Method and system for indexing, relating and managing information about entities

A computer readable memory device for associating data records, comprising instructions translatable for:

• determining an entity type;
• comparing a confidence level for candidate data records against a certain threshold to establish a new entity of the entity type for a new data record or to associate the new data record with the candidate data records;
• presenting a user with an interface for use with a system, wherein the system is operable to associate data records as entities according to a set of entity types and establish relationships between a first entity and one or more second different entities and the relationships are defined according to a set of relationship types, wherein the first entity is associated with a first set of data records including information pertaining to that first entity and the one or more second entities are each associated with a corresponding different set of data records including information pertaining to that second entity, and wherein the relationship provides a link to enable retrieval of the one or more second entities based on the first entity, the interface operable to:
• search for a first entity using one or more search criteria;
• display a first entity representation corresponding to the first entity;
• display one or more second entity representations, each second entity representation representing a corresponding second entity;
• offer for selection a set of relationships for a first entity representation and one of the second entity representations selected by a user, wherein each defined relationship designates a first entity type and a second different entity type and said offering includes:
• validating relationships to include in the set of relationships by checking the first and second entity types designated by defined relationships against corresponding entity types of the first and second entities represented by the first and selected second entity representations, wherein each relationship of the offered set of relationships is valid and designates first and second entity types that are of the entity types of the first and second represented entities;
• and
• establish a relationship selected from the offered set of relationships between those represented entities.

A system for displaying and configuring associations between data records, comprising:

• one or more information sources, each information source comprising a computer readable medium;
• and
• a master entity index system comprising a processor and operable for:
• determining an entity type;
• comparing a confidence level for candidate data records against a certain threshold to establish a new entity of the entity type for a new data record or to associate the new data record with the candidate data records;
• presenting a user with an interface, wherein the master entity index system is operable to associate data records as entities according to a set of entity types and establish relationships between a first entity and one or more second different entities and the relationships are defined according to a set of relationship types, wherein the first entity is associated with a first set of data records including information pertaining to that first entity and the one or more second entities are each associated with a corresponding different set of data records including information pertaining to that second entity, and wherein the relationship provides a link to enable retrieval of the one or more second entities based on the first entity, the interface operable to:
• search for a first entity using one or more search criteria;
• display a first entity representation corresponding to the first entity;
• display one or more second entity representations, each second entity representation representing a corresponding second entity;
• offer for selection a set of relationships for a first entity representation and one of the second entity representations selected by a user, wherein each defined relationship designates a first entity type and a second different entity type and said offering includes:
• validating relationships to include in the set of relationships by checking the first and second entity types designated by defined relationships against corresponding entity types of the first and second entities represented by the first and selected second entity representations, wherein each relationship of the offered set of relationships is valid and designates first and second entity types that are of the entity types of the first and second represented entities;
• and
• establish a relationship selected from the offered set of relationships between those represented entities.