System, Method and Software for Providing Persistent Entity Identification and Linking Entity Information in an Integrated Data Repository
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of creating a data structure stored in a memory, wherein the data structure provides information to link business or personal records that are related to a same person of a plurality of persons or to a same business entity of a plurality of business entities, for database searching and record matching operations, the method comprising:
- (a) associating a first record, of a plurality of business or personal records, with a first identifier of a plurality of identifiers that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities, wherein each identifier is unique and persistent for a predetermined period of time;
(b) associating a second record, of the plurality of business or personal records, with a second identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities;
(c) determining that the first identifier and the second identifier correspond to a same person or same business entity by determining that a third record, of the plurality of business or personal records, matches with a first element of a first plurality of elements of the first record and further matches with a second element of a second plurality of elements of the second record;
(d) determining a plurality of potentially matching records, and from the plurality of potentially matching records, eliminating a potentially matching record which does not sufficiently match a name element of the first, second or third records within a selected or predetermined confidence level;
(e) when the first identifier and the second identifier are determined to correspond to the same person of the plurality of persons or to the same business entity of the plurality of business entities, linking the first identifier and the second identifier in a data structure that provides respective references to the first and second records without merging the first and second records under either the first or second identifiers and without merging the first and second identifiers;
(f) separately maintaining information in the first record associated with the first identifier and information in the second record associated with the second identifier for the predetermined period of time;
(g) when information about the same person of the plurality of persons or the same business entity of the plurality of business entities is requested, grouping retrieved information that is separately maintained in both the first and second records via either one of the first identifier or second identifier based on the link between the first and second identifiers in the data structure; and
(h) collectively utilizing the first record and the second record, corresponding to the linked first identifier and second identifier, in subsequent search and match determinations.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a system, method and software for linking persistent and unique business identifiers, associated with business entities, for associating corresponding business records without a loss of historical records, regardless of subsequent changes, updates, and mergers. In the various embodiments, a first business record, of the plurality of business records, is associated with a first business identifier; and a second business record, which does not match the first record, is associated with a second business identifier. Subsequently, when the first business identifier and the second business identifier are determined to correspond to a singular business entity, the first business identifier and the second business identifier are linked, and respective associations of the first business record and the second business record with the linked first business identifier and second business identifier are maintained, with corresponding source references, and collectively utilized in subsequent search and match determinations.
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Citations
37 Claims
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1. A computer-implemented method of creating a data structure stored in a memory, wherein the data structure provides information to link business or personal records that are related to a same person of a plurality of persons or to a same business entity of a plurality of business entities, for database searching and record matching operations, the method comprising:
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(a) associating a first record, of a plurality of business or personal records, with a first identifier of a plurality of identifiers that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities, wherein each identifier is unique and persistent for a predetermined period of time; (b) associating a second record, of the plurality of business or personal records, with a second identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities; (c) determining that the first identifier and the second identifier correspond to a same person or same business entity by determining that a third record, of the plurality of business or personal records, matches with a first element of a first plurality of elements of the first record and further matches with a second element of a second plurality of elements of the second record; (d) determining a plurality of potentially matching records, and from the plurality of potentially matching records, eliminating a potentially matching record which does not sufficiently match a name element of the first, second or third records within a selected or predetermined confidence level; (e) when the first identifier and the second identifier are determined to correspond to the same person of the plurality of persons or to the same business entity of the plurality of business entities, linking the first identifier and the second identifier in a data structure that provides respective references to the first and second records without merging the first and second records under either the first or second identifiers and without merging the first and second identifiers; (f) separately maintaining information in the first record associated with the first identifier and information in the second record associated with the second identifier for the predetermined period of time; (g) when information about the same person of the plurality of persons or the same business entity of the plurality of business entities is requested, grouping retrieved information that is separately maintained in both the first and second records via either one of the first identifier or second identifier based on the link between the first and second identifiers in the data structure; and (h) collectively utilizing the first record and the second record, corresponding to the linked first identifier and second identifier, in subsequent search and match determinations. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for creating a data structure to link records that are related to a same person of a plurality of persons or to a same business entity of a plurality of business entities, for data repository searching and for record matching operations, the system comprising:
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one or more data storage devices to store the data repository having a plurality of business or personal records and a plurality of identifiers that identifies the plurality of persons or the plurality of business entities, wherein each identifier is unique and persistent for a predetermined period of time; and one or more processors coupled to the one or more data storage devices, the one or more processors to associate a first record of the plurality of business or personal records with a first identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities;
