System for searching a data base by creating a marking matrix in which two dimensional patterns control the search and selection

摘要

A two dimensional matrix of marks indicating match or mismatch of one or more search arguments with the value of data elements accessed from a field common with all records of a database file. The matrix of marks created after one pass through all the records of the file is searched for a specified pattern which identifies records where the data element values, as between successive records, have a certain sequence as specified by the search arguments.