System and method for transformation of unstructured document tables into structured relational data tables
Assigneesalesforce.com, inc.
InventorJoy Mustafi
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Embodiments described herein transforms a complex and usually unstructured table to a relational table based on the header pattern. Specifically, the original complex table is expanded into a single dimensional relational database format, in which each cell corresponds to one or more corresponding categories or subcategories from the original header. The transformed one-dimensional relational table is then populated with the corresponding cell values from the original table. In this way, data from the original complex and unstructured data table can be stored at a relational database.
Claims20
A system for transforming an unstructured table from a textual document into a table suitable for a relational database, the system comprising:
- a communication interface that receives the textual document having the unstructured table;
- a memory containing machine readable medium storing machine executable code;
- and
- one or more processors coupled to the memory and configurable to execute the machine executable code to cause the one or more processors to:
- identify a tabular structure relating to the unstructured table from the textual document;
- detect one or more headers from the tabular structure;
- determine a header pattern based on a relationship between the detected one or more headers;
- determine one or more header names by applying a set of header pattern rules associated with the header pattern to the one or more headers;
- generate a one-dimensional table according to a relational database format using the one or more header names;
- and
- populate the one-dimensional table with corresponding data values extracted from the unstructured table.
A method for transforming an unstructured table from a textual document into a table suitable for a relational database, the method comprising:
- receiving, via a communication interface, the textual document having the unstructured table;
- identifying, via a processor, a tabular structure relating to the unstructured table from the textual document;
- detecting one or more headers from the tabular structure;
- determining a header pattern based on a relationship between the detected one or more headers;
- determining one or more header names by applying a set of header pattern rules associated with the header pattern to the one or more headers;
- generating a one-dimensional table according to a relational database format using the one or more header names;
- and
- populating the one-dimensional table with corresponding data values extracted from the unstructured table.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.