Attribute engine

• US 20070005546A1
• Filed: 01/03/2006
• Published: 01/04/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Barclays Capital Incorporated (Barclays PLC)
• Original Assignee: Lehman Brothers Incorporated (Barclays PLC)
• Inventors: Law, Theodore
• Granted Patent: US 7,401,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/47
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/02 Knowledge representation; Symbolic representation
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/04 Trading; Exchange, e.g. stocks, commodities, derivatives or currency exchange

Abstract

An attribute engine matches incoming data against one or more matching attributes to set one or more target attributes of one or more rules. Each rule is characterized by a rule shape and a matchset. A template is defined for each rule shape and target attribute. Templates associated with a target attribute are sorted according to their matchsets and may be suppressed by one or more rule suppression principles. A rules editor is provided that allows support personnel to edit rules in tabular form instead of directly editing pseudo-code segments.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a rules table, each row in the rules table representing a rule characterized by a rule shape and at least one target attribute; and

an attribute engine configured to receive input data, examine one or more rules in the rules table according to a predetermined order, and output a final result set, the final result set representing one or more rules in the rules table that match the input data,

wherein the predetermined order is determined according to the at least one target attribute and the rule shape.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a rules editor configured to receive a command from a user and insert a column into the rules table, the inserted column corresponding to a matching attribute.

3. The system of claim 1 further comprising a rules editor configured to receive a command from a user and insert a row into the rules table, the inserted row corresponding to a new rule.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the predetermined order is further determined according to a literal matchset.

5. An automated processing system incorporating the system of claim 1.

6. A method comprising:

receiving a target attribute and at least one input key/value pair;

retrieving one or more templates associated with the target attribute;

sorting the one or more templates according to a matchset of the one or more templates;

matching the at least one input key/value pair against the matchset of the one or more templates; and

assigning a value to the target attribute, the value determined according to one or more unsuppressed matching rules.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising suppressing a template when a rule from a superceding template matches the at least one input key/value pair.

8. The method of claim 6 further comprising suppressing a matchset when the at least one input key/value pair matches the matchset of the one or more templates.

9. The method of claim 6 further comprising returning a final rule set, the final rule set comprising at least one unsuppressed rule that matches the at least one input key/value pair.

10. The method of claim 6 further comprising displaying a rules table, the rules table comprising at least one column representing a matching attribute, at least one column representing the target attribute, and at least one row representing a rule.

11. The method of claim 10 further comprising inserting a new row into the rules table, the new row representing a new rule.

12. The method of claim 10 further comprising inserting a new column into the rules table, the new column representing a new matching attribute.