TRACKING ENTITIES DURING IDENTITY RESOLUTION
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of tracking entities in a database, comprising:
- assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique original entity identifier belonging only to the account, wherein the unique original entity identifier is the unique entity identifier assigned to a unique original entity that contains only the account and contains no other accounts; and
keeping track of the age of each account of the plurality of accounts.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method of tracking entities for identity resolution in database systems comprises assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique entity belonging only to the account and in which the account is contained; keeping track of the age of each account of the plurality of accounts; and assigning an identifier to any entity as the identifier of the unique entity of the oldest account contained in the entity. This simple method of assigning identifiers to accounts and entities solves a number of identity resolution problems known in the art including: lost entity identifier problem, lost entity version problem, entity switched warm bodies/accounts problem, and account drift problem.
36 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of tracking entities in a database, comprising:
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assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique original entity identifier belonging only to the account, wherein the unique original entity identifier is the unique entity identifier assigned to a unique original entity that contains only the account and contains no other accounts; and keeping track of the age of each account of the plurality of accounts. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An identity resolution system for a database being accessed by the identity resolution system, the identity resolution system comprising:
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creating an entity tracking table having an account identifier column, an original entity identifier column, and a current entity identifier column; and in response to an account entering the identity resolution system, creating a row of the entity tracking table with an account identifier for the account, an original entity identifier of a unique entity assigned to the account, and a current entity identifier equal to the original entity identifier. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
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create an entity version table having an entity version identifier column, an entity identifier column and a timestamp column; and create a new version of an entity including; assigning the new version a version number in sequence across all entities; and creating a row in the entity version table for each entity contained in the new version of the entity, wherein each of the created rows has the version number in the entity version identifier column, an identifier of the new version of the entity in the entity identifier column, and a timestamp of the new .version of the entity in the timestamp column. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification