Real-Time Motion and Stereo Cues for Active Visual Observers

Electronically searching a Compressed Index for a representation of a search argument (SA). The index comprises a sequence of compressed keys (CK's) generated with the method in patent application Ser. No. 788,807, in which the sequence of compressed keys represents a sorted sequence of uncompressed keys, and each compressed key (CK) has the FLK format as defined therein. As ascending sorted index is assumed for the described embodiments. An Equal Counter is used during the search to represent which byte (called A-byte) of the SA is being searched for. The A bytes are handled one byte at a time beginning with the highest order byte in the SA. The counter is initially set to reflect this beginning and it is incremented each time the A-byte compares equal with one of the key bytes (called K byte) in a current CK being searched.