Tracking entities during identity resolution
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of tracking entities in a database, in which entities are collections of one or more accounts, and accounts are collections of one or more identities, comprising:
- assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique oldest entity identifier belonging only to the account, wherein the unique oldest entity identifier is the unique entity identifier assigned to a unique oldest entity that contains only the account and contains no other accounts;
monitoring an age of each account of the plurality of accounts by attaching a timestamp to each account at the time each account is created; and
reusing an identifier for an oldest entity when merging two accounts into a first entity by naming the first entity as the reused identifier for the oldest entity, wherein the two accounts are merged into the first entity by placing the two accounts into the first entity;
adding the oldest entity contained in a first entity into a second entity with the merging of a first entity into the second entity;
indirectly containing in the first entity the plurality of accounts other than the account the first entity uniquely identifies;
displaying the entities in the database.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
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.
-
Citations
18 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method of tracking entities in a database, in which entities are collections of one or more accounts, and accounts are collections of one or more identities, comprising:
-
assigning each account of a plurality of accounts a unique oldest entity identifier belonging only to the account, wherein the unique oldest entity identifier is the unique entity identifier assigned to a unique oldest entity that contains only the account and contains no other accounts; monitoring an age of each account of the plurality of accounts by attaching a timestamp to each account at the time each account is created; and reusing an identifier for an oldest entity when merging two accounts into a first entity by naming the first entity as the reused identifier for the oldest entity, wherein the two accounts are merged into the first entity by placing the two accounts into the first entity; adding the oldest entity contained in a first entity into a second entity with the merging of a first entity into the second entity; indirectly containing in the first entity the plurality of accounts other than the account the first entity uniquely identifies; displaying the entities in the database. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An identity resolution system for a database being accessed by the identity resolution system, in which entities are collections of one or more accounts, and accounts are collections of one or more identities, the identity resolution system comprising:
-
creating an entity tracking table having an account identifier column, an oldest entity identifier column, and a current entity identifier column, wherein the entity tracking table stores information describing the entities for use by a user of the identity resolution system; structuring the entity tracking table such that the account identifier column and the oldest entity identifier column are nonchangeable, and the current entity identifier column is changeable; coordinating the entity tracking table with an entity version tracking table; 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 oldest entity identifier of a unique entity assigned to the account, and a current entity identifier equal to the oldest entity identifier; the entity tracking table further storing an oldest account for the entity, an entity identifier of an entity that contains the current entity, a list of accounts contained in the current entity, and all entities contained by the current entity; and displaying the entity tracking table to a user on a computer display. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium including a computer readable program, in which entities are collections of one or more accounts, and accounts are collections of one or more identities, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:
-
create an entity version table in a database having an entity version identifier column, an entity identifier column and a timestamp column, wherein the entity version identifier identifies a version of the entity; and create a new version of an entity including; assigning the new version a version number in sequence across all entities, and assigning an individual version number across individual entities; translating between the version numbers sequenced across all entities and version numbers sequenced across the individual 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; ordering the entity version table in a predetermined order such that the rows of the entity version table are incorporated in a user-defined sentence; creating a backwards history of an entity as a graphical tree through both merged entities and separated entities; and reconstructing history of the entity backwards from any point in the entity version table. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
Specification