Patent ID: 8326788

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for defining a relevance detection rule in an entity resolution system, the method comprising: determining a rule relevance score for the relevance detection rule, wherein the rule relevance score provides a quantitative measure of relevance for an occurrence of an event that satisfies one or more conditions specified by the relevance detection rule; storing the relevance detection rule; wherein the entity resolution system is configured to evaluate one or more identity records using the relevance detection rule to detect an occurrence of the event, wherein the entity resolution system maintains a set of known entities, wherein each known entity includes one or more identity records, and wherein each known entity is perceived by the entity resolution system to represent a single individual; receiving a first identity record; resolving the first identity record to a target entity comprising one of a first entity of the known entities and a newly created entity, whereby the first identity record is added to the one or more identity records of the target entity; upon determining that the identity record satisfies the relevance detection rule, generating an alert by operation of one or more computer processors; and assigning an alert relevance score to the alert, wherein the alert relevance score is determined, at least in part, from the rule relevance score.