Data field mapping and data anonymization
View Patent ↗To establish a link between data fields related by similar data or similar information, a data management application parses data fields of data structures residing in a data store. The attributes and attribute values corresponding to the data fields are determined. The attributes and attribute values are compared and related data fields are determined. A parent data field from the related data fields is determined. A link is established between the parent data field and the data fields from the related data fields.
1. A method comprising:
establishing a connection with a data store storing data structures which each include one or more data fields;
determining a plurality of data fields within a plurality of respective data structures which are related to each other based on content stored within the plurality of data fields;
establishing links between the plurality of related data fields within the plurality of respective data structures and storing information about the links within the data store;
receiving a request to mask a linked data field from among the plurality of linked data fields; and
in response to the received request, masking content of the linked data field within a data structure including the linked data field and automatically masking content of other linked data fields within other respective data structures respectively including the other linked data fields.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request to mask the linked data field is selected via a user interface displaying the data structure including the linked data field.
3. A computer system comprising:
a data store configured to store data structures which each include one or more data fields; and
a processor configured to:
determine a plurality of data fields within a plurality of respective data structures which are related to each other based on content stored within the plurality of data fields;
establish links between the plurality of related data fields within the plurality of respective data structures and store information about the links within the data store;
receiving a request to mask a linked data field from among the plurality of linked data fields; and
in response to the received request, masking content of the linked data field within a data structure including the linked data field and automatically masking content of other linked data fields within other respective data structures respectively including the other linked data fields.
4. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is configured to receive the request to mask the linked data field via a user interface displaying the data structure including the linked data field.
5. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to generate a unique index corresponding to one or more rows of the data structures identifying one or more of the related data fields linked together.
6. The computer system of claim 3 , further comprising an application program interface module configured to generate and output one or more user interfaces associated with data management of the plurality of related data fields.
7. The computer system of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to identify a parent data field among the plurality of related data fields based on an amount of overlapping content of the parent data field with other related data fields, and link remaining data fields among the plurality of related data fields to the parent data field.
8. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium to tangibly store instructions, which when executed by a computer, causes the computer to:
establish a connection with a data store storing data structures which each include one or more data fields;
determine a plurality of related data fields within a plurality of respective data structures which are related to each other based on content stored within the plurality of data fields;
establish one or more links between the plurality of related data fields within the plurality of respective data structures and store information about the links within the data store;
receive a request to mask a linked data field from among the plurality of linked data fields; and
in response to the received request, mask content of the linked data field within a data structure including the linked data field and automatically mask content of other linked data fields within other respective data structures respectively including the other linked data fields.
9. The article of manufacture of claim 8 , wherein the request to mask the linked data field is selected via a user interface displaying the data structure including the linked data field.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the establishing comprises identifying a parent data field among the plurality of related data fields based on an amount of overlapping content of the parent data field with other related data fields, and linking remaining data fields among the plurality of related data fields to the parent data field based on a hierarchical tree structure.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the masking comprises masking the parent data field and recursively masking the remaining data fields among the plurality of related data fields based on the hierarchical tree structure.
12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the data structures comprise a plurality of database tables, and the plurality of related data fields comprise one or more of a plurality of rows, columns, and cells, respectively included in the plurality of database tables.