Patent ID: 7627572

Claim:
A method of processing data in an information gathering system, comprising: receiving a set of candidate data records; attempting to obtain a set of processing rules associated with the set of candidate data records; if the set of processing rules is successfully obtained: obtaining a set of quality criteria associated with the obtained set of processing rules, including obtaining at least one threshold value; applying the set of processing rules and the set of quality criteria to the set of candidate data records to produce a set of quality indicators, including applying a threshold test rule included in the set of processing rules and associated with the at least one threshold value and an expected quantity indicator, wherein applying the threshold test rule includes: generating an actual quantity indicator; and processing the actual quantity indicator, the expected quantity indicator, and the at least one threshold value in accordance with a formula to generate a respective one in the set of quality indicators; conditionally applying the set of candidate data records to a database associated with the information gathering system based on the set of quality indicators; and if the set of processing rules is not successfully obtained: preventing the set of candidate data records from being saved in the database.