Report Similarity Visualization for Redundant Database Reports

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Solution Overview

Problem

Organizations face challenges in managing large volumes of redundant reports across multiple databases, leading to resource inefficiencies and obscuring important insights due to recurring and duplicative reporting across business units.

Innovation Solution

Systems and methods are developed to generate visual representations of similarities between reports using metadata, calculating similarity metrics to identify and merge redundant reports, thereby reducing the number of stored reports and optimizing resource utilization.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If organizations store reports from multiple business units and recurring reporting cycles, then the volume of available reports increases providing more data for analysis, but the number of redundant and duplicative reports increases making databases unmanageable

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevolume of reportsVSAvoiddatabase manageability

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts metadata from reports to create a separate representation that can be analyzed for similarities without manipulating the full report content. This extraction approach allows the system to work with a simplified version of the data, reducing the complexity of comparing and managing large volumes of reports while preserving the essential information needed for deduplication.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The system transforms reports into a different parameter space by converting them into metadata vectors with specific characteristics (title, summary, keywords, data types). This parameter transformation enables efficient similarity computation and visualization, making it feasible to manage and analyze large report volumes without being overwhelmed by the original complexity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #35Parameter changes

2Loss of information

If organizations store and analyze all reports including duplicative ones, then comprehensive data coverage is maintained, but resource utilization increases and cost savings are reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata coverageVSAvoidresource utilization

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of informationVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The system introduces an intermediary representation (metadata with computed similarity metrics) between the original reports and the analysis process. This intermediary layer enables the system to identify redundant reports through similarity visualization without requiring full analysis of every report, thereby maintaining data coverage while reducing computational resources needed for detection and consolidation.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Measurement precision

If organizations manually review reports to identify duplicative content, then accurate identification of similar reports is possible, but the time and effort required becomes prohibitive with large volumes

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveidentification accuracyVSAvoidreview time

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system replaces manual mechanical review processes with automated computational methods. By substituting human analysis with algorithmic similarity computation based on metadata characteristics, the system maintains identification accuracy while eliminating the prohibitive time requirements that would accompany manual review of large report volumes.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #28Mechanics substitution (Replace mechanical system)

4Productivity

If organizations consolidate similar reports to reduce storage, then resource costs are reduced and efficiency improves, but the complexity of identifying which reports to merge increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvereport consolidation efficiencyVSAvoidsimilarity detection complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSDifficulty of detecting and measuring

Solution Approach 1:

The system adds a new dimension to report analysis by creating visual representations that map similarity relationships in a graphical space. This dimensional transformation converts the complex multi-dimensional comparison problem into a visual format where similar reports can be easily identified through their spatial relationships, significantly reducing the difficulty of detecting which reports should be consolidated.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

Data Source

PatentUS20250348275A1Systems and methods for generating visual representations of similarities between reports

Publication Date: 2025.11.13 PWC PRODUCT SALES LLC

AI summary

A system for generating a visual representation of similarities between reports is provided. The system receives input data comprising a plurality of reports from one or more information sources. For each report from the plurality of reports, the system extracts metadata. The metadata is distinct from data values in the respective report and indicates a plurality of data types of the data values in the respective report. For each pairwise combination of reports, the system computes one or more similarity metrics based on the extracted metadata for each report in the respective pairwise combination. Each similarity metric indicates a degree of similarity between metadata of a pairwise combination of reports. The system generates and displays a visual representation of similarities between each pairwise combination of reports. The visual representation is generated based on the one or more computed similarity metrics for each pairwise combination.