Generating and searching compressed data

A method comprising:

• counting occurrences of individual character pairs in a data string to ascertain the character pairs that occur most frequently;
• using first character codes in a character code set to represent individual characters;
• assigning second character codes in the character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, to represent the character pairs that occur most frequently;
• compressing the data string by substituting the second character codes for the character pairs that occur most frequently, the compressing producing a compressed data string;
• and
• inserting substring identifiers to separate substrings in the compressed data string.

A method comprising:

• at a server:
• selecting character pairs in an alphanumeric data string;
• constructing a character code table with first codes for associated individual characters in the data string and second codes assigned to the selected character pairs in the data string;
• compressing the data string by substituting the second codes for the selected character pairs;
• inserting substring identifiers to separate substrings in the compressed data string;
• and
• delivering the compressed data string and the code table to a client;
• at the client:
• searching the compressed data string by compressing a search item using the code table to produce a compressed search item and comparing the compressed search item to the substrings until locating a matching compressed substring;
• and
• decompressing the matching compressed substring by replacing the second codes in the matching compressed substring with the selected character pairs associated with the second codes.

A method comprising:

• storing program data for an electronic program guide in multiple tables, each table comprising one or more records with one or more fields;
• sorting the records in the tables according to a selected field type prior to delivery of the program data to a remote client, the records forming an alphanumeric a data string;
• and
• compressing the data string by identifying frequently occurring character pairs in the data string and substituting character codes from a character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, in place of the frequently occurring character pairs.

A method for preparing program data for delivery to a client that executes an electronic program guide, comprising:

• initially allocating different-size portions of memory representative of a client memory for different time units represented in the electronic program guide;
• evaluating whether program data for the different time units fits in the respective different-size portions of memory;
• adjusting quantities of the program data for the different time units to identify an entire set of program data for storage at the client, wherein different quantities of the program data are stored for the different time units;
• and
• compressing the entire set of program data by identifying frequently occurring character pairs in the program data and substituting character codes from a character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, in place of the frequently occurring character pairs.

A method comprising:

• selecting different-size sets of program data for use in an electronic program guide such that disproportionately more of the program data for one time unit will be stored as compared to the program data for another time unit;
• storing the different-size sets of program data in multiple tables, each table comprising one or more records with one or more fields;
• and
• sorting the records in the tables according to a selected field type.

A method for preparing program data for delivery to a client that executes an electronic program guide, comprising:

• selecting different-size sets of the program data for storage in portions of memory such that more of the program data will be stored in one portion of memory corresponding to one time unit and less of the program data will be stored in another portion of memory for another time unit;
• storing the different-size sets of program data in multiple tables, each table comprising one or more records with one or more fields;
• sorting the records in the tables according to a selected field type, the sorting producing a sorted data string;
• compressing the sorted data string by identifying frequently occurring character pairs in the program data and substituting character codes from a character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, in place of the frequently occurring character pairs, the compressing producing a compressed data string;
• and
• fragmenting, into equal-size fragments, one of (1) the sorted data string prior to said compressing or (2) the compressed data string following said compressing.

A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

• identify frequently occurring character pairs in an alphanumeric data string;
• represent individual characters in the data string with first character codes in a character code set;
• assign second character codes in the character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, to represent the character pairs that occur most frequently;
• compress the data string by substituting the second character codes for the character pairs that occur most frequently.

A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing device to:

• receive a compressed data string and a character code table, the character code table having first character codes in a character code set to represent individual characters and second character codes in the character code set that are not used to represent individual characters but assigned to represent selected character pairs in the data string, the compressed data string having the second character codes substituted for the selected character pairs and multiple substrings separated by substring identifiers;
• search the compressed data string by compressing a search item using the code table to produce a compressed search item and comparing the compressed search item to each of the substrings until locating a matching compressed substring;
• and
• decompress the matching compressed substring by replacing the second character codes in the matching compressed substring with the selected character pairs associated with the second character codes.

A computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed, direct a computing system to:

• select different-size sets of electronic program guide (EPG) data for storage in portions of memory at a remote client such that more of the program data will be stored in one portion of memory corresponding to one time unit represented in an EPG and less of the program data will be stored in another portion of memory or another time unit represented in the EPG;
• organize the different-size sets of program data into multiple tables;
• sort records in the tables according to a selected field type;
• and
• compress the tables by substituting character codes from a character code set, which are not used to represent individual characters, in place of frequently occurring character pairs.

A computer system, comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• and
• a data compressor stored in the memory and executed on the processor to compress a data string of alphanumeric characters by substituting available character codes in a character code set that are not used to represent individual characters in the data string for selected character pairs in the data string.

A computer system, comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• a time-based selector program stored in the memory and executed on the processor to select different-size sets of electronic program guide (EPG) data for storage in a memory at a remote client such that disproportionate amounts of program data for corresponding time units represented by an EPG will be stored in the memory;
• a data sorter program stored in the memory and executed on the processor to sort the EPG data according to a data type;
• a data structure fragmenter program stored in the memory and executed on the processor to fragment the EPG data into equal-size data fragments for storage in segments of memory;
• and
• a data compressor program stored in the memory and executed on the processor to compress the EPG data by substituting available character codes in a character code set that are not used to represent individual characters in the EPG data for selected character pairs in the EPG data.

A client computing device comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• an electronic program guide (EPG) stored in the memory and executed on the processor to receive a compressed data string and a character code table, the character code table having first character codes in a character code set to represent individual characters and second character codes in the character code set that are not used to represent individual characters but assigned to represent selected character pairs in the data string, the compressed data string having the second character codes substituted for the selected character pairs and multiple substrings separated by substring identifiers;
• and
• the EPG being configured to search the compressed data string by compressing a search item using the code table to produce a compressed search item and comparing the compressed search item to each of the substrings until locating a matching compressed substring.

A client computing device comprising:

• a memory;
• a processor coupled to the memory;
• an electronic program guide (EPG) stored in the memory and executed on the processor to receive a compressed data string and a character code table, the character code table having first character codes in a character code set to represent individual characters and second character codes in the character code set that are not used to represent individual characters but assigned to represent selected character pairs in the data string, the compressed data string having the second character codes substituted for the selected character pairs;
• and
• the EPG being configured to decompress the compressed data string by replacing the second character codes in the compressed data string with the selected character pairs associated with the second character codes.

A data structure stored on a computer-readable medium, comprising:

• a character code table with character codes from a character codes set;
• a data string of characters represented by first and second character codes from the character code set, the first character codes being used to represent individual characters in the data string and the second character codes being used to represent character pairs in the data string;
• and
• the character code table associating the second character codes with corresponding character pairs.