Methods and apparatus for implementing an ensemble merchant prediction system
First Claim
1. A computer-based method for discovering patterns in financial transaction card transaction data for determining group memberships of a merchant within the transaction data, said method comprising:
- storing transaction data within at least one database, wherein the transaction data includes data relating to merchants accepting transaction cards for payment;
retrieving the transaction data by a first computer coupled to the at least one database;
using at least one prediction algorithm and the retrieved transaction data to predict a plurality of group memberships of a merchant within one or more groupings of merchants wherein the algorithm is processed by the first computer;
generating meta-data describing each prediction outputted by the at least one prediction algorithm, wherein the meta-data is generated by the at least one algorithm;
inputting the plurality of predicted group memberships for the merchant and the meta-data describing each prediction into a data mining application executed on a second computer;
assigning, by the second computer, a confidence score to each predicted group membership by the data mining application based at least in part on the predicted group memberships and the meta-data, wherein the confidence score represents a likelihood the merchant is actually associated with the corresponding predicted group membership; and
outputting, by the second computer, the group membership prediction with the highest confidence score as a final membership prediction for the merchant.
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Abstract
A computer-based method for discovering patterns in financial transaction card transaction data for the purpose of determining group membership of a merchant within the transaction data is described. The data relates to merchants that accept the financial transaction card for payment. The method includes receiving transaction data from at least one database, predicting a membership of a merchant in a group using at least one prediction algorithm and the retrieved transaction data, the algorithm generating meta-data describing the predictions, inputting the at least one predicted group membership and the meta-data into a data mining application, and assigning a confidence value to each predicted group membership by the data mining application, utilizing the predicted group memberships and the meta-data.
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Citations
32 Claims
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1. A computer-based method for discovering patterns in financial transaction card transaction data for determining group memberships of a merchant within the transaction data, said method comprising:
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storing transaction data within at least one database, wherein the transaction data includes data relating to merchants accepting transaction cards for payment; retrieving the transaction data by a first computer coupled to the at least one database; using at least one prediction algorithm and the retrieved transaction data to predict a plurality of group memberships of a merchant within one or more groupings of merchants wherein the algorithm is processed by the first computer; generating meta-data describing each prediction outputted by the at least one prediction algorithm, wherein the meta-data is generated by the at least one algorithm; inputting the plurality of predicted group memberships for the merchant and the meta-data describing each prediction into a data mining application executed on a second computer; assigning, by the second computer, a confidence score to each predicted group membership by the data mining application based at least in part on the predicted group memberships and the meta-data, wherein the confidence score represents a likelihood the merchant is actually associated with the corresponding predicted group membership; and outputting, by the second computer, the group membership prediction with the highest confidence score as a final membership prediction for the merchant. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A computer system for discovering patterns in financial transaction card transaction data for the purpose of determining, for individual merchants, a membership of the merchant within one or more merchant groupings utilizing the transaction data, said computer comprising:
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a processing device; and a memory, said processing device operable to execute instructions stored in said memory causing said computer to; store transaction data within said memory, wherein the transaction data includes data relating to merchants accepting transaction cards for payment; run a plurality of prediction algorithms stored within said memory with the transaction data, each prediction algorithm predicting a membership for a merchant within the one or more merchant groupings based on the transaction data, at least one of the prediction algorithms generating meta-data describing the predictions; input the meta-data and predicted group memberships into a data mining application; assign a confidence score to each predicted group membership for the merchant based on a result provided by the data mining application, wherein the confidence score represents a likelihood the merchant is actually associated with the corresponding predicted group membership; and output the group membership prediction with the highest confidence score as a final membership prediction for the merchant. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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Specification