Anonymously linking cardholder information with communication service subscriber information

• US 10,225,731 B2
• Filed: 10/31/2016
• Issued: 03/05/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Mastercard International Incorporated (MasterCard Incorporated)
• Inventors: Iannace, Marianne, Rich, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Behnamian, Shahriar
• Application Number:
  US15/339,106
• Publication Number:
  US 20180124596A1
• Time in Patent Office: 855 Days
• Field of Search: 455411
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Provided are a system and method for linking cardholders with communication service subscribers. In one example, a method includes generating anonymized cardholder information representing a group of cardholders that reside within a predetermined geographic location, receiving anonymized communication service subscriber information representing a group of communication service subscribers that reside within the predetermined geographic location, and linking the anonymized cardholder information to the anonymized communication service subscriber information based on the predetermined geographic location.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

anonymizing cardholder information for a group of cardholders that are located within a predetermined geographic location by removing personally identifiable information (PII) of the group of cardholders from cardholder spending activity data within the predetermined geographic location to generate an anonymized cardholder activity data set;

receiving an anonymized communication service subscriber data set for a group of communication service subscriber devices within the predetermined geographic location in which personally identifiable information of communication service subscriber devices is removed from service activity data;

anonymously linking the group of cardholders as a whole to the group of communication service subscriber devices as a whole without use of personally identifiable information by mapping the anonymized cardholder activity data set to the anonymized communication service subscriber data set based on the predetermined geographic location being commonly shared among the groups; and

storing the anonymized cardholder activity data set and the anonymized communication service subscriber data set linked together in a storage device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting advertisement information to one or more communication service subscriber devices of the group of communication service subscriber devices based on the linked anonymized cardholder activity data set.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized cardholder activity data set is generated based on non-identifying transaction data of the group of cardholders within the predetermined geographic location.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized communication service subscriber data set is received from a mobile phone network device and is generated based on non-identifying mobile device usage within the predetermined geographic location.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises at least one of a postal code, a zip code, and a zip code +4.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises a customizable geographic location.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the anonymized cardholder activity data set comprises an inferred residential location of the group of cardholders and the anonymized communication service subscriber data set comprises an inferred residential location of the group of communication service subscriber devices.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining an anonymous spending behavior for the group of cardholders based on anonymous transaction data within the predetermined geographic location, and linking the anonymous spending behavior to the group of communication subscriber devices based on the anonymous linking the group of cardholders as a whole to the group of communication service subscriber devices as a whole.

9. A method for linking communication service subscribers and cardholders, the method comprising:

anonymizing communication service subscriber device information for a group of communication service subscriber devices that are located within a predetermined geographic location by removing personally identifiable information (PII) of the group of communication service subscriber devices from service activity data within the predetermined geographic location to generate an anonymized communication service subscriber data set;

receiving an anonymized cardholder data set for a group of cardholders within the predetermined geographic location in which personally identifiable information of the cardholders is removed from cardholder spending activity data; and

anonymously linking the group of communication service subscriber devices as a whole to the group of cardholders as a whole without use of personally identifiable information by mapping the anonymized communication service subscriber data set to the anonymized cardholder activity data set based on the predetermined geographic location being commonly shared among the groups; and

storing the anonymized communication service subscriber data set and the anonymized cardholder activity data set linked together in a storage device.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising transmitting advertisement information to one or more communication service subscriber devices of the group of communication service subscriber devices based on the linked anonymized cardholder activity data set.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the anonymized cardholder activity data set is received from a payment network device and is generated based on non-identifying transaction data generated within the predetermined geographic location.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein the anonymized communication service subscriber data set is generated based on non-identifying mobile device usage within the predetermined geographic location.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises at least one of a postal code, a zip code, and a zip code +4.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises a customizable geographic location.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the anonymized cardholder activity data set comprises an inferred residential location of the group of cardholders by a payment processing network device and the anonymized communication service subscriber data set comprises an inferred residential location of the group of communication service subscriber devices by a communication service server.

16. A computing device comprising:

a receiver configured to receive an anonymized communication service subscriber data set for a group of communication service subscriber devices that are located within a predetermined geographic location;

a processor configured to anonymize cardholder information for a group of cardholders that are located within the predetermined geographic location by removing personally identifiable information (PII) of the group of cardholders from cardholder spending activity data within the predetermined geographic location to generate an anonymized cardholder activity data set, and anonymously link the group of cardholders as a whole to the group of communication service subscriber devices as a whole without use of personally identifiable information by mapping the anonymized cardholder activity data set to the anonymized communication service subscriber data set based on the predetermined geographic location being commonly shared among the groups; and

a storage configured to store the anonymized cardholder activity data set and the anonymized communication service subscriber data set linked together by the processor.

17. A method for linking communication service subscribers and cardholders, the method comprising:

generating non-identifying spending behavior information about a group of cardholders that are located within a predetermined geographic location by removing personally identifiable information (PII) from cardholder spending activity within the predetermined geographic location to generate an non-identifying cardholder spending behavior data set;

receiving an anonymized communication service subscriber data set for a group of communication service subscriber devices that are located within the predetermined geographic location in which personally identifiable information of the communication service subscriber devices is removed from service activity data; and

anonymously linking the group of communication service subscriber devices as a whole to the group of cardholders as a whole without use of personally identifiable information by mapping the anonymized communication service subscriber data set to the non-identifying cardholder spending behavior data set based on the predetermined geographic location being shared among the groups.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting advertisement information to one or more communication service subscriber devices of the group of communication service subscriber devices based on the linked non-identifying spending behavior data set.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the anonymized communication service subscriber data set is received from a mobile phone network device and is generated based on non-identifying mobile device usage within the predetermined geographic location.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises at least one of a postal code, a zip code, and a zip code +4.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein the predetermined geographic location comprises a customizable geographic location.