US Patent 7769778 Systems and methods for validating an address

Systems, methods, and software determine whether a field of an input digital representation of information, such as the street name field in an address, is correct by quickly comparing the field to a list of valid choices for that field. The list of valid choices is generated based on information from the input digital representation, such as a character string. If an exact match is not found, a fuzzy match comparison determines the most closely matching valid choice. If a suitable fuzzy match is not found, then the input information is invalid. Otherwise, another field of the input information, such as the building number field of an address, is tested for validity. If the second field passes the validity check, then the fuzzy match (or exact match) for the field is valid. A fuzzy matching field may replace the input field, thereby correcting the input information.