WO1999006919A1 - Systeme informatique, dispositif et technique de traitement d'information relative au siecle dans une representation de date - Google Patents
Systeme informatique, dispositif et technique de traitement d'information relative au siecle dans une representation de date Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO1999006919A1 WO1999006919A1 PCT/SE1998/000426 SE9800426W WO9906919A1 WO 1999006919 A1 WO1999006919 A1 WO 1999006919A1 SE 9800426 W SE9800426 W SE 9800426W WO 9906919 A1 WO9906919 A1 WO 9906919A1
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- Prior art keywords
- century
- date
- representing
- format
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- Prior art date
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- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 title claims description 33
- 238000006243 chemical reaction Methods 0.000 claims description 25
- 230000008672 reprogramming Effects 0.000 abstract description 3
- 230000006978 adaptation Effects 0.000 abstract 1
- 230000006870 function Effects 0.000 description 7
- 238000004891 communication Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000008569 process Effects 0.000 description 3
- 238000012360 testing method Methods 0.000 description 3
- 230000008901 benefit Effects 0.000 description 2
- 230000008859 change Effects 0.000 description 1
- 230000003993 interaction Effects 0.000 description 1
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F40/00—Handling natural language data
- G06F40/10—Text processing
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a computer system for processing, and an arrangement and method for adapting a computer system to process, date representations having a format indicating the century of a represented date.
- dates are represented by six characters.
- the representation used indicates the year by two digits corresponding to the last two numbers of the year in question, the month by two digits corresponding to the month (1 - 12) in question, and the day by two digits corresponding to the day of the month (1 - 31).
- the standard way of representing a date with six characters was, and in many cases still are, to represent the year with two digits in the range 00 - 99, the month with another two digits in the range 01 - 12 and the day with yet another two digits in the range 01 - 31.
- the order of these digits can be varied in a number of ways to produce a number of standard formats, such as YY/MM/DD, MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY, where Y is a year digit, M a month digit and D a day digit.
- the representation is thus well suited to represent any date in a certain century, for example the 20:th.
- a reprogramming of the whole system to use an eight character format including four, instead of two, year digits is time consuming and expensive.
- One proposed solution is to change the date format into the representation CYYDDD, where C denotes the century, YY the year, and DDD the day as a number from 1 - 365 or 366.
- This proposed method will only solve a part of the problem.
- a problem which will remain is that most of the computer systems are set to employ one of the standard formats YY/MM/DD, MM/DD/YY or DD/MM/YY and used in that form for different calculations, such as determining the month.
- the standard formats are better suited for display to a user, for whom it will be easier to use the date information, since the day and the month are displayed explicitly.
- US, 5 668 989 discloses a method in which the first digit of the two character year group is treated as a hexadecimal, thereby enabling representation of years in a 160 year time span, instead of the 100 year time span available from treatment as a decimal.
- US, 5 644 762 relates to a method of how to treat the year characters by using the normally unused ranges of the two eight-bit bytes representing the year.
- Another object is to adapt an existing system in such a way that the system can interact with its environment with an interface using an eight character date format including century information, rather than the old six character date format without century information.
- Yet another object is to adapt an existing system to be able to interpret a six character date format without century information as a date referring to a certain century and to continue to process this date taking into account that it refers to a certain century.
- Another object is to realise a new system having the same abilities as the above mentioned adapted existing system.
- the inventive idea of the present invention is to include, in a date representation, information referring to the century of a date by merging this century information with any other information not referring to the year of said date.
- This basic idea forms the foundation for a number of different aspects of the present invention.
- century information easily can be incorporated in a date representation without having to extend the number of characters of the format of the date representation for this purpose.
- the century information can be incorporated in any characters not representing a year of the date, regardless of the number of characters in the date representation format.
- a four character format having two characters representing a year and two characters representing a month
- the information is included in the month character.
- a six or eight character format having two or four characters representing a year, two characters representing a month and two characters representing a day
- the information is either included in the month characters, the day characters, or a combination thereof.
- said character format is formed as a six character format and said century information is expressed, at least for one century, as an offset included in the two characters representing the month.
- These offsets may be chosen in a number of various way. Two different offsets can indicate two different centuries, for example the offset 0 may indicate the twentieth century and the offset 20 the twenty-first century, giving the value of the month characters a range of 1-12 and 21-32, respectively. It is also possible to have offsets for other additional centuries and/or other offset values.
- said century information is expressed in a six character format as an offset included in the two characters representing a the day. Also here, a number of different offsets for different centuries can be used, for example 0 for the twentieth century and 40 for the twenty-first century.
- said objects are achieved by an arrangement for adapting a computer system to handle century information when processing six character format date representations, wherein means are incorporated for conversion between a date representation with a predetermined format including year and century information, in particular an eight character format having four characters representing a year, two characters representing a month and two characters representing a day and a date representation with a six character format having two characters representing a year, two characters representing a month and two characters representing a day, said two characters representing a month or said two characters representing a day including information indicative of the century.
- said means for conversion consist of software subroutines.
- the means consist of hardware circuits. These circuits may be situated in a computer, in a keyboard, or between a keyboard and a computer.
- said objects are achieved by a method for adapting a computer system to handle century information when processing six character format date representations, comprising the step of converting between a date representation with a predetermined format including year and century information, in particular an eight character format having four characters representing a year, two characters representing a month and two characters representing a day and a date representation with a six character format having two characters representing a year, two characters representing a month and two characters representing a day, said two characters representing a month or said two characters representing a day including information indicative of the century.
- said objects are achieved by a method for converting date representations stored in a storage media from a first six character format without century information to a second six character format with explicit century information, both of which formats have two characters representing a year, two characters representing a moth and two characters representing a day, comprising the steps of: reading a date represented with said first format from said storage media; deciding whether the two characters representing a year of said date belongs to a lower range or an upper range; representing said date in said second format by incorporating information relating to the twenty-first century when said date belongs to said lower range, or incorporating information relating to the twentieth century when said date belongs to said upper range; and storing said date in said storage media using said second format.
- Dates are here read from, and stored in, a storage media. However, the dates are alternatively accepted from and/or presented to any other I/O-interface, such as a user terminal or a communication port to another computer system. With this method the system can interpret what century a date refers to even though it is has a representation which does not include any century information. A new representation of the date including century information is then used in the further processing of the date. For any further interaction with any I/O-device the new representation is used, either directly or by converting it a standard format having century information.
- Figs. 2a - 2c illustrate date representations having an eight character format in an exemplified standardised way
- Figs. 3a - 3d illustrate date representations having Roman formats in accordance with two different embodiments of the invention
- Fig. 4a is a flow chart illustrating a conversion of a date from a standard format to a Roman format in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
- Fig. 4b is a flow chart illustrating a conversion of a date from a Roman format to a standard format in accordance with an embodiment of the invention
- Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a further embodiment of the present invention
- FIG. 6 and 7 schematically show two different hardware configurations in accordance with two different embodiments of the invention
- Fig. 8 is a flow chart which shows yet another embodiment of the invention
- Figs. 9a and 9b are flow charts illustrating two exemplifying ways of how to utilise the invention.
- FIG. la an exemplified standard date format is shown.
- the format has six characters for representing a date, where the two character group Y 2 Y ⁇ represents the year with a value in the range 0 - 99, the two character group 2 M ⁇ represents the month with a value in the range 1 - 12 and the two character group D 2 D ⁇ represents the day with a value in the range 1 - 31.
- this format any date within a certain century can be represented.
- the order of these two character groups can be varied to produce a number of different standard formats for representing a date.
- Fig. lb and fig. lc shows two exemplifying dates, 4:th of March 1997 and 4:th of March 2001, using the format from fig. la.
- fig. 2a Another exemplified standard date format is shown in fig. 2a. This is an eight character format, with a four character group Y 4 Y 3 Y 2 Y ⁇ representing the year. The format can distinguish between different centuries and a comparison between the two exemplifying dates 4 : th of March 1997 and 4 : th of March 2001, shown in fig. 2b and fig. 2c, respectively, will, based upon the four character group year representations, give a correct result .
- the inventive novel format called the Roman format
- a way of representing a date in Roman format according to one embodiment of the invention is shown in fig. 3a.
- the Roman format uses six characters to represent a date, where the two character group Y 2 Y ⁇ represents the year, the two character group M 2 M X represents the month and the two character group D 2 D ⁇ represents the day.
