APPARATUSES, METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR A SMART ADDRESS PARSER

• US 20110087839A1
• Filed: 10/09/2009
• Published: 04/14/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/09/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Chatterjee, Sutap, Sharma, Nityanand
• Granted Patent: US 8,271,525 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 711/118
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/279 Recognition of textual entities

Abstract

The apparatus, methods and systems for a smart address parser (hereinafter, “SAP”) described herein implement a text parser whereby users may enter a text string, such as manually via an input field. The SAP processes the input address string to extract address elements for storage, display, reporting, and/or use in a wide variety of back-end applications. In various embodiments and implementations, the SAP may facilitate: separation and identification of address components regardless of the order in which they are supplied in the input address string; supplementation of missing address information; correction and/or recognition of misspelled terms, abbreviations, alternate names, and/or the like variants of address elements; recognition of unique addresses based on minimal but sufficient input identifiers; and/or the like.

Claims

1. An address parsing processor-implemented method, comprising:

receiving an input address string comprising a plurality of address component inputs;

formatting the input address string into an input address array, wherein each element of the input address array contains one address component input;

performing by the address parsing processor at least one serially telescoping search on the input address array;

identifying by the serially telescoping search at least one address component input matching a stored address component;

parsing out the identified address component input from the input address array; and

providing the parsed identified address component.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

reading at least one list of stored address components from a database into a cache memory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one list of stored address components is read into a stored address component array in the cache memory.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one list of stored address components comprises a plurality of lists of stored address components, each corresponding to an address component type.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the plurality of lists of stored address components correspond to address component types comprising state, city, street, and sublocation.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein formatting the input address string into an input address array further comprises:

trimming spaces at ends of the input address string;

converting punctuation marks in the input address string into spaces;

converting each instance of multiple sequential spaces in the input address string into a single space;

splitting the input address string into the plurality of address component inputs using the single spaces as delimiters; and

associating the address component inputs with elements of the input address array.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

performing a second search on the input address array to identify a second address component input matching a second stored address component.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second search is a second serially telescoping search.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

selecting a subset from a list of stored address components based on the identified address component input; and

wherein the second stored address component is included in the subset.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified address component input is a state and the second stored address component corresponds to a city located in the state.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the identified address component comprises a street, a city, and a state and wherein the subset comprises ranges of house numbers corresponding to the street, the city, and the state.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein performing by the address parsing processor at least one serially telescoping search further comprises:

selecting an initial element of the input address array;

comparing the initial element to a listing of stored address components to find a matching stored address component;

noting the matching stored address component and dropping the initial element from the input address array if the matching stored address component is found;

if no matching stored address component is found;

appending at least one additional element of the input address array to the initial element to yield a next element;

comparing the next element to the listing of stored address components to find the matching stored address component; and

noting the matching stored address component and dropping the initial element and the at least one additional element from the input address array if the matching stored address component is found.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

querying a most probable element corresponding to an address component type associated with the serially telescoping search; and

wherein the initial element is the most probable element.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

repeatedly appending further elements from the input address array to the next element to yield further next elements and performing the comparing on the further next elements until a maximum number of elements have been appended.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the maximum number of elements is based on an input address array length.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying by the serially telescoping search at least one address component input matching a stored address component further comprises:

comparing the at least one address component input to at least one variant associated with the stored address component; and

identifying the at least one address component input as matching the stored address component if the at least one address component input matches the at least one variant.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the variant comprises one of:

an abbreviation of the stored address component, a misspelling of the stored address component, and an alternate name of the stored address component.

18. An address parsing apparatus, comprising:

a memory;

a processor disposed in communication with the memory, and configured to issue a plurality of processing instructions stored in the memory, wherein the instructions include;

receive an input address string comprising a plurality of address component inputs;

format the input address string into an input address array, wherein each element of the input address array contains one address component input;

perform by the address parsing processor at least one serially telescoping search on the input address array;

identify by the serially telescoping search at least one address component input matching a stored address component;

parse out the identified address component input from the input address array; and

provide the parsed identified address component.

19. An address parsing processor-accessible medium, comprising:

a plurality of processor-issuable instructions, wherein the instructions include;

format the input address string into an input address array, wherein each element of the input address array contains one address component input;

perform by the address parsing processor at least one serially telescoping search on the input address array;

identify by the serially telescoping search at least one address component input matching a stored address component;

parse out the identified address component input from the input address array; and

provide the parsed identified address component.

20. An address-parsing processor-implemented method, comprising:

reading a list of states, including corresponding state variants, from a state database into a cached state array;

receiving an input address string;

trimming spaces from ends of the input address string;

replacing each instance of punctuation in the input address string with a space;

replacing each instance of multiple adjacent spaces in the input address string with a single space;

splitting the input address string by the single space delimiters into a plurality of address components;

associating each of the plurality of address components with an element of an input address array;

locating at least one input address array state element corresponding to a matching state from the cached state array by a serially telescoping state search;

recording the matching state;

dropping the at least one input address array state element from the input address array;

reading a list of cities associated with the matching state, including corresponding city variants, into a cached city array;

locating at least one input address array city element corresponding to a matching city from the cached city array by a serially telescoping city search;

recording the matching city;

dropping the at least one input address array city element from the input address array;

reading a list of streets associated with the matching city and the matching state, including corresponding street variants, into a cached street array;

locating at least one input address array street element corresponding to a matching street from the cached street array by a serially telescoping street search;

recording the matching street;

dropping the at least one input address array street element from the input address array;

reading a list of street prefixes and street suffixes associated with the matching street into the cache;

comparing the list of street prefixes and street suffixes with the input address array to identify any matching street prefixes and street suffixes;

searching the input address array for a numerical element;

recording the numerical element as a house address;

dropping the numerical element from the input address array; and

providing the matching state, matching city, matching street, and the house address.