Information vault, data format conversion services system and method

• US 20060083214A1
• Filed: 10/14/2004
• Published: 04/20/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 10/14/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Grim, Clifton E. III, Wilson, John D., Schmidt, Christopher I.
• Granted Patent: US 8,620,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/258 Data format conversion from or to a database
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0442 wherein the sending and receiving network entities apply asymmetric encryption, i.e. different keys for encryption and decryption cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for public-key encryption H04L9/30

Abstract

A system and method for providing a secured information vault so that individual owners of personal data may control and manage the access and dissemination of the personal data and provides for the owner of the personal data to receive compensation for the use of the personal data, thus, in effect, the personal data becomes a valuable commodity analogous to money. Centralized protected storage of personal data is provided, which minimizes the number of copies that may be in existence. The personal data may be converted from one format to another by subscribing to format conversion services provide by the vault. The vault regularly updates stored personal data per the subscribed services so that the personal data is available in the latest data formats used by various industries. A fee may be charged for format conversions.

Claims

1. A method of converting information formats comprising the steps of:

defining one or more data conversion descriptions for converting from at least one data format to at least one other data format;

creating at least one conversion subscription for a user specifying the one or more data conversion descriptions; and

converting automatically on a predetermined time basis from the at least one data format to the at least one other data format based on the one or more data conversion descriptions specified by the at least one conversion subscription to maintain information in the at least one other data format.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising charging a fee for the at least one conversion subscription.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the creating step includes choosing one or more data items associated with the user for maintaining a latest format version.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising calculating and displaying a cost associated with the at least one conversion subscription for the chosen one or more data items and storing the conversion subscription information in a secured vault conversion database for the chosen one or more data items.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining the one or more data conversion descriptions includes specifying one or more rules including a from-format, a to-format, and a conversion routine identifier.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the conversion routine identifier identifies an application routine for performing the converting.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the converting step includes converting on a timed basis or upon availability of a new format conversion routine.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering the user for identifying the user for creating the one or more conversion subscriptions.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising renewing the conversion subscription and updating an existing stored conversion subscription in a secured vault.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the renewing includes charging a fee.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the conversion subscription includes a time duration of the conversion subscription.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

displaying the at least one conversion subscription of the user;

selecting the at least one of the conversion subscription to delete; and

deleting the selected at least one conversion subscription.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the defining the one or more data conversion descriptions step is performed asynchronously from the creating at least one conversion subscription for a user step.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising for each one or more data conversion descriptions on a configurable interval:

for each of the at least one conversion subscription in a conversion database,

querying the conversion database for data items having a from-format type matching the each one or more data conversion descriptions from-format type and having an identifier matching an owner of the each conversion subscription; and

for each positive matching result of the querying, converting the data items to a to-format as specified in the matching each one or more data conversion descriptions.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

decrypting the data items from a secured vault using a private key of the owner prior to the converting to a to-format and encrypting the converted data items using a public key of the secured vault; and

depositing the encrypted data items back into the secured vault; and

updating an information index of the secured vault to track the encrypted data items.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising notifying the owner with information concerning each of the converted data items.

17. A method of converting formats, comprising:

creating one or more conversion subscription accounts in a secured vault specifying at least one data item to maintain in a newest data format;

adding one or more conversion rules to the secured vault, each of the one or more conversion rules specifying a from-format, a to-format and a conversion routine; and

converting at least one of the data items to a different data type using the conversion routine specified in the one or more conversion rules such that the at least one of the one or more data items is maintained in the different data type.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the converting is performed automatically on a configurable basis by scanning for a match between a conversion rule from-format to a to-format of the one or more data items.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the converting step further matches a conversion subscription account specifying the one or more conversion rules.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising updating the secured vault with the converted at least one of the one or more data items.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising canceling at least one of the one or more conversion subscription accounts.

22. The method of claim 17, further comprising charging a fee for the creating or converting steps.

23. A secure information vault, comprising:

a data storage medium which securely contains information, a plurality of data formats and a plurality of data conversion descriptions; and

a data conversion system which converts the information from a first format of the plurality of data formats to a second format of the plurality of data formats using at least one of the plurality of data conversion descriptions.

24. The system of claim 23, further comprising a charging system for charging a fee for converting from the first format to the second format.

25. The system of claim 23, further comprising a registration system for registering a plurality of users for enabling access to the secured information vault.

26. The system of claim 23, further comprising a subscription system for maintaining at least one subscription to the data conversion system for a user of the plurality of users, wherein the at least one subscription defines at least one data format of the plurality of data formats to be converted and a term of the at least one subscription.

27. The system of claim 23, wherein the data conversion system converts on a periodic basis the information from the first format to a second format using at least one of the plurality of data conversion descriptions and based on one or more subscriptions.

28. The system of claim 23, wherein the data conversion descriptions include defining the first format as a from-format, and the second format as a to-format, and a conversion routine identifier.

29. The system of claim 23, further comprising an audit logging system to log transactions by the data conversion system.

30. The system of claim 23, further comprising an encryption and decryption system for encrypting and decrypting the information contained in the data storage medium.

31. The system of claim 23, further comprising a means for authenticating a user of the data conversion system.

32. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:

define one or more data conversion descriptions for converting from at least one data format to at least one other data format;

create at least one conversion subscription for a user specifying the one or more data conversion descriptions; and

convert automatically on a predetermined time basis from the at least one data format to the at least one other data format based on the one or more data conversion descriptions specified by the at least one conversion subscription.