US 2007/0185835 A1 · Identifying and/or extracting data in connection with creating or updating a record in a database

Abstract

The invention provides systems, methods, and computer programs to improve the accuracy and efficiency with which data analysts can use news stories, press releases, and other sources of information to maintain databases that contain information about individuals and businesses and other organizations. Documents containing material information are acquired in computer-readable form and optionally may then be reduced to raw text. One or more computerized systems process the text and tag important terms such as proper nouns, job titles, awards, and other terms indicating professional, educational, corporate, or other developments. The invention provides a user interface with which a data analyst can review, confirm, remove, modify, introduce, and link the tags, ultimately adding the information and links to a database and storing the source document in an electronic warehouse for future retrieval.

Claims64

Dependent claims

A method of identifying information in an electronic document for use in updating a database, comprising:

based on a set of rules implemented by at least one computer, automatically identifying information in the electronic document that is possibly relevant to the database;
automatically presenting the identified information on a display device;
in response to user input to a computer, accepting or rejecting the identified information displayed on the display device for use in updating the database.

A computerized method for maintaining information about individuals and/or organizations in databases, comprising:

acquiring in electronic form a source document describing one or more events involving one or more individuals and/or organizations;
identifying in the electronic source document terms, including terms comprising a proper name, corresponding to respective terms in one or more preconfigured lists of terms, of which one or more of the preconfigured lists comprises terms including at least one proper name;
tagging identified terms in the electronic source document;
for each tagged term including a proper name, searching one or more databases for records that may represent individuals and/or organizations that carry that proper name or a similar one and retrieving one or more of such records;
identifying one or more events described in the electronic source document by applying one or more rules to identify relationships involving terms in the electronic source document;
for each of the one or more events identified in the electronic source document:
presenting the electronic source document, with at least one term and the event contrasted, on an electronic display device;
accepting user input through at least one computer input device to accept or to reject the identification of the contrasted event;
and
if the contrasted event is accepted, creating a tentative database transaction to record the event including terms of the identified relationships;
accepting additional user input through the at least one computer input device directing that the tentative database transactions be committed to one or more databases;
in response to the additional user input through the at least one computer input device, altering records contained in one or more databases to reflect the one or more events accepted by the user;
and
storing the electronic source document in a memory device for possible later retrieval.

11 more elements

A system for maintaining information about individuals and/or organizations in databases, comprising:

means for acquiring in electronic form a source document describing one or more events involving one or more individuals or organizations;
computer software adapted to identify terms in the electronic source document, including terms comprising a proper name, from one or more preconfigured lists of terms, of which one or more of the preconfigured lists comprises terms including at least one proper name;
computer software adapted to tag identified terms in the electronic source document;
computer software adapted to search, for each tagged term including a proper name, one or more databases for records that may represent individuals and/or organizations that carry that proper name or a similar one and to retrieve one or more of such records;
computer software adapted to identify one or more events described in the electronic source document by applying one or more rules to identify relationships involving the terms in the electronic source document;
computer software adapted, for each of the one or more events identified in the electronic source document:
to present the electronic source document, with at least one of the tagged terms and the event contrasted, on an electronic display device;
to accept user input through at least one computer input device to accept or to reject the identification of the contrasted event;
and
if the contrasted event is accepted, to create a tentative database transaction to record the event including the associated terms;
computer software adapted to accept user input through the at least one computer input device directing that the tentative database transactions be committed to one or more databases;
computer software module adapted, in response to the user input, to alter records contained in one or more databases to reflect the one or more events accepted by the user;
and
computer software adapted to store the electronic source document in a memory device for possible later retrieval.

11 more elements

A computer program product, comprising a computer readable medium or media encoded with computer-readable instructions that, when executed on a processor, cause a computer system to perform a method, comprising:

acquiring in electronic form a source document describing one or more events involving one or more individuals and/or organizations;
identifying in the electronic source document terms, including terms comprising a proper name, corresponding to respective terms in one or more preconfigured lists of terms, of which one or more of the preconfigured lists comprises terms including at least one proper name;
tagging identified terms in the electronic source document;
for each tagged term including a proper name, searching one or more databases for records that may represent individuals and/or organizations that carry that proper name or a similar one and retrieving one or more of such records;
identifying one or more events described in the electronic source document by applying one or more rules to identify relationships involving terms in the electronic source document;
for each of the one or more events identified in the electronic source document:
presenting the electronic source document, with at least one term and the event contrasted, on an electronic display device;
accepting user input through at least one computer input device to accept or to reject the identification of the contrasted event;
and
if the contrasted event is accepted, creating a tentative database transaction to record the event including terms of the identified relationships;
accepting additional user input through the at least one computer input device directing that the tentative database transactions be committed to one or more databases;
in response to the additional user input through the at least one computer input device, altering records contained in one or more databases to reflect the one or more events accepted by the user;
and
storing the electronic source document in a memory device for possible later retrieval.

11 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Identifying and/or extracting data in connection with creating or updating a record in a database

Life of this patent

Identifying and/or extracting data in connection with creating or updating a record in a database

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims64