Data anonymizing blockchain system

• US 10,686,611 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2017
• Issued: 06/16/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Ramos, Igor, Biazetti, Ana
• Primary Examiner(s): Wright, Bryan F
• Application Number:
  US15/822,010
• Publication Number:
  US 20190165949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 935 Days
• Field of Search: 713156
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/645 using a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/265 Personal security, identity or safety
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/42 Anonymization, e.g. involving pseudonyms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/805 Lightweight hardware, e.g. radio-frequency identification [RFID] or sensor
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0637 Modes of operation, e.g. cipher block chaining [CBC], electronic codebook [ECB] or Galois/counter mode [GCM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/14 using a plurality of keys or algorithms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3239 involving non-keyed hash functions, e.g. modification detection codes [MDCs], MD5, SHA or RIPEMD
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/50 using hash chains, e.g. blockchains or hash trees

Abstract

An example operation may include one or more of storing encrypted IoT data as transactions in a blockchain, the IoT data being captured by one or more edge devices of an IoT network, receiving an identification of an event, and in response, retrieving encrypted IoT transaction data stored in the blockchain which is associated with the event, decrypting, via a blockchain node, the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event and generating anonymized data of the event from the decrypted IoT transaction data in which personally identifiable information is anonymized, and outputting information concerning the anonymized data of the event to one or more of a user device and a display device.

Claims

1. A blockchain processing method comprising:

assigning, via a blockchain, a unique transaction key to one or more edge devices to sign captured encrypted Internet of Things (IoT) data to be sent to the blockchain, thereby enabling the blockchain to verify that the encrypted IoT data is received from a trusted source;

storing the encrypted IoT data as transactions in the blockchain, the IoT data being captured by the one or more edge devices of an IoT network;

receiving an identification of an event, and in response, retrieving encrypted IoT transaction data stored in the blockchain which is associated with the event;

decrypting, via a blockchain node, the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event and generating anonymized data of the event from the decrypted IoT transaction data in which personally identifiable information is anonymized; and

outputting information concerning the anonymized data of the event to one or more of a user device and a display device.

2. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the event comprises a violation of law, and the stored IoT data comprises information captured of at least one of a person and an object while involved in the violation of law.

3. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved IoT transaction data comprises an image captured of the event being performed, and the generating the anonymized data comprises removing personally identifiable information included in the image captured of the event being performed.

4. The blockchain processing method of claim 3, wherein the removing comprises removing personally identifiable information of one or more of a person and an object included in the image that is not involved in performing the event.

5. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the retrieved IoT transaction data comprises a plurality of images captured of the event, and the generating the anonymized data comprises removing one or more images from among the plurality of images which include personally identifiable information.

6. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the stored IoT data comprises an image captured by a crowdsourcing user device, and the generating the anonymized data comprises removing personally identifiable information of the crowdsourcing user device that captured the image.

7. The blockchain processing method of claim 6, wherein the removing the personally identifiable information of the crowdsourcing user device comprises removing one or more of device identification, a phone number, a username, an email address, and a name, associated with the crowdsourcing user device.

8. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the decrypting the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event and the generating the anonymized data of the event are performed by a smart contract executing on the blockchain node.

9. The blockchain processing method of claim 1, wherein the stored encrypted IoT transaction data is signed by an edge device using a unique transaction certificate that is known to the blockchain node but which is anonymous to other devices.

10. A blockchain computing system comprising:

a processor configured to;

assign, via a blockchain, a unique transaction key to one or more edge devices to sign captured encrypted Internet of Things (IoT) data to be sent to a blockchain, thereby enabling the blockchain to verify that the encrypted IoT data is received from a trusted source; and

a storage configured to;

store the encrypted IoT data as transactions in the blockchain, the IoT data being captured by the one or more edge devices of an IoT network, and

wherein the processor is further configured to;

receive an identification of an event, and in response, retrieve encrypted IoT transaction data stored in the blockchain which is associated with the event, decrypt the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event, and generate anonymized data of the event from the decrypted IoT transaction data in which personally identifiable information is anonymized, and

output information concerning the anonymized data of the event to one or more of a user device and a display device.

11. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the event comprises a violation of law, and the stored IoT data comprises information captured of at least one of a person and an object while involved in the violation of law.

12. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the retrieved IoT transaction data comprises an image captured of the event being performed, and the processor is configured to generate the anonymized data by removing personally identifiable information included in the image captured of the event being performed.

13. The blockchain computing system of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to:

remove personally identifiable information of one or more of a person and an object included in the image that is not involved in performing the event.

14. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the retrieved IoT transaction data comprises a plurality of images captured of the event, and the processor generates the anonymized data by removing one or more images from among the plurality of images which include personally identifiable information.

15. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the stored IoT data comprises an image captured by a crowdsourcing user device, and the processor is further configured to:

generate the anonymized data by removing personally identifiable information of the crowdsourcing user device that captured the image.

16. The blockchain computing system of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to:

remove the personally identifiable information of the crowdsourcing user device by removing one or more of device identification, a phone number, a username, an email address, and a name, associated with the crowdsourcing user device.

17. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to:

execute a smart contract that performs the decrypting of the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event and the generating the anonymized data of the event.

18. The blockchain computing system of claim 10, wherein the stored encrypted IoT transaction data is signed by an edge device using a unique transaction certificate that is known to the blockchain node but which is anonymous to other devices.

19. A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store one or more instructions that when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

assigning, via a blockchain, a unique transaction key to one or more edge devices to sign captured encrypted Internet of Things (IoT) data to be sent to a blockchain, thereby enabling the blockchain to verify that the encrypted IoT data is received from a trusted source;

storing the encrypted IoT data as transactions in the blockchain, the IoT data being captured by the one or more edge devices of an IoT network;

receiving an identification of an event, and in response, retrieving encrypted IoT transaction data stored in the blockchain which is associated with the event;

decrypting, via a blockchain node, the retrieved IoT transaction data associated with the event and generating anonymized data of the event from the decrypted IoT transaction data in which personally identifiable information is anonymized; and

outputting information concerning the anonymized data of the event to one or more of a user device and a display device.

20. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 19, wherein the stored encrypted IoT transaction data is signed by an edge device using a unique transaction certificate that is known to the blockchain node but which is anonymous to other devices.