Patent ID: 6829604
Filing Date: 2004-12-07
Classification: G06F,G16H,Y10S

Abstract:
A method for an enterprise system to evaluate and rank probabilistic search rules for searching a computer database of records according to an efficiency measure of each search rule, comprising the steps of:implementing a plurality of search rules that include one or more data elements, wherein a combination of data elements in each rule is configured to identify a target record; retrieving a plurality of records identified by the search rules as possible matches to the target record; collecting a plurality of counts related to a probability of each search rule locating the target record; and calculating the probability of each search rule locating the target record; arranging the search rules in an order based on the probability of each search rule; and executing the search rules according to the order to retrieve the target record, wherein at least one of the collected counts corresponds to a number of instances that a search rule retrieves one or more records as possible matches to the target record, or to a number of instances that a search rule retrieves a record previously retrieved by previously executed search rule, or to a number of instances that a search rule retrieves a record that was not retrieved by a previously executed search rule, or to a number of instances that a search rule retrieves a plurality of records wherein the plurality of records are subsequently determined to correspond to the target record, or to a number of records of the plurality of retrieved records determined not to be the target record.