18. A computer based method of matching a text description to one of a set of structured records of products in a database, the structured records individually having a plurality of attributes associated with corresponding values, the method comprising: parsing a text description related to a product into a plurality of text segments; for each of at least some of the structured records in the database, individually associating the text segments with one of the attributes of the structured record; generating a similarity vector having one or more elements individually representing a similarity of the values of attributes in the text description and those in the corresponding structured record; calculating a probability of match between the text description and the structured record based on the generated similarity vector; and selecting one of the structured record as a match for the text description based on the calculated probabilities.
18. A computer based method of matching a text description to one of a set of structured records of products in a database, the structured records individually having a plurality of attributes associated with corresponding values, the method comprising: parsing a text description related to a product into a plurality of text segments; for each of at least some of the structured records in the database, individually associating the text segments with one of the attributes of the structured record; generating a similarity vector having one or more elements individually representing a similarity of the values of attributes in the text description and those in the corresponding structured record; calculating a probability of match between the text description and the structured record based on the generated similarity vector; and selecting one of the structured record as a match for the text description based on the calculated probabilities. 19. The method of claim 18 wherein calculating the probability includes calculating a probability of match between the text description and the structured record based on both the generated similarity vector and weight factors associated with each of the attributes, the weight factors individually representing a relative importance of the corresponding attributes for matching.