Method and system for deterministic matching of objects and events which are not uniquely identified

Abstract

A method, and a system for carrying out that method, for deterministically matching first elements of a first set of objects or events with second elements of a second set of objects or events. Matching first and second elements are associated with common values of an identification code pn having |pn| characters, and where the identification code can be insufficient to uniquely identify the first elements, and portions of the identification code values associated with the first and second elements can be unknown. The method includes the steps of: a) generating a mapping θ for the first set such that, for each element lof the first set θ(l) equals <k, ppn>, where pnis at least a portion of the identification code value associated with the element land ppnis defined as the first kcharacters of pn, and kis selected to be the minimum number of characters required to uniquely identify lin the first set, whereby values for kgreater than |pn| imply that the element lis not uniquely identified by the portion ppn; b) determining pnfor an element ein the second set, where pnis at least a portion of the identification code value associated with the element e; and c) matching the element eand the element lonly if the first kcharacters of pnequal ppnand not matching the element eand the element lif the element lis not uniquely identified in the first set by the portion pn. The system can be controlled in accordance with program code on a computer readable medium. In one embodiment of the invention the first elements are letters and the second elements are events which occur during processing of the letters. In another embodiment of the invention the method includes a step of performing an additional consistency test and matching said letter land event eonly if said consistency test confirms such match.