| United States Patent | 4,490,811 |
| Yianilos, et. al. | Dec. 25, 1984 |
| Inventors: | Yianilos; Peter N. (2807 NE. 36 St., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308); Buss; Samuel R. (Apt. 205, 2700 NE. 51 St., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33308). |
| Appl. No.: | 331,631 |
| Filed: | Dec. 17, 1981 |
| Continuation-in-part of Ser No. 20,518, Mar. 14, 1979, abandoned. |
| Intl. Cl.: | G06F 15/40; |
| U.S. Cl.: | 364/900; |
| Field of Search: | 364/200, 300, 900 |
| 4,290,115 | Sept., 1981 | Pitt et al. | 364/900 |
Primary Examiner: Zache; Raulfe B.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Malin, Haley & McHale
The string comparator device for comparison of strings of indicia at high speeds for use in a system circuit in a computer system. The string comparison device provides a numeric measurement of the degree of similarity between the compared indicia strings as defined by a mathematical algorithm. The algorithm is solved through a new string comparator device or a new program in a computer system. The system circuit in chip form can be connected in a storage loop of a computer system to locate and quickly extract records that are very similar to the supplied query. Inexact queries will rapidly locate records similar with respect to indicia string related measurements of similarity. The method of indicia string comparison in the improved string comparator device can provide rapid response to queries in a computation time proportional to the average length of the indicia string.