Method and System for Protecting Cable Television Subscriber-Specific Information Allowing Limited Subset Access

• US 20100122276A1
• Filed: 12/18/2009
• Published: 05/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/24/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Comcast Cable Communications LLC (Comcast Corporation)
• Inventors: Chen, Michael A.
• Granted Patent: US 7,958,523 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04H 60/64 for providing detail information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/252 Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2543 Billing , e.g. for subscription services payment schemes, architectures or protocols G06Q20/00; e-commerce G06Q30/00; arrangements for billing for the use of broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/21
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44213 Monitoring of end-user related data arrangements for monitoring the users' behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44222 Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programs or purchase activity monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6581 Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/17318 Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests

Abstract

A television program ratings method and system includes transferring information associated with households from a cable provider to a ratings provider such that the ratings provider has access to information associated with sampled households and lacks access to information associated with non-sampled households. To this end, identity information and usage information associated with the households are respectively anonymized and encrypted. Knowledge of the identities of the sampled households enables the anonymized identity information and the encrypted usage information for the sampled households to be respectively de-anonymized and decrypted. The ratings provider knows which households are sampled households. As such, the ratings provider de-anonymizes and decrypts the information associated with the sampled households and then uses the de-anonymized and decrypted information to determine television program ratings. The cable provider anonymizes and encrypts the information for all households as the cable provider does not know which households are sampled households.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

generating, by a computer, program usage records comprising program usage information for a plurality of households, and corresponding household identification information; and

encrypting the program usage information in each of the records, wherein said each record'"'"'s encrypted program usage information is decryptable using a distinct decryption key that is based on the record'"'"'s corresponding household identification information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the household identification information is an address of a household computing device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the records include records for non-sampled households of a ratings provider.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

anonymizing the household identification in the records; and

outputting the records in a usage report.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the usage report includes records for both sampled and non-sampled households of a ratings provider.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising outputting a usage report containing anonymized and unencrypted household identification with corresponding encrypted program usage information.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the distinct decryption key for each record is also based on a report key common to multiple records.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a computer, a report containing records for a plurality of households, each said record comprising encrypted program usage information for a corresponding household; and

decrypting said each record with a distinct decryption key that is based on household identification information for the record'"'"'s corresponding household.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the records also include anonymized household identification information for a corresponding household, the method further comprising:

using a non-anonymized version of a household'"'"'s identification information to locate a record corresponding to the household.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the household identification information is an address of a household computing device.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the household computing device is a television set-top box.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising identifying records for ratings provider sampled and non-sampled households in the report based on anonymized versions of household identification information.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising generating a household record'"'"'s distinct decryption key using non-anonymized household identification information for that household in combination with a report key common to multiple records in the report.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor; and

a computer-readable medium storing instructions to cause the processor to perform the following upon execution;

generate program usage records comprising program usage information for a plurality of households, and corresponding household identification information; and

encrypt the program usage information in each of the records, wherein said each record'"'"'s encrypted program usage information is decryptable using a distinct decryption key that is based on the record'"'"'s corresponding household identification information.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the household identification information is an address of a household computing device.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the records include records for non-sampled households of a ratings provider.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, the computer-readable medium further storing instructions to cause the processor to perform the following upon execution:

anonymize the household identification in the records; and

output the records in a usage report.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the usage report includes records for both sampled and non-sampled households of a ratings provider.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, the computer-readable medium further storing instructions to cause the processor to perform the following upon execution:

output a usage report containing anonymized and unencrypted household identification with corresponding encrypted program usage information.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the distinct decryption key for each record is also based on a report key common to multiple records.