METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR OBFUSCATING CONTEXT INFORMATION

• US 20100146583A1
• Filed: 12/05/2008
• Published: 06/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Tarkoma, Sasu, Prehofer, Christian
• Granted Patent: US 10,311,446 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

In some examples, context information is determined. The context information is associated with a user and based on information of a communication device associated with the user. The context information is obfuscated based on a user information, such privacy policy, user profile, user preferences, user activity, and/or any combination of the aforementioned, associated with the user. In other examples, the context information is determined based on a user location and/or user information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining context information associated with a user based on information of a communication device associated with the user; and

obfuscating the context information based on a privacy policy associated with the user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the context information based on a user location associated with a location of the communication device associated with the user.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating the obfuscated context information to a third-party server for a value added service.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an update request from the third-party server;

obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy and the update request to form a second obfuscated context information; and

communicating the second obfuscated context information to the third-party server for the value added service.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising modifying the privacy policy based on a privacy update request from the user.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy further comprising obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy and a third-party server preference.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy further comprising enlarging a user location and/or a user group based on the privacy policy.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy further comprising determining a generic user preference and/or a user category based on the privacy policy.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy further comprising selecting a landmark associated with a user location and/or the context information based on the privacy policy.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

communicating part or all of the privacy policy to a plurality of communication devices; and

receiving privacy policy information from the plurality of communication devices;

wherein the obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy further comprising obfuscating the context information based on the privacy policy and/or the privacy policy information.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving one or more media objects for obfuscation, the context information comprising metadata of the one or more media objects; and

obfuscating the metadata based on the privacy policy.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a level identification of one or more object categories for obfuscation, and

determining the privacy policy associated with the user based on the level identification.

13. A apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

determine context information associated with a user based on information of a communication device associated with the user; and

obfuscate the context information based on a privacy policy associated with the user.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor further configured to determine the context information based on a user location associated with a location of the communication device associated with the user.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor further configured to determine the context information based on user information associated with the user.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising a transceiver configured to communicate the obfuscated context information to a third-party server.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

a second transceiver configured to receive a value added service from the third-party server; and

a display device configured to play the value added service, the display device in proximity to the user location.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, further comprising:

the transceiver further configured to receive a value added service from the third-party server; and

a display configured to play the value added service, the display associated with a communication device associated with the user.

19. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by a computer, perform:

determine context information associated with a user based on information of a communication device associated with the user; and

obfuscate the context information based on a privacy policy associated with the user.

20. A apparatus comprising:

means for determining context information associated with a user based on information of a communication device associated with the user; and

means for obfuscating the context information based on a privacy policy associated with the user.