Identification disambiguation in databases

A method, comprising:

• determining, in a computing device, a plurality of reference items shared by at least two records in a set of records obtained from a database;
• determining, in the computing device, a weighting value for each shared reference item of the plurality of reference items based upon a number of forward citations that cite that shared reference item, where the weighting value for each shared reference item varies inversely with a number of forward citations that cite that shared reference item;
• determining, in the computing device, a knowledge homogeneity score (KHS) for each pair of records in the set of records based upon at least one shared reference item that is shared by that pair of records and the weighting value corresponding to the at least one shared reference item;
• and
• determining a condition of approximate structural equivalence (ASE) for each pair of records based upon the KHS and a KHS threshold.

A system comprising:

• at least one computing device;
• and
• an approximate structural equivalence (ASE) analyzer executable in the at least one computing device, the ASE analyzer comprising:
• logic that obtains a set of records from a database;
• logic that determines a weighting value for a reference item shared by a pair of records in the set of records that is based upon a number of forward citations that cite the reference item, where the weighting value for the reference item varies inversely with the number of forward citations that cite the reference item;
• logic that determines a knowledge homogeneity score (KHS) for the pair of records based at least in part upon the weighting value of the reference item shared by the pair of records;
• and
• logic that determines a condition of ASE for the pair of records based upon the KHS and a predefined KHS threshold.