Method and apparatus for converting computer software and databases for the year 2000

Claim 2

A computer-implemented process of converting an existing computer database stored in a machine-readable storage medium, said database having at least one record containing at least one date field, each said date field having a representation of a calendar date stored therein in a first form, said process comprising the steps of: a) accessing by computer one said date field of one said record; b) extracting from said date field a year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date; c) generating from said year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date a Millennium Date representation corresponding to said calendar date, said Millennium Date representation comprising a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; d) storing said Millennium Date representation in said date field on said storage medium; and e) repeating steps a) through d) for each record of said database.

Claim 3

The process of claim 1 wherein each character of said six-character Millennium Date representation is numeric.

Claim 4

The process of claim 2 wherein said six-character Millennium Date representation consists of the format: CYYDDD wherein C is a numeric character representative of a century of said calendar date, YY are two numeric characters representative of a year of said calendar date, and DDD are three numeric characters representative of a Julian Day of said calendar date.

Claim 5

The process of claim 3 wherein C ranges over the digits 0 through 9, inclusive, wherein 0 represents the century 1800-1899, 1 represents the century 1900-1999 and 2 represents the century 20002099; and YY ranges over the digits 00 though 99, inclusive, wherein YY equals the two least significant digits of said year.

Claim 6

A product formed by the process of claim 1.

Claim 9

A process for converting an existing computer application, said computer application representing or manipulating calendar dates, said process comprising the steps of: a) identifying portions of said software which represent or manipulate said calender dates; and b) rewriting said identified portions to accommodate a representation of said calender dates in a Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format comprising a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date.

Claim 10

A process for converting an existing computer application, said computer application representing or manipulating calendar dates, said process comprising the steps of: a) identifying portions of said software which represent or manipulate said calender dates; and b) rewriting said identified portions to accommodate a representation of said calender dates in a Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format comprising a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date.

Claim 11

A product formed by the process of claim 7.

Claim 12

A program stored in computer memory that has been converted from a preexisting computer program to form a converted program, said preexisting computer program including at least one original portion representing or manipulating calendar dates, said converted program comprising at least one converted portion corresponding to said original portion, each said converted portion accommodating calendar dates in a Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format including a six-character representation of one said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date.

Claim 13

A program stored in computer memory that has been converted from a preexisting computer program to form a converted program, said preexisting computer program including at least one original portion representing or manipulating calendar dates, said converted program comprising at least one converted portion corresponding to said original portion, each said converted portion accommodating calendar dates in a Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format including a six-character representation of one said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date.

Claim 14

A process for converting an existing computer system having at least one database stored in a machine-readable storage medium, said database having at least one record containing at least one date field, each said date field containing a calendar date, said computer system further having computer software which represents or manipulates calendar dates, said process comprising the steps of: a) accessing by computer one said date field of one said record; b) obtaining from said date field a year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date; c) generating a Millennium Date corresponding to said calendar date, said Millennium Date comprising a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; d) replacing said calendar date of said date field on said storage medium with said Millennium Date; e) repeating steps a) through d) for each record of said database; f) identifying portions of said computer software that represent or manipulate calendar dates; and g) rewriting said identified portions to accommodate said Millennium Dates.

Claim 15

A process for converting an existing computer system having at least one database stored in a machine-readable storage medium, said database having at least one record containing at least one date field, each said date field containing a calendar date, said computer system further having computer software which represents or manipulates calendar dates, said process comprising the steps of: a) accessing by computer one said date field of one said record; b) obtaining from said date field a year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date; c) generating a Millennium Date corresponding to said calendar date, said Millennium Date comprising a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; d) replacing said calendar date of said date field on said storage medium with said Millennium Date; e) repeating steps a) through d) for each record of said database; f) identifying portions of said computer software that represent or manipulate calendar dates; and g) rewriting said identified portions to accommodate said Millennium Dates.

Claim 16

The process of claim 10 wherein each character of said six-character representation is numeric.

Claim 17

The process of claim 11 wherein said six-character representation consists of the format: CYYDDD wherein C is a numeric character representative of a century of said calendar date, YY are two numeric characters representative of a year of said calendar date, and DDD are three numeric characters representative of a Julian Day of said calendar date.

Claim 18

The process of claim 12 wherein C ranges over the digits 0 through 9, inclusive, wherein 0 represents the century 1800-1899, 1 represents the century 1900-1999 and 2 represents the century 2000-2999; and YY ranges over the digits 00 though 99, inclusive, wherein YY equals the two least significant digits of said year.

Claim 19

A product formed by the process of claim 10.

