Patent ID: 7216128

Claim:
A data merging program which merges numerical values recorded in cells arranged in a matrix in order to reduce a size of said matrix and thereby increase a speed at which said matrix is processed, said matrix being used in a scoring system for calculating a score representing a probability that a transaction is fraudulent, wherein coordinates of the cells in the matrix represent different factors contributing to the probability of a fraudulent transaction and numerical values of the cells represent numbers of samples for each of the factors, the program causing a computer to perform: a step of selecting a first cell as a starting point of merging; a step of comparing a first one of said numerical values, which is recorded in the first cell, with a reference value; a step of, if the first numerical value is less than or equal to the reference value, calculating a total value of the first numerical value and a second numerical value recorded in a second cell adjacent to the first cell in the same column; a step of comparing the total value with the reference value; a step of, if the first numerical value or the total value is larger than the reference value, selecting the second cell as a starting point of merging without merging the first and second cells; a step of, if the total value is less than or equal to the reference value, setting a third cell into which the first and second cells are merged and recording the total value in the third cell; a step of selecting the third cell as a new starting point of merging; a step of, if the cell selected as a new starting point of merging is not located at an end of a column and if a cell adjacent to that cell in the direction of merging exists, repeating said comparing and calculating steps for numerical values recorded in the third cell; and a step of, if the cell selected as a new starting point of merging is located at an end of a column and any cell adjacent to that cell in the direction of merging does not exist, selecting, as a new starting point of merging, a cell at an end of a column adjacent to the column in which the cell selected as a new starting point of merging exists, thereby obtaining a matrix having merged cells in order to more rapidly calculate said fraudulent transaction probability score.