Patent ID: 7600001

Claim:
A method for transferring data between an unstructured data source and a structured destination comprising: providing a system comprising a client computer running a fetching component, a pattern matching component, a graphical user interface component and a database interface component, a server running a server application coupled to the client computer via a network and a database coupled to said client computer; requesting an unstructured data source from the server computer, wherein the requesting is performed by fetching component; receiving the unstructured data source at the client computer from the server computer over the network; accessing a sample file at the client computer using the pattern matching component; tailoring the pattern matching component to said unstructured data source using the sample file, wherein one or more patterns are created from said sample file and wherein said one or more patterns describe features to look for in said unstructured data source; matching said one or more patterns with data in said unstructured data source retrieved by the fetching component using the pattern matching component and extract said data from said unstructured data source accordingly using the extracting component; generating a first graphic representation of said unstructured data source in tree form based on a hierarchy of said data as it exists in said unstructured data source, wherein said graphical user interface component generates the first graphic representation; generating a second graphic representation of said structured destination in tree form, wherein said graphic user interface component generates the first graphic representation; enabling a user to draw graphical associations between one or more nodes of said first graphic representation of said unstructured data source and one or more nodes of said second graphic representation of said structured destination on a graphical interface at the client computer; and transferring said data from said unstructured data source to said structured destination according to said graphical associations, wherein said data is stored in said structured destination using the database interface component.