Method and system to prevent inference of personal information using pattern neutralization techniques

• US 10,579,828 B2
• Filed: 08/01/2017
• Issued: 03/03/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 08/01/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Shrinivasan, Yedendra, Ekambaram, Vijay, Gupta, Nitin, Kumar, Pratyush
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqi, Mohammad A
• Application Number:
  US15/665,937
• Publication Number:
  US 20190042790A1
• Time in Patent Office: 945 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/337 Profile generation, learning or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/316 by observing the pattern of computer usage, e.g. typical user behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies

Abstract

A method for neutralizing a pattern of user activity, comprises collecting data corresponding to the user activity, generating a user distribution over a domain comprising a plurality of respective elements based on the collected data, determining a transformation function to neutralize the user distribution, and applying the transformation function to neutralize the user distribution.

Claims

1. A method for neutralizing a pattern of user activity, comprising:

collecting data corresponding to the user activity;

generating a user distribution over a domain comprising a plurality of respective elements based on the collected data, wherein the user distribution indicates frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

determining a transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

applying the transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

wherein applying the transformation function comprises modifying the frequencies of the plurality of respective elements to generate a neutralized user distribution indicating the modified frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

transmitting a first output based on the user distribution to a first user performing the user activity; and

transmitting a second output based on the neutralized user distribution to a second user monitoring the user activity;

wherein the method is performed by at least one computer system comprising at least one memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data comprises terms used by the first user in connection with performing a plurality of searches in a search engine.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of respective elements comprise a plurality of search terms related to a topic.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein applying the transformation function comprises generating a plurality of neutralizing search terms.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the plurality of neutralizing search terms are applied to the search engine.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein plurality of neutralizing search terms are applied to a background of the search engine.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein applying the transformation function transforms the user distribution from a non-uniform distribution into the neutralized user distribution, wherein the neutralized user distribution is a uniform distribution.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein applying the transformation function transforms the user distribution into the neutralized distribution, wherein the neutralized user distribution is based on an averaged distribution of a plurality of users.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising providing the first user with an interface to determine whether the transformation function yields a transformed user distribution based on a uniform distribution or an averaged distribution of a plurality of users.

10. A system for neutralizing a pattern of user activity, comprising:

a memory and at least one processor coupled to the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

collect data corresponding to the user activity;

generate a user distribution over a domain comprising a plurality of respective elements based on the collected data, wherein the user distribution indicates frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

determine a transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

apply the transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

wherein in applying the transformation function, the at least one processor is configured to modify the frequencies of the plurality of respective elements to generate a neutralized user distribution indicating the modified frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

transmit a first output based on the user distribution to a first user performing the user activity; and

transmit a second output based on the neutralized user distribution to a second user monitoring the user activity.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the data comprises terms used by the first user in connection with performing a plurality of searches in a search engine.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the plurality of respective elements comprise a plurality of search terms related to a topic.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein in applying the transformation function, the at least one processor is further configured to generate a plurality of neutralizing search terms.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the plurality of neutralizing search terms are applied to the search engine.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein plurality of neutralizing search terms are applied to a background of the search engine.

16. The system according to claim 10, wherein applying the transformation function transforms the user distribution from a non-uniform distribution into the neutralized user distribution, wherein the neutralized user distribution is a uniform distribution.

17. The system according to claim 10, wherein applying the transformation function transforms the user distribution into the neutralized distribution, wherein the neutralized user distribution is based on an averaged distribution of a plurality of users.

18. The system according to claim 10, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to provide the first user with an interface to determine whether the transformation function yields a transformed user distribution based on a uniform distribution or an averaged distribution of a plurality of users.

19. A computer program product for neutralizing a pattern of user activity, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

collecting data corresponding to the user activity;

generating a user distribution over a domain comprising a plurality of respective elements based on the collected data, wherein the user distribution indicates frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

determining a transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

applying the transformation function to neutralize the user distribution;

wherein applying the transformation function comprises modifying the frequencies of the plurality of respective elements to generate a neutralized user distribution indicating the modified frequencies of the plurality of respective elements;

transmitting a first output based on the user distribution to a first user performing the user activity; and

transmitting a second output based on the neutralized user distribution to a second user monitoring the user activity.

20. The computer product of claim 19, wherein the data comprises terms used by the first user in connection with performing a plurality of searches in a search engine.