Method and system for a pattern matching engine
AssigneeMicrosoft Corporation
InventorVlad Eminovici
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method directed to a matching engine for finding the best match for an input string from among a group of predefined string patterns is disclosed. The predefined patterns may include one or more wildcard characters. A metric value is computed for every predefined string pattern. If the input string matches more than one predefined pattern, then the pattern with the highest metric value is determined as the best match to the input string. Additionally, information of different types may be attached to the predefined patterns and used for further processing of information, for example, to make routing decisions or to run a program module.
Claims21
1-38. (canceled)
A computer-implemented method of finding a best match to a string of characters from among a plurality of string patterns;
- the method comprising:
- comparing the string of characters to each of the string patterns to determine which string patterns the string of characters matches, wherein the string patterns contain wildcard characters so that multiple string patterns match the string of characters;
- based on the comparison, determining a quality of the match between the string of characters and each matching string pattern;
- selecting from the matching string patterns a matching string pattern as the best match based on the determined quality of the match;
- and
- reporting the selected matching string pattern.
A system for finding the best match to an input string from among a plurality of string patterns, the system comprising:
- a data store containing the string patterns;
- an input component configured to receive an input string;
- a matching engine configured to:
- compare the input string to the string patterns of the data store to determine which string patterns the input string matches, wherein the string patterns contain wildcard characters so that multiple string patterns match the input string;
- determine a quality of the match between the input string and each matching string pattern based on the comparison;
- and
- select from the matching string patterns a matching string pattern as the best match based on the determined quality of the match;
- and
- a results component configured to report the selected matching string pattern.
A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions for controlling a computer system to find a string pattern of a plurality of string patterns that best matches an input string, by a method comprising:
- for each string pattern:
- comparing the input string to the string pattern to determine whether the input string matches the string pattern;
- and
- when it is determined that the input string matches the string pattern, determining quality of the match between the input string of characters and the string pattern;
- selecting from a plurality of matching string patterns a matching string pattern as a best match based on the determined quality of the match;
- and
- providing an indication of the selected string pattern.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.