- the value of the year group will be in the range 0 - 99 representing the year of a century.
- an offset value 0 has been chosen to represent the twentieth century, thus the date in fig. 3b represents 4 : th of March 1997.
- the twenty-first century is then represented either by an offset for the month group value, according to one embodiment of the invention, or by an offset for the day group value, according to another embodiment of the invention.
- the twenty-first century is represented by an offset value 20 for the month group, giving a range for the value of the month group of 21 - 32 (January - December) .
- the twenty-first century is represented by an offset value 40 for the day group, giving a range for the value of the day group of 41 - 71 (day 1 - day 31 of a month) .
- the two variants of the Roman format depicted in figs. 3c and 3d both represents 4:th of March in the year 2001.
- Figs. 4a and 4b are flow charts of two other embodiments of the present invention.
- the flow charts in figs. 4a and 4b illustrate the conversion from an eight character standard format to a six character Roman format and from a six character Roman format to an eight character standard format, respectively.
- the notations used in these flow charts are as follows.
- the values of the standard format month character group M 2 M ⁇ and day character group D 2 D ⁇ are in the flow chart denoted sf_month_value and sf_day_ alue, respectively.
- the value of the standard format year group Y 4 Y 3 Y 2 Y ⁇ is split into two parts, the value of the two least significant characters Y 2 Y ⁇ denoted sf_year_lsc_value and the value of the two most significant characters Y 4 Y 3 denoted ⁇ f__year__msc_value .
- the values of the year character group Y 2 Y ⁇ , month character group M 2 M ⁇ and day character group D 2 D of the Roman format are denoted rf_year_val ue , rf_month_value and rf_day_value, respectively.
- the standard format indicates a date of the twentieth century and there will be no offset added, but the rf_mon th_val ue will be equal to the sf___month_value .
- the standard format dates 2001-03-04 and 1997-03-04 will be converted to the six character Roman format dates 01-23-04 and 97-03-04, respectively.
- the conversion from Roman format to standard format will comprise testing the condition rf_month_value > 20.
- the Roman format indicates a date of the twenty- first century and the offset value 20 will be subtracted from the rf_month_value resulting in a sf_month__value, and the sf_year_msc_yalue will be set to 20, which is the value of the two most significant characters of a four character year of the twenty-first century. If the condition is not fulfilled the Roman format indicates a date of the twentieth century and there will be no offset subtracted, but the sf_month__value will be equal to the rf_month_value, also the s _year_i r nsc_value will be set to 19 which is the value of the two most significant characters of a four character year of the twentieth century. From the flow chart in fig. 4b it is easily seen that the Roman format dates 01-23-04 and 97-03-04 will be converted to the standard format dates 2001-03-04 and 1997-03-04, respectively.
- Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment of the present invention.
- a computer system uses a Roman format for the relevant processing of date representations.
- a standard format date is inputted to the computer system via a terminal connected to the computer system, or via an Input/Output ( I/O) -device connected to another computer system, or from a storage media.
- the standard format is converted to a Roman format, for example m accordance with the description referring to fig. 4a, m order for the computer system to be able to process the date representation.
- the Roman format date is processed by the system and when there is a need to output a date from the system the representation of this date is converted from the Roman format to the standard format. After this conversion, for example in accordance with the description referring to fig. 4b, the date is outputted m a standard format to a terminal, I/O-device or storage media.
- a hardware configuration for a system in accordance with the present invention is shown.
- the configuration comprises a computer, an I/O-device, a user terminal and a storage media.
- the storage media is preferably configured to hold a database.
- the conversions, where applicable, between standard and Roman format are here either implemented in software or being an integral part of a compiler, as previously described with reference to figs. 4a and 4b.
- Fig. 7 shows another hardware configuration for a system m accordance with the present invention. It shows an alternative hardware configuration comprising a computer, an I/O-device, a user terminal, a storage media, and also converting means. Each one of the converting means forms an arrangement for converting between standard and Roman format, for example m accordance with the steps or methods described with reference to figs. 4a and 4b. Hence, the conversions are not implemented in software, but preferably by means of hardware circuits.
- Fig. 8 is a flow chart illustrating another embodiment in accordance with the invention.
- This embodiment is applicable in case a computer system adapted to handle Roman format date representations is to be able to handle dates of the twenty-first century already stored in, or being inputted to, the system in a six character standard format.
