Purchase confirmation data extraction with missing data replacement

Apparatus comprising a memory storing processor-readable instructions, and a processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising:

• automatically parsing purchase confirmation messages corresponding to respective purchase transactions to extract sets of structured text strings for respective target purchase-related field types comprising a product description field type and one or more price field types;
• for each of one or more of the extracted sets of structured text strings corresponding to a respective multi-product purchase transaction and comprising a respective partial description text string for a first one of the products and one or more total price text strings for the respective purchase transaction but missing an individual price text string for the first product,
• building a respective query as a function of the partial description text string for the first product,
• determining respective upper and lower price bounds for the first product as a function of one or more of the total price text strings for the respective purchase transaction,
• applying the query to at least one search engine to create a dynamically generated ranked list of product-related items matching the query and comprising respective sets of descriptions and individual prices for respective products, wherein the product-related items in the list are unconnected to the respective purchase transaction and are derived from at least one of (i) records of purchase transactions other than the respective purchase transaction and (ii) records of products offered for purchase,
• selecting a product-related item in the ranked list of product-related items by evaluating one or more of the individual product prices in one or more of the product-related items against the respective upper and lower price bounds for the first product and one or more heuristics that preferentially select higher ranked product-related items over lower ranked product-related items,
• excerpting a respective complete product description text string and a respective individual product price text string from the selected product-related item, and
• augmenting the extracted set of structured text strings for the respective purchase transaction with the excerpted complete product description text string and the respective individual product price text string.

A computer-readable data storage apparatus comprising a memory component storing executable instructions that are operable to be executed by a processor, wherein the memory component includes:

• executable instructions to automatically parse a purchase confirmation message corresponding to a respective purchase transaction to extract a set of structured text strings for respective target purchase-related field types comprising a product description field type and one or more price field types;
• for processing the extracted set of structured text strings corresponding to a respective multi-product purchase transaction and comprising a respective partial description text string for a first one of the products and one or more total price text strings for the respective purchase transaction but missing an individual price text string for the first product, the memory component further includes,
• executable instructions to build a respective query as a function of the partial description text string for the first product,
• executable instructions to determine respective upper and lower price bounds for the first product as a function of one or more of the total price text strings for the respective purchase transaction,
• executable instructions to apply the query to at least one search engine to create a dynamically generated ranked list of product-related items matching the query and comprising respective sets of descriptions and individual prices for respective products, wherein the product-related items in the list are unconnected to the respective purchase transaction and are derived from at least one of (i) records of purchase transactions other than the respective purchase transaction and (ii) records of products offered for purchase,
• executable instructions to select a product-related item in the ranked list of product-related items by evaluating one or more of the individual product prices in one or more of the product-related items against the respective upper and lower price bounds for the first product and one or more heuristics that preferentially select higher ranked product-related items over lower ranked product-related items,
• executable instructions to excerpt a respective complete product description text string and a respective individual product price text string from the selected product-related item, and
• executable instructions to augment the extracted set of structured text strings for the respective purchase transaction with the excerpted complete product description text string and the respective individual product price text string.