Patent ID: 8032546

Claim:
A computer-implemented process for matching records, comprising using a computer to perform the following process actions: inputting user-defined string transformation rules; inputting an input string for which a matching record is sought from a set of records in a database; tokenizing the input string by breaking the input string into smaller strings; generating new strings for the input string by applying the user-defined string transformation rules to the input string tokens; generating new record strings for each of the records of the set of records in the database by using the user-defined string transformation rules; obtaining signatures for each of the input string, new strings for the input string, the records in the database, and the new record strings for each of the records in the database; only for pairs of strings or records with common signatures, determining the similarity of the input string to each record in the set of records in the database by directly comparing the input string and the new strings generated for the input string to each record of the set of records in the database and the generated new record strings; and outputting records from the set of records in the database and the generated records strings that are similar to the input string based on the determined similarity.