US Patent 10262283 Methods and systems for generating supply chain representations

A computer implemented method for mining supply chain information to produce supply chain graphs includes receiving by a computer a set of data; identifying a supplier, a commodity, and a customer from the set of data; generating a query comprising the identified data; determining the absence of any of the supplier, the commodity, or the customer from the set of data; if any items are determined to be absent from the set of data, substituting a placeholder for the missing item from the data set; sending the query; receiving a set of supply chain graph information; generating a supply chain graph signal based upon the set of supply chain graph information; and transmitting the supply chain graph signal. A computing device or system includes a processor an electronic memory; and a program for mining supply chain information to produce supply chain graphs stored in the electronic memory.