HAT: a hardware assisted TOP-DOC inverted index component

A novel Hardware Assisted Top-Doc (HAT) component is disclosed. HAT is an optimized content indexing device based on a modified inverted index structure. HAT accommodates patterns of different lengths and supports a varied posting list versus term count feature sustaining high reusability and efficiency. The developed component can be used either as an internal slave component or as an external co-processor and is efficient in resource demands as the component controllers take only a minimal percentage of the target device space leaving the majority of the space to term and posting entries. A Very High Speed Integrated Circuit (VHSIC) Hardware Description Language (VHDL) is used to model the HAT system.