Appeal No. 2000-0249 Page 2
Application No. 08/632,240
locations in a computer network. When data are changed in one
copy, the change is made to, i.e., “replicated in,” the other
copies.
Heretofore, changes have been replicated in a two-
dimensional, distributed database such as “Lotus Notes.”® In
contrast, the appellant’s invention replicates changes in a
distributed database having at least three dimensions. More
specifically, an N-dimensional distributed database is sliced
into M-dimensional subarrays, where M is smaller than N. Each
subarray stores part of the data from the database and is
keyed to the database.
In contrast to the conventional format of a database, the
subarrays are arranged as strings of data including control
characters, e.g., tab and carriage return characters, to
separate adjacent data items and to indicate of the structure
of the data in the string. When the string of data of a
subarray is applied to update a copy of the database, the
control characters and the key included with the data string
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