PRIVACY PROTECTION DEVICE, PRIVACY PROTECTION METHOD, AND LIFE LOG MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

• US 20110231408A1
• Filed: 03/14/2011
• Published: 09/22/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/18/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Fukuta, Shigeki, Sasaki, Kazuo
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,392 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/748
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/104 Grouping of entities

Abstract

A privacy protection device includes an attribute update frequency management unit configured to calculate and record therein an update frequency of each attribute included in a life log of a user in response to storing of the life log; a static attribute extraction unit configured to calculate a threshold value of a change frequency on the basis of a static attribute, an attribute the update frequency of which is less than or equal to the calculated threshold value of the change frequency, the update frequency being recorded by the attribute update frequency management unit; and a notification request reception unit configured to extract the number of users satisfying the notification condition of the notification request, accept the registration of the notification request from the service provider when the extracted number of users exceeds the limit number of persons.

Claims

1. A privacy protection device used in a life log management system that collects and stores user information as a life log, accepts registration of a notification request from a service provider, and notifies the service provider of data relating to a life log of a user satisfying a notification condition of the notification request, the privacy protection device comprising:

an attribute update frequency management unit configured to calculate and record therein an update frequency of each attribute included in a life log of a user in response to storing of the life log;

a static attribute extraction unit configured to calculate a threshold value of a change frequency on the basis of a service available time period of the service provider and the number of users satisfying a preliminarily set limit number of persons, and extract, as a static attribute, an attribute the update frequency of which is less than or equal to the calculated threshold value of the change frequency, the update frequency being recorded by the attribute update frequency management unit; and

a notification request reception unit configured to extract the number of users satisfying the notification condition of the notification request, with respect to the static attribute extracted by the static attribute extraction unit, and accept the registration of the notification request from the service provider when the extracted number of users exceeds the limited number of persons.

2. The privacy protection device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a notification determination unit configured to determine whether or not an added life log of a user satisfies the notification condition of the notification request the registration of which is accepted when the life log of the user is newly added, extract another user satisfying the notification condition when the added life log of the user satisfies the notification condition, and put on hold the notification of data relating to the life log satisfying the notification condition to the service provider when the number of extracted users does not reach the limit number of persons.

3. The privacy protection device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a notification determination unit configured to determine whether or not an added life log of a user satisfies the notification condition of the notification request the registration of which is accepted when the life log of the user is newly added, extract another user satisfying the notification condition when the added life log of the user satisfies the notification condition, and notify the service provider of data relating to the life log satisfying the notification condition when the number of extracted users reaches the limit number of persons.

4. The privacy protection device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a notification request history database configured to maintain a registration history of a past notification request of the service provider; and

a service available time period determination unit configured to extract a registration history of a past notification request of a service provider from the notification request registration history database, with respect to the corresponding service provider that newly registers a notification request, and calculate a service available time period of the corresponding service provider by calculating an average duration time of the registration of the corresponding notification request.

5. A life log management system that collects and stores user information as a life log, accepts registration of a notification request from a service provider, and notifies the service provider of data relating to a life log of a user satisfying a notification condition of the notification request, the life log management system comprising:

an attribute update frequency management unit configured to calculate and record therein an update frequency of each attribute included in a life log of a user in response to storing of the life log;

a static attribute extraction unit configured to calculate a threshold value of a change frequency on the basis of a service available time period of the service provider and the number of users satisfying a preliminarily set notification condition, and extract, as a static attribute, an attribute the update frequency of which is less than or equal to the calculated threshold value of the change frequency, the update frequency being recorded by the attribute update frequency management unit;

a notification request reception unit configured to extract the number of users satisfying the notification condition of the notification request, with respect to the static attribute extracted by the static attribute extraction unit, and accept the registration of the notification request from the service provider when the extracted number of users exceeds the limit number of persons; and

a notification determination unit configured to determine whether or not an added life log of a user satisfies the notification condition of the notification request the registration of which is accepted when the life log of the user is newly added, extract another user satisfying the notification condition of the notification request when the added life log of the user satisfies the notification condition, and notify the service provider of data relating to the life log satisfying the notification condition when the number of extracted users reaches the limit number of persons.

6. A privacy protection method used for a life log management system that collects and stores user information as a life log, accepts registration of a notification request from a service provider, and provides the service provider with data relating to a life log of a user satisfying a notification condition of the notification request, the privacy protection method comprising:

an attribute update frequency management step of calculating and recording therein an update frequency of each attribute included in a life log of a user in response to storing of the life log;

a static attribute extraction step of calculating a threshold value of a change frequency on the basis of a service available time period of the service provider and the number of users satisfying a preliminarily set notification condition, and extracting, as a static attribute, an attribute the update frequency of which is less than or equal to the calculated threshold value of the change frequency, the update frequency being recorded in the attribute update frequency management step; and

a notification request reception step of extracting the number of users satisfying the notification condition of the notification request, with respect to the static attribute extracted in the static attribute extraction step, and accepting the registration of the notification request from the service provider when it is determined that the extracted number of users exceeds the limit number of persons.

7. A computer-readable storage medium including a program to cause a privacy protection method to execute operations, the program comprising:

an attribute update frequency management procedure of calculating and recording therein an update frequency of each attribute included in a life log of a user in response to storing of the life log;

a static attribute extraction procedure of calculating a threshold value of a change frequency on the basis of a service available time period of the service provider and the number of users satisfying a preliminarily set notification condition, and extracting, as a static attribute, an attribute the update frequency of which is less than or equal to the calculated threshold value of the change frequency, the update frequency being recorded in the attribute update frequency management step; and

a notification request reception procedure of extracting the number of users satisfying the notification condition of the notification request, with respect to the static attribute extracted in the static attribute extraction step, and accepting the registration of the notification request from the service provider when it is determined that the extracted number of users exceeds the limit number of persons.