Property record document data verification systems and methods

• US 9,152,859 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2013
• Issued: 10/06/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: First American Financial Corporation
• Original Assignee: First American Financial Corporation
• Inventors: Newcomer, Daniel A., Branham, Dennis Lee, Kosan, Paul, Seely, John Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kim
• Assistant Examiner(s): HU, FRED H.
• Application Number:
  US13/792,589
• Publication Number:
  US 20140010466A1
• Time in Patent Office: 939 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/23 Updating
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/416 Extracting the logical structure, e.g. chapters, sections or page numbers; Identifying elements of the document, e.g. authors
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/418 Document matching, e.g. of document images

Abstract

A data verification system is configured to verify machine-recognized data elements acquired during a machine-implemented data acquisition process. The system includes a data verification workstation, an image server, and a data entry server. The data verification workstation is configured to obtain document images from the image server, present portions of document images to an operator, wherein the document images include text, and receive input from the operator based on the text. The input includes data elements. The data verification workstation is also configured to acquire machine-recognized data elements from the data entry server. The machine-recognized data elements were acquired from the document image during a machine-implemented data acquisition process based on the text. The data verification workstation is also configured to compare the data elements received from the operator to the machine-recognized data elements and selectively prompt the operator to re-input the data elements based on the comparison.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

one or more processors;

one or more non-transitory computer-readable mediums operatively coupled to the one or more processors, and having instructions stored thereon, that when executed by the one or more processors cause a computing device to;

receive a document image file of a property record comprising one or more images, the document image file comprising a document type;

determine the document type by recognizing a document title in the document image file;

identify, based on a set of rules, validation candidate data strings in the document image file for validation, wherein the set of rules is based on the determined document type and a recording jurisdiction associated with the property record, and wherein each of the validation candidate data strings is a recognized character string of the one or more images;

search a real property server for prior title data strings, wherein;

the real property server comprises a plurality of data strings extracted from a plurality of title documents that precede the property record associated with the document image file;

the plurality of data strings includes the prior title data strings; and

the prior title data strings were extracted from a title document;

compare the validation candidate data strings and the prior title data strings;

determine a validation score for each of the compared validation candidate data strings, wherein each of the validation scores indicates a confidence that a respective validation candidate data string was correctly recognized;

verify that a first validation candidate data string is valid if the first validation candidate data string'"'"'s respective validation score exceeds a first predetermined threshold;

store the first validation candidate data string and a location for the first validation candidate data string, wherein the location specifies where the first validation candidate data string is located in the document image file; and

display a portion of the document image file corresponding to the stored location for operator verification if the validation score of the first validation candidate data string falls below the first predetermined threshold and exceeds a second predetermined threshold.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the validation title data strings comprise a plurality of selections from a group comprising:

a party, a reference to another document; and

a property description.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the computing device to dynamically update the set of rules as the validation candidate data strings and the prior title data strings are compared.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein operator verification comprises evaluating whether the stored validation candidate data string matches the displayed portion of the document image file.

13. The system of claim 1, the instructions further configured to cause the computing device to verify the first candidate data string and deliver the verified candidate data string to a title plant.

5. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

receiving a document image file of a property record comprising one or more images, the document image file comprising a document type;

determining the document type by recognizing a document title in the document image file;

identifying, based on a set of rules, validation candidate data strings in the document image file for validation, wherein the set of rules is based on the determined document type and a recording jurisdiction associated with the property record, and wherein each of the validation candidate data strings is a recognized character string of the one or more images; and

searching a real property server for prior title data strings, wherein;

the real property server comprises a plurality of data strings extracted from a plurality of title documents that precede the property record associated with the document image file;

the plurality of data strings includes the prior title data strings; and

the prior title data strings were extracted from a title document;

comparing the validation candidate data strings and the prior title data strings;

determining a validation score for each of the compared validation candidate data strings, wherein each of the validation scores indicates a confidence that a respective validation candidate data string was correctly recognized;

verifying that a first validation candidate data string is valid if the first validation candidate data string'"'"'s respective validation score exceeds a first predetermined threshold;

storing the first validation candidate data string and a location for the first validation candidate data string, wherein the location specifies where the first validation candidate data string is located in the document image file; and

displaying a portion of the document image file corresponding to the stored location for operator verification if the validation score of the first validation candidate data string falls below the first predetermined threshold and exceeds a second predetermined threshold.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the validation title data strings comprise a plurality of selections from a group comprising:

a party, a reference to another document; and

a properly description.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising dynamically updating the set of rules as the Validation candidate data strings and the preceding title data strings are compared.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein operator verification comprises evaluating whether the first validation candidate data string matches the displayed portion of the document image file.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising verifying the first candidate data string and delivering the verified candidate data string to a title plant.

9. A system comprising:

a real property server; and

a computing device configured to;

receive a document image file of a property record comprising one or more images, the document image file comprising a document type;

determine the document type by recognizing a document title in the document image file;

identify, based on a set of rules, validation candidate data strings in the document image file for validation, wherein the set of rules is based on the determined document type and a recording jurisdiction associated with the property record, and wherein each of the validation candidate data strings is a recognized character string of the one or more images;

search the real property server for prior title data strings, wherein;

the real property server comprises a plurality of data strings extracted from a plurality of title documents that precede the property record associated with the document image file;

the plurality of data strings includes the prior title data strings; and

the prior title data strings were extracted from a title document;

compare the validation candidate data strings and the prior title data strings;

determine a validation score for each of the compared validation candidate data strings, wherein each of the validation scores indicates a confidence that a respective validation candidate data string was correctly recognized;

verify that a first validation candidate data string is valid if the first validation candidate data string'"'"'s respective validation score exceeds a first predetermined threshold;

store the first validation candidate data string and a location for the first validation candidate data string, wherein the location specifies where the first validation candidate data string is located in the document image file; and

display a portion of the document image file corresponding to the stored location for operator verification if the validation score of the first validation candidate data string falls below the first predetermined threshold and exceeds a second predetermined threshold.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the validation title data strings comprise a plurality of selections from a group comprising:

a party, a reference to another document; and

a property description.

11. The system of claim 9, wherein the computing device is further configured to dynamically update the set of rules as the validation candidate data strings and the preceding title data strings are compared.

12. The system of claim 9, wherein operator verification comprises evaluating whether the first validation candidate data string matches the displayed portion of the document image file.

15. The system of claim 9, further comprising a computing device configured to verify the first candidate data string and deliver the verified candidate data string to a title plant.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the verified candidate data string is stored in the real property server for use in future validation processes.