Patent ID: 8429220

Claim:
A method comprising: in a data exchange network including a plurality of nodes in communication with each other, wherein a node is registered with a search hub and constrains itself from sharing payload data with other nodes regarding a first subject, allows itself to share matching data with the other nodes regarding the first subject, and further constrains itself to be separate from the other nodes and wherein the plurality of nodes pushes all, some, or none of the matching data to the search hub or to a record locator service connected to the search hub; at the search hub or the record locator service: receiving a search request for the first subject from a first node, wherein the search request comprises a confidence level and a maximum false positive rate selected by the first node; reformulating the search request to a form usable for searching the pushed data sets to account for inconsistencies in the pushed data sets; comparing each pushed data set with search criteria associated with the search request to identify records of interest which match the search criteria in accordance with the confidence level; retrieving the records of interest from the plurality of nodes, when the records of interest have been pushed to the search hub or the record locator service, from a memory accessible by the search hub on the record locator service, wherein the retrieving step includes requesting the plurality of nodes including the constrained node to search for records regarding the first subject; receiving a set of virtual results from the constrained node including at least some of the matching data and excluding the payload data; receiving a set of virtual results from one of the other nodes; removing false positives from the results in accordance with the maximum false positive rate selected by the first node; determining whether any portions of the results correspond to the first subject; when any portion of the results correspond to the first subject, joining the corresponding portions in the search hub; and outputting the joined portions of the results to the first node.