to associate a second record of the plurality of business or personal records with a second identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities;
to determine that the first identifier and the second identifier correspond to the same person or same business entity by determining that a third record, of the plurality of business or personal records, matches with a first element of a first plurality of elements of the first record and further matches with a second element of a second plurality of elements of the second record;
to determine a plurality of potentially matching records, and from the plurality of potentially matching records, to eliminate a potentially matching record which does not sufficiently match a name element of the first, second or third records within a selected or predetermined confidence level;
when the first identifier and the second identifier are determined to correspond to the same person of the plurality of persons or to the same business entity of the plurality of business entities, to link in the data repository the first identifier and the second identifier in a data structure that provides respective references to the first and second records without merging the first and second records under either the first or second identifiers and without merging the first and second identifiers;
to separately maintain in the data repository information in the first record associated with the first identifier and information in the second record associated with the second identifier for the predetermined period of time; and
when information about the same person or same business entity is requested, to retrieve and group information that is separately maintained in both the first and second records via either one of the first identifier or second identifier based on the link between the first and second identifiers in the data structure. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
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30. A computer-readable medium storing computer-readable software for creating a data structure in a database stored in one or more data storage devices, wherein the data structure provides information to link records that are related to a same person of a plurality of persons or to a same business entity of a plurality of business entities, for database searching and record matching operations, the computer-readable medium storing computer-readable software comprising:
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a first program construct for associating a first record, of a plurality of business or personal records stored in the memory having the database, with a first identifier of a plurality of identifiers that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities, wherein each identifier is unique and persistent for a predetermined period of time; a second program construct for associating a second record, of the plurality of business or personal records, with a second identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities; a third program construct for linking in the database the first identifier and the second identifier in the data repository identifier in a data structure that provides respective references to the first and second records without merging the first and second records under either the first or second identifiers and without merging the first and second identifiers when the first identifier and the second identifier are determined to correspond to the same person of the plurality of persons or to the same business entity of a plurality of business entities; a fourth program construct for separately maintaining information in the first record associated with the first identifier and information in the second record associated with the second identifier for the predetermined period of time; and
when information about the same person or same business entity is requested, grouping retrieved information that is separately maintained in both first and second records via either one of the first identifier or second identifier based on the link between the first and second identifiers in the data structure;a fifth program construct for determining that the first identifier and the second identifier correspond to the same person or same business entity by determining that a third record, of the plurality of records, matches with a first element of a first plurality of elements of the first record and further matches with a second element of a second plurality of elements of the second record; a sixth program construct for determining a plurality of potentially matching records, and from the plurality of potentially matching records, eliminating a potentially matching record which does not sufficiently match a name element of the first, second or third records within a selected or predetermined confidence level; and a seventh program construct for collective utilization of the first record and the second record, corresponding to the linked first identifier and second identifier, in subsequent search and match determinations. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A computer-implemented method of creating a data structure stored in a memory, wherein the data structure provides information to link business or personal records with a person of a plurality of persons or a business entity of the plurality of business entities, for database searching and record matching operations, the method comprising:
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associating a first record, of a plurality of business or personal records, with a first identifier of a plurality of identifiers that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities, wherein each identifier is unique and persistent for a predetermined period of time; associating a second record, of the plurality of business or personal records, with a second identifier that identifies at least one person of the plurality of persons or identifies at least one business entity of the plurality of business entities; determining that the first identifier and the second identifier correspond to a same person of the plurality of persons or a same business entity of the plurality of business entities by determining that a third record, of the plurality of business or personal records, sufficiently matches with a first element of a first plurality of elements of the first record to a selected or predetermined confidence level and further sufficiently matches with a second element of a second plurality of elements of the second record to the selected or predetermined confidence level; determining a plurality of potentially matching records, and from the plurality of potentially matching records, eliminating a potentially matching record which does not sufficiently match a name element and a tax identification element of the first, second or third records within the selected or predetermined confidence level; when the first identifier and the second identifier are determined to correspond to the same person of the plurality of persons or to the same business entity of a plurality of business entities, linking the first identifier and the second identifier in a data structure that provides respective references to the first and second records without merging the first and second records and without merging the first and second identifiers; separately maintaining information in the first record associated with the first identifier and information in the second record associated with the second identifier for the predetermined period of time; and when information about the same person or same business entity is requested, retrieving and grouping information that is separately maintained in both the first and second records via either one of the first identifier or second identifier based on the link between the first and second identifiers in the data structure.
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Specification