Indexing information about entities with respect to hierarchies

• US 8,510,338 B2
• Filed: 04/10/2009
• Issued: 08/13/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/22/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cushman, James B. II, Ellard, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Ruiz, Angelica
• Application Number:
  US12/421,688
• Publication Number:
  US 20090198686A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 707/791
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/215 Improving data quality; Data cleansing, e.g. de-duplication, removing invalid entries or correcting typographical errors

Abstract

Systems and methods for indexing, associating or compositing data records and hierarchies from various information sources are disclosed. Embodiments of the present invention may provide the ability to link data records and thus to link data records to known hierarchies of data records. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention may provide the capability to associate data records in varying information sources and to thereby associate incoming data record with existing data records or existing data hierarchies such that an incoming data record may not only be associated with an existing data record comprising information about the same entity but may additionally be associated with other members of the data hierarchy in the same manner as the existing data record. In addition to associating an incoming data record with an existing data record and incorporating the incoming data record into an existing data hierarchy, embodiments of the present invention may provide the capability of reconciling an incoming data hierarchy to which an incoming data record belongs with an existing data hierarchy belongs such that the two data hierarchies may be composited.

Claims

1. A method for executing on a processor for associating and retrieving data records from one or more databases, comprising:

receiving a data record;

identifying a set of candidate data records based on a comparison between a set of existing data records and the received data record, wherein each of the existing data records is associated with an entity identifier value that includes an identity link that links the data record to other data records containing information about the same entity and a hierarchy link that links the data record to other data records that are hierarchically related;

scoring each of the set of candidate data records, wherein the score of each of the candidate data records determines whether the received data record and each candidate data record comprise information relating to an entity; and

associating the received data record with a first candidate data record of the set of candidate data records in response to the score of the first candidate data record being greater than a first threshold;

wherein the first candidate data record is in a first data hierarchy such that the first candidate data record has a first set of hierarchical associations with a first set of related data records, and association of the received data record with the first candidate data record also results in the received data record being associated via the first set of hierarchical associations with the first set of related data records such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first candidate data record and the first set of related data records via the first set of hierarchical associations.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising establishing the received data record as a root of a second data hierarchy in response to the scores of each of the set of candidate data records being below the first threshold.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether the score of the first candidate data record is greater than the score of each of the other set of candidate data records.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein,

in response to the first candidate data record being among a group of candidate data records all having the same score, the first candidate data record is selected over other candidate data records in the group based upon the first candidate data record having the lowest entity identifier value within the group.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether the score of the first candidate data record is less than a second threshold; and

creating a task for a user in response to the score of the first candidate data record being below the second threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the received data record is in a second data hierarchy that includes a second set of related data records, and, in response to the received data record being associated with the first data record, compositing the first data hierarchy with the second data hierarchy to form a composite data hierarchy such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first and second sets of related data records via the composite data hierarchy.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether the received data record has a child data record in the second data hierarchy; and

in response to associating the received data record with the first data record, further associating the child data record with both the received data record and the first data record with both the received data record and the first data record parenting the child data record.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether the received data record has a first parent data record in the second data hierarchy; and

in response to associating the received data record with the first data record;

determining a top most parent of the first data hierarchy; and

associating the first parent data record of the second data hierarchy with the top most parent of the first data hierarchy with the first parent data record being parented by the top most parent of the first data hierarchy.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first candidate data record and the received data record are located at the same hierarchical position within the first set of hierarchical associations.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the first candidate data record and the received data record are located at different hierarchical positions within the first set of hierarchical associations.

11. A system for associating and retrieving data records from one or more databases, comprising:

an information source comprising at least one database; and

a processor coupled with the information source and configured with logic to perform a plurality of operations in relation to the information source, the plurality of operations comprising;

receiving a data record;

identifying a set of candidate data records based on a comparison between a set of existing data records and the received data record, wherein each of the existing data records is associated with an entity identifier value that includes an identity link that links the data record to other data records containing information about the same entity and a hierarchy link that links the data record to other data records that are hierarchically related;

scoring each of the set of candidate data records, wherein the score of each of the candidate data records determines whether the received data record and each candidate data record comprise information relating to the same entity; and

associating the received data record with a first candidate data record of the set of candidate data records in response to the score of the first candidate data record being greater than a first threshold;

wherein the first candidate data record is in a first data hierarchy such that the first candidate data record has a first set of hierarchical associations with a first set of related data records, and association of the received data record with the first candidate data record also results in the received data record being associated via the first set of hierarchical associations with the first set of related data records such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first candidate data record and the first set of related data records via the first set of hierarchical associations.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured with logic to:

establish the received data record as a root of a second data hierarchy in response to the scores of each of the set of candidate data records being below the first threshold.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured with logic to:

in response to a determination that the first candidate data record is among a group of candidate data records all having the same score, select the first candidate data record over other candidate data records in the group based upon the first candidate data record having the lowest entity identifier value within the group.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the received data record is in a second data hierarchy that includes a second set of related data records, and the processor is further configured with logic to:

in response to the received data record being associated with the first data record, composite the first data hierarchy with the second data hierarchy to form a composite data hierarchy such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first and second sets of related data records via the composite data hierarchy.

15. A computer program product for associating and retrieving data records from one or more databases, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having computer readable program code embodied therewith, the computer readable program code configured to perform a plurality of operations in relation to an information source, the information source comprising one or more databases, the plurality of operations comprising;

receiving a data record;

identifying a set of candidate data records based on a comparison between a set of existing data records and the received data record, wherein each of the existing data records is associated with an entity identifier value that includes an identity link that links the data record to other data records containing information about the same entity and a hierarchy link that links the data record to other data records that are hierarchically related;

scoring each of the set of candidate data records, wherein the score of each of the candidate data records determines whether the received data record and each candidate data record comprise information relating to the same entity; and

associating the received data record with a first candidate data record of the set of candidate data records in response to the score of the first candidate data record being greater than a first threshold;

wherein the first candidate data record is in a first data hierarchy such that the first candidate data record has a first set of hierarchical associations with a first set of related data records, and association of the received data record with the first candidate data record also results in the received data record being associated via the first set of hierarchical associations with the first set of related data records such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first candidate data record and the first set of related data records via the first set of hierarchical associations.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the non-transitory computer readable program code is further configured to:

establish the received data record as a root of a second data hierarchy in response to the scores of each of the set of candidate data records being below the first threshold.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the non-transitory computer readable program code is further configured to:

in response to a determination that the first candidate data record is among a group of candidate data records all having the same score, select the first candidate data record over other candidate data records in the group based upon the first candidate data record having the lowest entity identifier value within the group.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the received data record is in a second data hierarchy that includes a second set of related data records, and the non-transitory computer readable program code is further configured to:

in response to the received data record being associated with the first data record, composite the first data hierarchy with the second data hierarchy to form a composite data hierarchy such that a subsequent query that retrieves the received data record will also retrieve the first and second sets of related data records via the composite data hierarchy.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the non-transitory computer readable program code is further configured to:

determine whether the received data record has a child data record in the second data hierarchy; and

in response to associating the received data record with the first data record, further associate the child data record with both the received data record and the first data record with both the received data record and the first data record parenting the child data record.

20. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the non-transitory computer readable program code is further configured to:

determine whether the received data record has a first parent data record in the second data hierarchy; and

in response to associating the received data record with the first data record;

determine a top most parent of the first data hierarchy; and

associate the first parent data record of the second data hierarchy with the top most parent of the first data hierarchy with the first parent data record being parented by the top most parent of the first data hierarchy.