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: November 3, 1998
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5809502
    Abstract: A computer implemented method searches an index to locate records of a database using an object oriented interface. Each record has a unique address in the database. The index is organized as a plurality of index entries where each index entry including a word and an ordered list of locations where the word occurs in the database. The words represent a unique piece of information of the database. The index entries are ordered first according to the collating order of the words, and second according to the collating order of the locations of each associated word. A query is parsed into terms and operators. Each term is associated with a corresponding index entry, the operators relate the terms. A basic stream reader object is generated for each term of the query. The basic stream reader object sequentially reads the locations of the corresponding index entry to determine a target location. A compound stream reader object is generated for each operator.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: September 15, 1998
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5797008
    Abstract: A data processing system includes at least one central processor for executing instructions of software programs. In addition the data processing system includes a memory containing a data structure common to the software programs. The common data structure includes a compressed index data structure. The index structure stores index entries referencing a database. The database includes multiple records, each having a unique address in the database. Each index entry includes a word entry if the index entry represents a compressed encoding of a unique portion of information sequentially parsed from the database. The word entry is followed by one or more location entries which reference occurrences of the portions of information. Each index entry includes a metaword entry if the index entry represents a unique attribute of one or more related words. The metaword entry is followed by one or more location entries referencing occurrences of the attributes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: August 18, 1998
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows
  • Patent number: 5787435
    Abstract: A computer implemented method maps an index of information of a database into an array of files. The information is stored as records of a database. Batches of records are parsed into words and locations, each word representing a portion of the information of a particular record, the locations are sequentially assigned to the words in the order of parsing the words. An index entry is generated for each unique word, each index entry including the unique word and all of the locations where the unique word occurs in the database. Each unique word is hashed to determine a bucket number. Index entries having identical bucket numbers are written to a single index file associated with the bucket number in a collating order of the unique words. A summary file is generated for each index file by periodically sampling the data being written to the index file. Index files and their associated summary files are grouped into a tier of files, there being one tier for each batch of records parsed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 9, 1996
    Date of Patent: July 28, 1998
    Assignee: Digital Equipment Corporation
    Inventor: Michael Burrows