Patent ID: 8639596
Filing Date: 2014-01-28
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer implemented generalized method of reconciling financial transactions on a computer having at least a first dataset and a second dataset, comprising: extracting features of each of the financial transactions for which reconciliation is to be attempted, wherein extracting features comprises (1) tokenizing text in unstructured text database fields and treating each word output by text tokenization as a transaction feature, and (2) treating values in non-unstructured-text database fields as features in their own right; weighting the extracted features according to their distinctiveness to each of the financial transactions wherein weighting the extracted features comprises using information theory to derive a weighted value specific to a transaction and feature, such that the weighted value is greater the more distinctive the transaction and feature are in combination with one another; listing pairs of financial transactions which are candidates for reconciliation with reference to the weighted features, wherein listing pairs comprises constructing a Cartesian product of the at least first and second datasets being reconciled; calculating pairwise similarities for each of the candidate pairs, wherein calculating pairwise similarities comprises (1) constructing an n-dimensional Euclidean vector for each transaction, where n is a count of distinct features of all transactions, (2) populating the vector with numerical values corresponding to the weighted values specific to the transactions and features, and populating the vector with zero where transactions and features do not co-occur, and (3) calculating cosines between pairs of vectors; calculating pairwise correlations between pairs of transactions, wherein calculating correlations comprises (1) treating the populated n-dimensional vectors as statistical distributions, and (2) applying a statistical correlation function to pairs of statistical distributions to yield a single measure of correlation per pair; and reconciling pairs of financial transactions, wherein reconciling pairs comprises matching pairs of transactions for which (1) the calculated pairwise correlation exceeds a critical value determined by the statistical correlation function and a user-specified confidence level, and (2) neither transaction in any matched pair participates in other pairs with larger calculated pairwise similarity values; wherein the extracting, weighting, listing, calculating and reconciling are performed by the computer and regardless of the number or type of transactions and regardless of the number or type of features associated with each transaction, and require no further external heuristics or business rules.