Systems and methods for searching for and translating real estate descriptions from diverse sources utilizing a consumer-based product definition
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, heirarchical 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 utilizing a consumer-based map definition, 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) identifying a consumer-based map definition;
(ii) optionally reading a list contained within the consumer-based map definition to determine a plurality of sources of real estate information from which real estate property descriptions are preferred to be obtained;
(iii) determining a set of identified sources of real estate information;
(iv) receiving a criteria for use against the identified real estate information sources, the criteria optionally representing a class and locality of properties;
(v) for each of the identified sources, transmitting the received criteria to the identified source in a format compatible with that particular source;
(vi) 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;
(vii) reading a set of translational rules contained within the consumer-based map definition;
(viii) upon each set of real estate information received from each source corresponding to a transmission of criteria, performing a description-translation step utilizing those read translational rules to bring the received real estate descriptions into a common format; and
(ix) delivering the product of the description-translation step.
2 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are further configured to read a destination contained within the consumer-based map definition for the product of the description-translation step, and further wherein said delivery is to that read destination.
3 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are further configured to read a consumer-based map definition that is fully contained within a locally-stored file.
4 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are further configured to read a consumer-based map definition that is fully contained within a remotely-stored file.
5 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein said instructions are further configured to request additional sources of real estate information to be added beyond the plurality of identified sources specified in the identified consumer-based map definition.
6 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein in the performance of said description-translation step, said instructions are configured to utilize data tags appearing within the identified consumer-based map definition in the identification and extraction of characteristics of properties.
7 . A system according to claim 1 , wherein in the performance of said description-translation step, said instructions are configured to read and apply translation rules defined within the identified consumer-based map definition that define a pre-determined application of heirarchical operators.
8 . 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, the method further utilizing a consumer-based map definition, said method comprising the steps of:
identifying a consumer-based map definition;
optionally reading a list contained within the identified consumer-based map definition to determine a plurality of sources of real estate information from which real estate property descriptions are to be obtained;
determining a set of identified sources of real estate information;
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;
reading a set of translational rules contained within the consumer-based map definition;
upon each set of real estate information received from each source corresponding to a transmission of criteria, performing a description-translation step utilizing those read translational rules to bring the received real estate descriptions into a common format; and
delivering the product of the description-translation step.
9 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein said delivering is to a destination contained within and read from the identified consumer-based map definition.
10 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein the identified consumer-based map definition is read from a locally-stored file.
11 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein the identified consumer-based map definition is read from a remotely-stored file.
12 . A method according to claim 8 , further comprising the step of requesting additional sources of real estate information to be added beyond the plurality of identified sources specified in the consumer-based map definition.
13 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein in the performance of said description-translation step, data tags appear within the identified consumer-based map definition, the data tags being used in the identification and extraction of characteristics of properties.
14 . A system according to claim 8 , wherein in the performance of said description-translation step, said instructions are configured to read and apply translation rules defined within the identified consumer-based map definition that define a pre-determined application of heirarchical operators.
15 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein the product delivered is printout.
16 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein the product delivered is a file recorded to a storage device.
17 . A method according to claim 8 , 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.
18 . A method according to claim 17 , wherein in the performance of said criteria-translation step, said method reads and applies a set of translational rules located within the identified consumer-based map definition for the identified source.
19 . 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, the method further utilizing a consumer-based map definition, said method comprising the steps of:
transmitting over a network connection either a consumer-based map definition or the identification of a selected consumer-based map definition;
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
delivering the product of a conglomeration of translated property descriptions in a common format in conformance with the consumer-based map definition transmitted or selected, the translated property descriptions being produced from a description-translation step that translates a set of property descriptions into a common format utilizing a set of translational rules contained within the consumer-based map definition transmitted or selected, 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.
20 . A method according to claim 19 , wherein said delivering is to a destination contained within and read from the transmitted or selected consumer-based map definition.
21 . A method according to claim 19 , further comprising the step of transmitting additional sources of real estate information to be added beyond the set of identified sources specified in the consumer-based map definition transmitted or selected.
22 . A method according to claim 19 , wherein in the performance of the description-translation step, data tags appear within the consumer-based map definition transmitted or selected, the data tags being used in the identification and extraction of characteristics of properties.