Methods and systems for verifying the accuracy of reported information

• US 20070192251A1
• Filed: 12/06/2006
• Published: 08/16/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 04/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Capital One Services LLC (Capital One Financial Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Capital One Financial Corporation
• Inventors: Gibbs, Dwight, Lowrance, Roy
• Granted Patent: US 10,445,529 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/50
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/152 using file content signatures, e.g. hash values
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2255 Hash tables
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/64 Protecting data integrity, e.g. using checksums, certificates or signatures

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed for verifying the accuracy of reported information. The systems and methods may include generating a hash based on ingredient data related to the creation of a report, storing the hash and the ingredients in a database, the hash being associated with the ingredient data in the database, and outputting the report, the report including the hash. Furthermore, the systems and methods may include receiving an input, the input being based on a first hash of ingredient data related to the creation of the report and determining if the database contains a record corresponding to the input. Moreover, the systems and methods may include outputting information contained in the record corresponding to the input if it was determined that the database contains the record corresponding to the input, the information contained in the record comprising the ingredient data.

Claims

1. -11. (canceled)

12. A method for verifying reported information, the method comprising:

receiving an input, the input being based on a first hash of ingredient data related to the generation of a report including the reported information;

determining if an ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the received input; and

outputting ingredient data contained in the record corresponding to the input if it was determined that the ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the input, wherein the outputted ingredient data is used to verify the reported information included in the report.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the ingredient data comprise at least one of a user'"'"'s name that generated the report, a date and time the report was generated, one or more query statements that generated the report, a version of the data contained in any database used to generate the report, a format of the report, and data comprising or used to generate the report.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one query statement that generated the report comprises at least one of a structured query language (SQL) statement and a data access language statement.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the format comprises at least one of ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code), Unicode or other character strings, Comma Separated Values (CSV), SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), Extensible Markup Language (XML), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), a word processing document format, a spreadsheet file format, and a presentation file format.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the ingredient data indicate how the report was generated.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the report comprises at least one of a graph, a chart, a table, and a spreadsheet, a word processing file, a presentation file, and a text file.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein determining if the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input further comprises:

querying the ingredient database using the input, the record corresponding to the input being produced by the query;

generating a second hash based on the information contained in the record corresponding to the input; and

indicating that the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input if the second hash matches the input.

19. The method of claim 12, further comprising executing a module configured to verify a digital signature included with an electronic copy of the report.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the electronic copy of the report is configured to include a user selectable element wherein the module is executed when the user selectable element is selected.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the module is remotely executed over a network.

22. -32. (canceled)

33. A system for verifying the accuracy of reported information, the system comprising:

a memory storage for maintaining a database; and

a processing unit coupled to the memory storage, wherein the processing unit is operative to

receive an input, the input being based on a first hash of ingredient data related to the generation of a report including the reported information;

determine if an ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the received input; and

output ingredient data contained in the record corresponding to the input if it was determined that the ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the input, wherein the outputted ingredient data is used to verify the reported information included in the report.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the ingredient data comprise at least one of a user'"'"'s name that generated the report, a date and time the report was generated, one or more query statements that generated the report, a version of the data contained in any database used to generate the report, a format of the report, and data comprising or used to generate the report.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the at least one query statement that generated the report comprises at least one of a structured query language (SQL) statement and a data access language statement.

36. The system of claim 34, wherein the format comprises at least one of ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code), Unicode or other character strings, Comma Separated Values (CSV), SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), Extensible Markup Language (XML), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), a word processing document format, a spreadsheet file format, and a presentation file format.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the ingredient data indicate how the report was generated.

38. The system of claim 33, wherein the report comprises at least one of a graph, a chart, a table, and a spreadsheet, a word processing file, a presentation file, and a text file.

39. The system of claim 33, wherein the processing unit being operative to determine if the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input further comprises the processing unit being operative to:

query the ingredient database using the input, the record corresponding to the input being produced by the query;

generate a second hash based on the information contained in the record corresponding to the input; and

indicate that the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input if the second hash matches the input.

40. The system of claim 33, further comprising the processing unit being operative to execute a module configured to verify a digital signature included with an electronic copy of the report.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the electronic copy of the report is configured to include a user selectable element wherein the module is executed when the user selectable element is selected.

42. The system of claim 40, wherein the module is remotely executed over a network.

43. -53. (canceled)

54. A computer-readable medium comprising a set of instructions which when executed perform a method for verifying the accuracy of reported information, the method comprising:

receiving an input, the input being based on a first hash of ingredient data related to the generation of a report including the reported information;

determining if an ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the received input; and

outputting ingredient data contained in the record corresponding to the input if it was determined that the ingredient database contains a record corresponding to the input, wherein the outputted ingredient data is used to verify the reported information included in the report.

55. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the ingredient data comprise at least one of a user'"'"'s name that generated the report, a date and time the report was generated, one or more query statements that generated the report, a version of the data contained in any database used to generate the report, a format of the report, and data comprising or used to generate the report.

56. The computer-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the at least one query statement that generated the report comprises at least one of a structured query language (SQL) statement and a data access language statement.

57. The computer-readable medium of claim 55, wherein the format comprises at least one of ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange), EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code), Unicode or other character strings, Comma Separated Values (CSV), SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), Extensible Markup Language (XML), HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Portable Document Format (PDF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), and Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), a word processing document format, a spreadsheet file format, and a presentation file format.

58. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the ingredient data indicate how the report was generated.

59. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein the report comprises at least one of a graph, a chart, a table, and a spreadsheet, a word processing file, a presentation file, and a text file.

60. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, wherein determining if the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input further comprises:

querying the ingredient database using the input, the record corresponding to the input being produced by the query;

generating a second hash based on the information contained in the record corresponding to the input; and

indicating that the ingredient database contains the record corresponding to the input if the second hash matches the input.

61. The computer-readable medium of claim 54, further comprising executing a module configured to verify a digital signature included with an electronic copy of the report.

62. The computer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein the electronic copy of the report is configured to include a user selectable element wherein the module is executed when the user selectable element is selected.

63. The computer-readable medium of claim 61, wherein the module is remotely executed over a network.