- the six character standard format date is read from a storage media or from another kind of I/O-interface, such as from a user terminal or from a communication port connected to another computer system.
- the notations used in this flow chart are the same as those previously used in figs. 4a and 4b, except for that the six character standard format only has one value for the group of characters representing a year, namely sf_year_value representing the two character year value Y 2 Y ⁇ , as described with reference to figs, la - lc.
- a kind of windowing-technique is then used to decide which century a date refers to.
- the Roman format date is then written to a storage media, for example a media holding a database. However, the date may alternatively be presented to another I/O-interface, such as a user terminal or a communication port to another computer system.
- a software program or routine receives a date in a Roman format. The date is then converted from the Roman format to a standard format. In this way the standard library functions accepting and processing dates of a standard format can be utilised by the program. A function call result not being in the form of a standard date format is immediately returned by the routine.
- the function call result is in the form of a standard date format
- the date is converted into a Roman format before the result is returned by the routine.
- the Roman format date is accepted from, and the function call result is presented to, an I/O-interface, whereby the conversions is either realised with software or by means of hardware circuits.
- Any date processing may be performed by a software subroutine, which means that the date format, standard or Roman, is transferred to the routine during the call to the routine.
- the date processing may be regarded as performed by the system as a hole, in which case the date is transferred via some kind of I/O- interface, for example, connected to a user terminal, forming a port to another system, or being connected to a storage media of some kind.
- the conversions between standard and Roman format is either performed by software routines, a compiler or, where applicable, by hardware circuits.
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Abstract
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
AU64286/98A AU6428698A (en) | 1997-07-30 | 1998-03-10 | A computer system, arrangement and method for handling century information within a date representation |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
SE9702828-6 | 1997-07-30 | ||
SE9702828A SE9702828D0 (sv) | 1997-07-30 | 1997-07-30 | Datum i sex-siffrig format |
US08/921,709 | 1997-09-02 | ||
US08/921,709 US5930506A (en) | 1997-09-02 | 1997-09-02 | Date format conversion for including century information in a six digit date representation |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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WO1999006919A1 true WO1999006919A1 (fr) | 1999-02-11 |
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ID=26663046
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/SE1998/000426 WO1999006919A1 (fr) | 1997-07-30 | 1998-03-10 | Systeme informatique, dispositif et technique de traitement d'information relative au siecle dans une representation de date |
Country Status (2)
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AU (1) | AU6428698A (fr) |
WO (1) | WO1999006919A1 (fr) |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5600836A (en) * | 1995-11-14 | 1997-02-04 | Turn Of The Century Solution, Inc. | System and method for processing date-dependent information which spans one or two centuries |
US5630118A (en) * | 1994-11-21 | 1997-05-13 | 2000, Inc. | System and method for modifying and operating a computer system to perform date operations on date fields spanning centuries |
US5644762A (en) * | 1996-05-14 | 1997-07-01 | Resolve 2000, Inc. | Method and apparatus for recording and reading date data having coexisting formats |
US5668989A (en) * | 1996-09-18 | 1997-09-16 | Mao; Decao | Two-digit hybrid radix year numbers for year 2000 and beyond |
-
1998
- 1998-03-10 WO PCT/SE1998/000426 patent/WO1999006919A1/fr active Application Filing
- 1998-03-10 AU AU64286/98A patent/AU6428698A/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US5630118A (en) * | 1994-11-21 | 1997-05-13 | 2000, Inc. | System and method for modifying and operating a computer system to perform date operations on date fields spanning centuries |
US5600836A (en) * | 1995-11-14 | 1997-02-04 | Turn Of The Century Solution, Inc. | System and method for processing date-dependent information which spans one or two centuries |
US5644762A (en) * | 1996-05-14 | 1997-07-01 | Resolve 2000, Inc. | Method and apparatus for recording and reading date data having coexisting formats |
US5668989A (en) * | 1996-09-18 | 1997-09-16 | Mao; Decao | Two-digit hybrid radix year numbers for year 2000 and beyond |
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
---|
RESEARCH DISCLOSURE, May 1986, No. 26552, Author: Anonymous, "Date Adjustment at Turn of Century". * |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
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AU6428698A (en) | 1999-02-22 |
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