Claim 20

A computer system that has been converted from a preexisting computer system to form a converted computer system, said preexisting computer system including a preexisting database stored in a machine-readable storage medium, said preexisting database having at least one record containing at least one calendar date, said preexisting computer system further having preexisting computer software which represents or manipulates calendar dates, said converted computer system comprising: a) at least one database stored on a machine-readable storage medium, said database having been converted from said preexisting database to form a converted database, said converted database having at least one record containing at least one calendar date in Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format including a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; and b) computer software that has been converted from said preexisting software to form converted software, said converted software accommodating calendar dates in said Millennium Date format.

Claim 21

A computer system that has been converted from a preexisting computer system to form a converted computer system, said preexisting computer system including a preexisting database stored in a machine-readable storage medium, said preexisting database having at least one record containing at least one calendar date, said preexisting computer system further having preexisting computer software which represents or manipulates calendar dates, said converted computer system comprising: a) at least one database stored on a machine-readable storage medium, said database having been converted from said preexisting database to form a converted database, said converted database having at least one record containing at least one calendar date in Millennium Date format, said Millennium Date format including a six-character representation of said calendar date wherein one character of said six-character representation is representative of a century of said calendar date, two characters of said six-character representation are representative of said year of said calendar date, and three characters of said six-character representation are representative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; and b) computer software that has been converted from said preexisting software to form converted software, said converted software accommodating calendar dates in said Millennium Date format.

Claim 22

A computerized method of data compression for compressing a given calendar date into a date field stored on a machine-readable storage medium to form a compressed date having six numeric characters, said method comprising the steps of: a) assigning a first character of said compressed date to be indicative of a century of said calendar date; b) assigning second and third characters of said compressed date to be indicative of a year of said calendar date; c) assigning fourth, fifth and sixth characters of said compressed date to be indicative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; and d) writing said compressed date onto said storage medium.

Claim 23

A computerized method of data compression for compressing a given calendar date into a date field stored on a machine-readable storage medium to form a compressed date having six numeric characters, said method comprising the steps of: a) assigning a first character of said compressed date to be indicative of a century of said calendar date; b) assigning second and third characters of said compressed date to be indicative of a year of said calendar date; c) assigning fourth, fifth and sixth characters of said compressed date to be indicative of the Julian Day corresponding to said calendar date; and d) writing said compressed date onto said storage medium.

Claim 24

The method of claim 16, wherein said compressed date possesses the Sort Property, the Width Six Property, the Multi-Century Property, the Numeric Property, the Inspection Property and the Arithmetic Property.

Claim 25

A computerized process of converting a calendar date stored as an original date field in a machine-readable storage medium to form a converted date field, wherein said converted date field possesses the Sort Property, the Width Six Property, the Multi-Century Property, the Numeric Property, the Inspection Property and the Arithmetic Property, said process comprising the steps of: a) accessing by computer said original date field; b) obtaining from said original date field a year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date; c) generating by computer a Millennium Date in the six-character format: CYYDDD wherein C is a numeric character representative of a century of said calendar date, YY are two numeric characters representative of a year of said calendar date, and DDD are three numeric characters representative of a Julian Day of said calendar date; and d) replacing said original date field on said storage medium with said Millennium Date.

Claim 26

A computerized process of converting a calendar date stored as an original date field in a machine-readable storage medium to form a converted date field, wherein said converted date field possesses the Sort Property, the Width Six Property, the Multi-Century Property, the Numeric Property, the Inspection Property and the Arithmetic Property, said process comprising the steps of: a) accessing by computer said original date field; b) obtaining from said original date field a year, month and day corresponding to said calendar date; c) generating by computer a Millennium Date in the six-character format: CYYDDD wherein C is a numeric character representative of a century of said calendar date, YY are two numeric characters representative of a year of said calendar date, and DDD are three numeric characters representative of a Julian Day of said calendar date; and d) replacing said original date field on said storage medium with said Millennium Date.

Claim 27

A product made by the process of claim 18.

Claim 32

A computer-implemented method of maintaining a database having records with date fields in the Standard Form format to have the ability to add additional records with data stored in said date fields representative of calendar dates in the year 2000 or beyond, said method comprising the steps of: a) converting the data in existing date fields to the Millennium Date format; b) adding records with data in the Millennium Date format in said date fields representative of dates in the year 2000 or beyond; and c) sorting the records in the database based upon the date field using existing sort routines.

Claim 33

A computer-implemented method of maintaining a database having records with date fields in the Standard Form format to have the ability to add additional records with data stored in said date fields representative of calendar dates in the year 2000 or beyond, said method comprising the steps of: a) converting the data in existing date fields to the Millennium Date format; b) adding records with data in the Millennium Date format in said date fields representative of dates in the year 2000 or beyond; and c) sorting the records in the database based upon the date field using existing sort routines.