PERSONAL CRITERIA VERIFICATION USING FRACTIONAL INFORMATION

• US 20110282971A1
• Filed: 07/22/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kioba Processing, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Hoshiko LLC (Raoul Management LLC)
• Inventors: Shuster, Gary Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 8,321,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/126 the source of the received data
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99935 Query augmenting and refining, e.g. inexact access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

A method for verifying the identity of users connected to a computer network comprises providing fractional information queries to users, wherein responses to these individual queries are not sufficient to identify the user. This method further comprises receiving responses to these fractional information queries and comparing these responses to data available from within a computer network. A set of potential matches to the user is generated according to these responses and is used in determining whether the set of potential matches is sufficient to identify the user.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing system, two or more partial identifying data items for a person requesting access to first information, wherein each of the two or more partial identifying data items includes less than all characters of respective identifying data items that are usable to identify the person;

receiving, by the computing system, a first one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a first partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items;

receiving, by the computing system, a second one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a second partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items; and

determining, by the computing system, an identity of the person based on at least a comparison of the first one or more records and the second one or more records.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing an indication of the determined identity of the person.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

based on the received first partial identifying data item, determining a type of partial identifying data to be requested; and

requesting the second partial identifying data item, wherein the second partial identifying data item is of the determined type of partial identifying data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one or more records are received from a first data source and the second one or more records are received from a second data source.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first one or more records and the second one or more records are received from a first data source.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the computing system, a third one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a third partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items, wherein said determining is further based on the third partial identifying data item.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the first one or more records are received from a first data source, the second one or more records are received from a second data source, and the third one or more records are received from a third data source.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the first information comprises one or more of a webpage, a distributable application, or an electronic file.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the first partial identifying data item comprises one of:

less than all digits of a telephone number of the person, less than all digits of a social security number of the person, less than all digits of a street address associated with the person.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining the identity of the person is based on a sufficiency criterion that indicates matching requirements between the first one or more records and the second one or more records.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

requesting third partial identifying information in response to determining that the sufficiency criterion has not been met.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining rights of the determined person to access the first information based on one or more characteristics of the determined person.

13. A tangible computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, wherein the instructions are executable by a computing system in order to cause the computing system to perform operations comprising:

receiving two or more partial identifying data items for a person requesting access to first information, wherein each of the two or more partial identifying data items includes less than all characters of respective identifying data items that are usable to identify the person;

receiving a first one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a first partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items;

receiving a second one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a second partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items; and

determining an identity of the person based on at least a comparison of the first one or more records and the second one or more records.

14. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing an indication of the determined identity of the person.

15. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

based on the received first partial identifying data item, determining a type of partial identifying data to be requested; and

requesting the second partial identifying data item, wherein the second partial identifying data item is of the determined type of partial identifying data.

16. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first one or more records are received from a first data source and the second one or more records are received from a second data source.

17. The tangible computer readable medium of claim 13, wherein the first one or more records and the second one or more records are received from a first data source.

18. A computing system comprising:

one or more processors configured to execute instructions in order to cause the computing system to;

receive two or more partial identifying data items for a person requesting access to first information, wherein each of the two or more partial identifying data items includes less than all characters of respective identifying data items that are usable to identify the person;

receive a first one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a first partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items;

receive a second one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a second partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items; and

determine an identity of the person based on at least a comparison of the first one or more records and the second one or more records.

19. The computing system of claim 18, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to execute instructions in order to cause the computing system to:

receive a third one or more records associated with individuals having attributes matching a third partial identifying data item of the two or more partial identifying data items, wherein said determining is further based on the third partial identifying data item.

20. The computing system of claim 19, wherein the first one or more records are received from a first data source, the second one or more records are received from a second data source, and the third one or more records are received from a third data source.