Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
US006681224B2
(12) United States Patent ao) Patent No.: us 6,681,224 B2
Namba (45) Date of Patent: Jan. 20,2004
(54) METHOD AND DEVICE FOR SORTING DATA, AND A COMPUTER PRODUCT
(75) Inventor: Isao Namba, Kawasaki (JP)
(73) Assignee: Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki (JP)
( * ) Notice: Subject to any disclaimer, the term ol this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 U.S.C. 154(b) by 290 days.
(21) Appl. No.: 09/795,489
(22) Filed: Mar. 1, 2001
(65) Prior Publication Data
US 2002/0032683 Al Mar. 14, 2002 (30) Foreign Application Priority Data
Jul. 31, 2000 (JP) 2000-232349
(51) Int. CI.7 G06F 17/30; G06F 12/00
(52) U.S. CI 707/7; 707/10; 707/103 R;
707/104.1; 711/108; 711/206; 711/207;
711/208; 711/209
(58) Field of Search 707/7, 10, 103 R,
707/104.1; 711/108, 206, 207, 208, 209
(56) References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
The sorting device comprises a distribution monitoring and cell splitting section which analyzes a distribution ol a sort target data group consisting sort target data and obtains an appearance frequency ol the sort target data lor each sorting segment based on a sorting key. A sorting segment setting section sets sorting segments for dividing the sort target data group into segments based on the analysis by the distribution monitoring and cell splitting section. A sorting mode selection section selects a quick sorting mode il the appearance frequency is equal to or higher than a preset threshold and selects a radic sorting mode il the appearance frequency is lower than the threshold, lor each sorting segment. A sorting execution section executes sorting for each sorting segment based on the selected sorting mode.
7 Claims, 9 Drawing Sheets
