Patent ID: 6985926

Claim:
A method for matching and consolidating addresses in a name and address database, the method comprising: (a) sorting records from the name and address database and records from a standardized name and address file by a first e-mail address field to create a sorted name and address file; (b) sorting records from a prior e-mail database and records from a converted e-mail file by a second e-mail address field to create a sorted e-mail file; (c) matching said records from said sorted e-mail file against said records from said sorted name and address file, wherein each of said records of said sorted e-mail file that match a one of said records from said sorted name and address file has a name and address from each said matched sorted name and address record added to each of said matched record of said sorted e-mail file to create a matched name and address e-mail file; (d) sorting records from said matched name and address e-mail file and records from said standardized name and address file by a first ZIP Code field and a first last name field to create a first sorted name and address transactions file; (e) updating the name and address database by matching records from said first sorted name and address transactions file against records from a prior consolidated name and address database to create a new name and address database; and (f) consolidating said new name and address database by eliminating records from said new name and address database such that only one record per an e-mail address per an individual in a household remains to create a new consolidated name and address database.