System and methods for data indexing and processing

• US 7,860,844 B2
• Filed: 07/14/2006
• Issued: 12/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/15/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Indxit Systems Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Indxit Systems Incorporated
• Inventors: Morvant, Matthew Joseph, Ebaugh, Michael John
• Primary Examiner(s): HARPER, ELIYAH STONE
• Application Number:
  US11/487,021
• Publication Number:
  US 20070013968A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,628 Days
• Field of Search: 707/104.1, 707/100, 707/10, 707/5, 707/7, 707/711, 707/696, 707/741
• US Class Current: 707/696
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/2228 Indexing structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/31 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/313 Selection or weighting of terms for indexing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/414 Extracting the geometrical structure, e.g. layout tree; Block segmentation, e.g. bounding boxes for graphics or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/418 Document matching, e.g. of document images
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 90/10 Information and communication technologies [ICT] supporting adaptation to climate change, e.g. for weather forecasting or climate simulation

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that allow for indexing, processing, or both of information from physical media or electronic media, which may be received from a plurality of sources. In embodiments, a document file may be matched using pattern matching methods and may include comparisons with a comparison reference database to improve or accelerate the indexing process. In embodiments, information may be presented to a user as potential matches thereby improving manual indexing processes. In embodiments, one or more additional actions may occur as part of the processing, including without limitation, association additional data with a document file, making observations from the document file, notifying individuals, creating composite messages, and billing events. In an embodiment, data from a document file may be associated with a key word, key phrase, or word frequency value that enables adaptive learning so that unindexed data may be automatically indexed based on user interaction history.

Claims

1. A method for indexing a document file comprising a plurality of characters arranged into an array of strings, the method comprising:

filtering the array of strings to obtain a set of strings;

for each string in the set of strings, creating a first sequence list comprising a substring starting at a first character position in the string and a second sequence list comprising a substring starting at a second character position in the string;

generating a comparison reference database by querying the first and second sequence lists against a reference database, the reference database comprise a plurality of records and each record comprises a plurality of data fields;

for each record in the comparison reference database,

generating a first set of substrings based upon a first set of data fields from the plurality of data fields in the record; and

comparing the first set of substrings against the set of strings to identify a longest substring match, if any, for each of the first set of data fields from the record;

filtering the comparison reference database to create a second comparison reference database by selecting each record that has a longest substring match for one or more data fields from the first set of data fields;

assigning a point value for each match found in a record and summing the point value for the record;

responsive to a record having a total point value exceeding a threshold match value, associating the document file with that record; and

responsive to no records having a total point value exceeding a total point value exceeding the threshold match value, providing at least a portion of the plurality of records to a user to facilitate the user'"'"'s selection of a record to associate with the document file.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprises the step of:

filtering the second comparison reference database based upon proximity within the set of strings of at least two of the longest substring matches of a record from the comparison reference database.

3. The method claim 2 further comprising the step of:

for each record in the second comparison reference database,

generating a second set of substrings based upon a second set of data fields from the plurality of data fields in the record; and

comparing the second set of substrings against the set of strings to identify a longest substring match, if any, for each of the second set of data fields from the record; and

filtering the second comparison reference database to generate a third comparison reference database by selecting each record that has a longest substring match for one or more data fields from the second set of data fields.

4. The method claim 3 further comprising the step of:

filtering the comparison reference database based upon proximity within the set of strings of at least two of the longest substring matches of a record from the comparison reference database.

5. The method claim 1 wherein the step of filtering the array of strings to obtain a set of strings comprises:

filtering the array of strings to select strings from the array of strings that contains at least one capital letter.

6. The method claim 5 wherein the step of filtering the array of strings to obtain a set of strings further comprises performing at least one of the following:

filtering the set of strings to remove strings identified in a list; and

filtering the set of strings to select strings exceeding a pre-selected number of characters.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

providing match information with the at least a portion of the plurality of records to facilitate the user'"'"'s selection of a record to associate with the document file.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of:

associating a billing event based upon identifying a set of characters within the plurality of characters.

9. A computer-readable medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform at least the steps of claim 1.

10. A method for indexing a document file comprising a plurality of characters arranged into an array of strings, the method comprising:

identifying date strings within the array of strings that correspond to a date and selecting a date string that corresponds to the earliest date;

comparing the date string that corresponds to the earliest date against a reference database, the reference database comprise a plurality of records and each record comprises at least one data field, to generate a comparison reference database comprising records from the reference database that possess at least one data field that matches the date string;

responsive to the comparison reference database comprising a plurality of records, performing a matching operation to reduce the number of records that comprise the comparison reference database;

responsive to the comparison reference database comprising one record, associating the document file with that record; and

responsive to the comparison reference database comprising a second plurality of records following performance of the matching operation, providing at least a portion of the second plurality of records to a user to facilitate the user'"'"'s selection of a record to associate with the document file.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the matching operation comprises performing one or more matching algorithms.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein a matching algorithm from the one or more matching algorithms filter the array of strings or the comparison reference database.

13. The method of claims 12 further comprising:

filtering the array of strings to obtain a set of strings wherein the set of strings comprise all strings within a specified position in the array from the date string corresponding to the earliest date; and

comparing the set of strings to one or more data fields from each record in the comparison reference database.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising:

responsive to no record exceeding a threshold match, filtering the array of strings to obtain a second set of strings wherein the second set of strings comprise all strings within a second specified position in the array from the string corresponding to the earliest date; and

comparing the second set of strings to one or more data fields from each record in the comparison reference database.

15. The method of claim 10 further comprising the step of:

providing match information with the at least a portion of the second plurality of records to facilitate the user'"'"'s selection of a record to associate with the document file.

16. A computer-readable medium comprising one or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform at least the steps of claim 10.

17. A method for indexing a document file comprising a plurality of characters arranged into an array of strings, the method comprising:

generating a first sequence set comprising substrings from each string in a set of string selected from the array of strings, the substrings being formed by taking a number of consecutive characters from the string starting at a first character position in the string;

generating a second sequence set comprising substrings from each string in the set of string selected from the array of strings, the substrings being formed by taking a number of consecutive characters from the string starting at a second character position in the string;

querying one or more combinations of substrings from the first and second sequence sets against a reference database to form a comparison reference database, the reference database comprise a plurality of records and each record comprises a plurality of data fields;

for each record in the comparison reference database, generating a set of string fragments;

identifying in either the set of strings or the array of strings a string fragment from the set of string fragments that matches; and

searching in either the set of strings or the array of strings using one or more data fields from the record from which the string fragment that matches was obtained to identify the number of matches.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the step of searching in either the set of strings or the array of strings using one or more data fields from the record from which the string fragment that matches was obtained to identify the number of matches further comprises:

searching within a set position of the string fragment that matches.

19. The method of claim 17 wherein the one or more combinations of substrings from the first and second sequence sets comprises relational pairs of substrings.

20. A computer program product comprising at least one computer-readable medium storing one or more sequences of instructions, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform the method of claim 17.