# US 10,504,051 B2 · Method and apparatus for postal address matching > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,504,051 B2 - Document ID: US10504051B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 15/008,698 - Filed: 2016-01-28 - Published: 2017-08-03 - Granted: 2019-12-10 - Earliest claimed: 2016-01-28 - Assignees: Dmti Spatial, Inc. - Applicants: Dmti Spatial, Inc. - Inventors: Coskun Oba - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10504051B2 ## CPC - G06Q 10/083: Shipping - G06F 16/316: {Indexing structures} - G06F 16/90344: {by using string matching techniques} - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Provided are methods and apparatus for matching postal addresses. In an example, provided is a method for comparing postal addresses. The method includes receiving a first postal address, standardizing the form of the first postal address, removing a component of the first postal address to create a canonical representation of the first postal address, and utilizing a signature-based algorithm to identify at least one stored signature which substantially matches the first postal address. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method performed by one or more processing devices, the method comprising: receiving a first postal address; removing at least one component of the first postal address; forming a token set from at least a portion of the first postal address from which the at least one component was removed, the token set containing at least one duplicate token; removing the duplicate token from the token set; creating a postal address signature from the token set having the duplicate token removed, wherein the postal address signature is a fuzzy-token based signature; identifying a matching signature by comparing the postal address signature to at least one stored signature among a plurality of stored signatures; identifying a second postal address corresponding to the matching signature; and identifying a match by comparing the first postal address containing the at least one component and the second postal address. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one component of the first postal address is a street address, a postal code, or a combination thereof. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein the postal code is one or more of: a zip code, a postcode, a codes postaux, a post code, an Eircode, a postal routing number, a Postal Index Number, a Codice di Avviamento Postale, a Codigo de Enderecamento Postal, a Postleitzahl, a postal zone code, or a postal district code. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the token set is formed at least in part from a street name, a city name, or a combination of the street name and the city name. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising correcting a misspelling in the first postal address prior to creating the postal address signature. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising standardizing, prior to creating the token set, a component in the first postal address. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The method of claim 6, wherein the standardizing is done to a country-specific standard. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the postal address signature is a q-gram based signature and “q” is a number equal to two or greater than two, a Deletion-Based neighborhood generation algorithm-based signature, an A O(log n) Signature-Based String Matching Algorithm-based signature, an AdaptJoin algorithm-based signature, a VChunk algorithm-based signature, a PassJoin algorithm-based signature, a FastSS algorithm-based signature, an ExB: Exclusion-based string matching algorithm-based signature, a Part-Enum algorithm-based signature, a Partition-ED algorithm-based signature, or a Partition-NED algorithm-based signature. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving the first postal address via a computer network, from at least one of: computer, a mobile device, a wearable device, or a cloud-based computer network. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed as at least a part of an address cleansing process, an address validating process, a data cleansing process, or a data integration process. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising weighting one or more tokens in the token set. ### Claim 12 An apparatus comprising: a processing device; and memory storing instruction that are executable to cause the processing device to perform operations comprising: receiving a first postal address; removing at least one component of the first postal address; forming a token set from at least a portion of the first postal address from which the at least one component was removed, the token set containing at least one duplicate token; creating a postal address signature from the token set having the duplicate token removed, wherein the postal address signature is a fuzzy-token based signature; identifying a matching signature by comparing the postal address signature to at least one stored signature among a plurality of stored signatures; identifying a second postal address corresponding to the matching signature; and identifying a match by comparing the first postal address containing the at least one component and the second postal address. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising a computing device with which the processor is integrated. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the processing device comprises one or more of is a microprocessor, a microcontroller, a digital signal processor, a field programmable gate array, a programmable logic device, an application-specific integrated circuit, a controller, a non-generic special-purpose processor, a state machine, a gated logic device, a discrete hardware component, or a dedicated hardware finite state machine. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the operations comprise standardizing, prior to creating the token set, a component in the first postal address. ### Claim 16 One or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that are executable to cause one or more processing devices to perform operations comprising: receiving a first postal address; removing at least one component of the first postal address; forming a token set from at least a portion of the first postal address from which the at least one component was removed, the token set containing at least one duplicate token; creating a postal address signature from the token set having the duplicate token removed, wherein the postal address signature is a fuzzy-token based signature; identifying a matching signature by comparing the postal address signature to at least one stored signature among a plurality of stored signatures; identifying a second postal address corresponding to the matching signature; and identifying a match by comparing the first postal address containing the at least one component and the second postal address. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein the at least one component of the first postal address is a street address, a postal code, or a street address and a postal code. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 16, wherein identifying the match further comprises comparing the at least one removed component to a corresponding component of the second postal address. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising correcting a misspelling in the first postal address prior to creating the postal address signature. ### Claim 20 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising standardizing, prior to creating the token set, a component in the first postal address.