US Patent 10403392 Data de-identification methodologies

A method includes de-identifying a data table containing protected health information by determining, based on a mappings file, that a first column of the data table is associated with a first data type, accessing each value of the first column, and, for each respective accessed value, automatically generating a de-identified value by applying one or more computer logic instructions associated with de-identification of the first data type to the respective accessed value to result in a respective de-identified value, and saving the respective de-identified value back to the data table in place of the respective accessed value; and utilizing the de-identified data table to test a computer software application.