Systems and methods for searching, prioritizing between, and producing a conglomerating of real estate descriptions in a common format
Disclosed herein are: systems capable of searching, receiving and conglomerating the data from real estate databases of varying formats, and translating that received into a common format; execution of pre-defined translation rules referencing data tags used within the system or the originating databases; rules constructed in a simple, hierarchical or a class-based structure whereby one rule depends upon the output of another rule for its input; data sources prioritized or merged where the same property-related information is presented in more than one source; map definitions containing rule sets crafted for a particular use, such as for a particular consumer or user; such systems used in the course of real estate appraisals, in property search reports, extending across databases of differing formats. Detailed information on various example embodiments of the inventions are provided in the Detailed Description below, and the inventions are defined by the appended claims.
1 . A system of searching and conglomerating the data of a plurality of real estate description databases, each of those databases utilizing its own format for its contained real estate description data, the system further producing a report containing an amalgamation of data from real estate descriptions found, said system comprising:
a connection device including processing facilities for executing software and further including network facilities for electronic communication over a network, said connection device further including a storage device group containing at least one storage device operable to contain operating system files and applications; and
instructions stored to said storage device group, said instructions being further executable by said processing facilities to achieve the functions of:
(i) receiving the identification of a plurality of sources of real estate information from which real estate property descriptions are to be obtained;
(ii) receiving a criteria for use against the identified real estate information sources, the criteria optionally representing a class and locality of properties;
(iii) for each of the identified sources, transmitting the received criteria to the identified source in a format compatible with that particular source;
(iv) for each of the identified sources and following the transmission of received criteria to each source, receiving from that source a set of real estate information resulting from a search performed using the criteria transmitted to that source, the set of real estate information including descriptions of a number of real estate properties, each description including a number of characteristics of a property;
(v) comparing the received set of real estate information for descriptions of the same property returned from more than one source of real estate information;
(vi) where the comparisons show duplicate descriptions of one property from more than one source of real estate information, prioritizing one description over the others;
(viii) upon each set of real estate information received from each source corresponding to a transmission of criteria, performing a description-translation step to bring the received real estate descriptions into a common format; and
(ix) delivering the product of the description-translation step, wherein said product does not include non-prioritized descriptions where a prioritization was done between property descriptions from more than one source of real estate information.
2 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are configured to prioritize one description over another on the basis of time.
3 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are configured to prioritize one description over another on the basis of a reliability metric
4 . A system according to claim 3 , wherein said instructions are configured to include annotations for unreliable sources within the product delivered.
5 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are configured to include annotations for conflicting descriptions over the same property where comparisons show duplicate descriptions of a single property from more than one source of real estate information.
6 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are configured to further achieve the function of merging information of the characteristics of a single property from more than one real estate information sources where comparisons show duplicate descriptions of a single property from more than one source of real estate information.
7 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are further executable to achieve the function of performing a criteria-translation step for the received criteria, said criteria-translation step creating a query recognizable by one of the identified sources and corresponding to the received criteria with respect to its search limitations.
8 . A system according to claim 7 , wherein in the performance of said criteria-translation step, said instructions are further executable to achieve the functions of (1) reading of a set of translational rules and (2) application of those rules in the translation of the criteria for the identified source.
9 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein in the execution of the description-translation step, said instructions perform a transformation of information of property characteristics.
10 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein in the execution of the description-translation step, said instructions perform the steps of (1) the reading of a set of translational rules and (2) the application of those rules in the translation of the description of each property represented in the received set of real estate information.
11 . A method of conglomerating real estate descriptions from a plurality of real estate description databases producing a report containing an amalgamation of data from real estate descriptions found, each of those databases utilizing its own format for its contained real estate description data, said method comprising the steps of:
receiving over a network connection the identification of a plurality of sources of real estate information from which real estate property descriptions are to be obtained;
receiving over a network connection a criteria for use against the identified real estate information sources, the criteria optionally representing a class and locality of properties;
for each of the identified sources, transmitting the received criteria to the identified source in a format compatible with that particular source;
for each of the identified sources and following the transmission of received criteria to that source, receiving from that source a set of real estate information resulting from a search performed using the criteria transmitted to that source, the set of real estate information including descriptions of a number of real estate properties, each description including a number of characteristics of a property;
comparing the received set of real estate information for descriptions of the same property returned from more than one source of real estate information, and where the comparisons show duplicate descriptions of one property from more than one source of real estate information, prioritizing one description over the others;
upon each set of real estate information received from each source corresponding to a transmission of criteria, conglomerating the output of a description-translation step for the information received from each source; and
delivering the product of the description-translation step, wherein said product does not include non-prioritized descriptions within the delivered product where a prioritization showed more than one property description in existence for the same property from more than one source of real estate information.
12 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein said prioritizing is performed on descriptions of the same property on the basis of time.
13 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein said prioritizing is performed on descriptions of the same property on the basis of a reliability metric.
14 . A method according to claim 13 , wherein the product delivered includes an annotation for unreliable sources.
15 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein the product delivered includes an annotation for conflicting descriptions over the same property.
16 . A method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of merging information of the characteristics of a single property from more than one real estate information sources.
17 . A method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of: prior to conglomerating the output of a description-translation step, performing a description-translation step to bring the received real estate descriptions into a common format.
18 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein the product delivered is printout.
19 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein the product delivered is a file recorded to a storage device.
20 . A method according to claim 11 , further comprising the step of performing a criteria-translation step for the received criteria, said criteria-translation step creating a query recognizable by one of the identified sources and corresponding to the received criteria with respect to its search limitations.
21 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein in the performance of said criteria-translation step, the method reads and applies a set of translational rules for the identified source.
22 . A method of producing a conglomeration of real estate descriptions from a plurality of real estate description databases in the form of a report containing an amalgamation of data from real estate descriptions found, each of those databases utilizing its own format for its contained real estate description data, said method comprising the steps of:
transmitting over a network connection a criteria for use against a set of identified real estate information sources, the set of real estate information sources providing the identification of a plurality of sources of real estate information from which real estate property descriptions are to be obtained, the criteria representing a class and locality of properties, the class optionally being defined by a value or sale price, the locality optionally being defined by one or more geographical regions; and
prioritizing one description over other descriptions of the same property, said prioritizing relying upon a comparison of the received set of real estate information for descriptions of the same property returned from more than one source of real estate information,
delivering the product of a conglomeration of translated property descriptions in a common format, the conglomeration omitting property descriptions classed as non-prioritized from the prioritizing step, where the prioritizing step showed more than one property description in existence for the same property from more than one source of real estate information, the translated property descriptions being produced from a description-translation step that translates a set of property descriptions into a common format, the description-translation step receiving as input the result of a set of real estate information obtained through the execution of a search through each of the sources in the identified real estate information sources using the transmitted criteria, each set of real estate information including descriptions of a number of real estate properties, each description including a number of characteristics of a property.
23 . A method according to claim 22 , wherein the product delivered is printout.
24 . A method according to claim 22 , wherein the product delivered is a file recorded to a storage device.
25 . A method according to claim 22 , wherein said prioritizing is performed on descriptions of the same property on the basis of time.
26 . A method according to claim 22 , wherein said prioritizing is performed on descriptions of the same property on the basis of a reliability metric.
27 . A method according to claim 26 , wherein the product delivered includes an annotation for unreliable sources.
28 . A method according to claim 22 , wherein the product delivered includes an annotation for conflicting descriptions over the same property.
29 . A method according to claim 22 , further comprising the step of merging information of the characteristics of a single property from more than one real estate information sources.