Methods and apparatus for tuning a match between entities having attributes

Claim 1

Given a first entity having a first set of attributes, at least some of which have associated attribute values, and a group of entities, each entity of the group of entities having a set of attributes values, at least some of which have associated attribute values, a method of operating a computer-implemented machine, the method comprising steps, implemented through computer instructions executed by the machine, of: (a) accepting information regarding the first entity, the first set of attributes, the group of entities and the sets of attributes of the group of entities; (b) for each entity of the group of entities, determining a degree to which the first entity matches the entity of the group of entities; (c) for each entity of the group of entities, normalizing the determined degree to which the first entity matches the entity of the group of entities to generate a weight (w); (d) for each entity of the group of entities, determining, whether or not the weight is relatively high or relatively low; and (e) for each entity of the group of entities: (e1) if the weight is relatively high, enhancing the weight to generate a new weight (w e ), such that if w≧0, w e =w p where p is a tunable parameter; and (e2) if the weight is relatively low, suppressing the weight to generate a new weight (w s ), such that if w<0, w s =-(-w p ).