US 11,699,032 B2
Data set lookup with binary search integration and caching
Prashant Anand Shirolkar, Kirkland, WA (US); George Randell Dong, Sammamish, WA (US); Henry Nathan Shomber, Redmond, WA (US); and Jeffrey James Duzak, Redmond, WA (US)
Assigned to MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed by Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC, Redmond, WA (US)
Filed on Nov. 3, 2017, as Appl. No. 15/803,228.
Prior Publication US 2019/0138590 A1, May 9, 2019
Int. Cl. G06F 40/18 (2020.01); G06F 16/2455 (2019.01); G06F 16/22 (2019.01)
CPC G06F 40/18 (2020.01) [G06F 16/2228 (2019.01); G06F 16/24552 (2019.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A computer-implemented method for identifying a target value in a data set, the computer-implemented method comprising:
displaying a data array;
receiving a request for a first target value in the data array, the request including parameters specifying both:
a reference value with a first value type, and
a range of cells;
determining that the displayed data array is sorted in a first order according to a second value type;
generating in memory, while maintaining the displayed data array in the first order, an index comprising a plurality of row numbers from the data array corresponding to the range of cells included in the request, wherein the index has a same quantity of row numbers as a quantity corresponding to the range of cells included in the request;
sorting the plurality of row numbers in the index by a corresponding value of the first value type in the data array;
searching the sorted index for the reference value to locate a row number in the data array corresponding to the reference value in the data array;
identifying the first target value in the data array based on the row number corresponding to the reference value; and
visually emphasizing the first target value in the displayed data array.