REPACKAGING DEMOGRAPHIC DATA WITH ANONYMOUS IDENTIFIER

• US 20130326007A1
• Filed: 06/04/2012
• Published: 12/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Turner, William Bedford, Remahl, David p.
• Granted Patent: US 9,363,238 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0271 Personalized advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0281 Proxies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 50/14 Marketing, i.e. market research and analysis, surveying, promotions, advertising, buyer profiling, customer management or rewards

Abstract

Using uniquely generated identifiers in a network-based ecosystem in which a plurality of client devices request media content and software applications from online distribution system and additionally request invitational content from invitational content providers. Separating users'"'"' demographic data from a device-specific identifier in favor of uniquely generated identifiers and using the client device to enforce the substation of uniquely generated identifiers in favor of a device identifier, thereby using the client device to serve as a proxy in creating a firewall to exclude system partners from access to a device identifier.

Claims

1. A method for execution on a computing device comprising:

receiving, from a first computer service, a request for a user identifier for use in uniquely identifying the user of the computing device;

assigning a first user identifier specific to the first computer service to identify the user of the computing device;

sending the first user identifier to the first computer service in fulfillment of the request;

receiving from a second computer service, a request for a user identifier for use in uniquely identifying the user of the computing device;

assigning a second user identifier specific to the second computer service to identify the user of the computing device; and

sending the second user identifier to the second computer service in fulfillment of the request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the requests for a user identifier are also accompanied with a request for user profile information.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining information to be shared with the second service, the information to be shared with the first service being different than information shared with the first service.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user identifier is uniquely generated by the computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the uniquely generated identifier is persistently used in subsequent interactions between the computing device and the second computer service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein sending the second user identifier to the second computer service in fulfillment of the request further comprises sending the first user identifier along with the second user identifier for the purpose of finding prior instances of the first identifier used by the second computer service and replacing the prior instances of the first identifier with the second identifier.

7. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

determining that a user of the computer device has requested that user profile information not be used by the second computer service.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the second user identifier is uniquely generated by the computing device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the uniquely generated identifier is persistently used in subsequent interactions between the computing device and the second computer service.

10. A system comprising:

a content distribution system including one or more servers configured for distributing content to a plurality of client devices, wherein the one or more servers require that a user of a client device have an account identifier;

a plurality of content providers configured for delivering content assets;

at least one client device having a unique device identification, wherein the at least one client device is configured for sending requests to the content distribution system along with the unique device identification and the account identifier, and wherein the at least one client device is further configured with a repackaging module configured for;

generating a unique anonymous identifier; and

sending a request for content to at least one content partner along with the unique anonymous identifier; and

wherein at least one content provider is configured for subsequently associating the at least one client device with the unique anonymous identifier; and

delivering content assets to the at least one client device for publication on the client device.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the at least one client device is configured for generating a persistent, unique anonymous identifier for each content provider.

12. The system of claim 10, further comprising one or more databases for storing personal and demographic data relating to the users of the client devices, wherein the content distribution system is configured for sending the demographic data relating to users of the client devices to the client devices.

13. The system of claim 10, wherein the repackaging module configured for repackaging the unique anonymous identifier with the user'"'"'s demographic data, sending a request for content to at least one content partner along with the unique anonymous identifier and the user'"'"'s demographic data, and selecting content assets based, at least in part, on the demographic data.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of partners includes at least one invitational content server containing a plurality of invitational content assets, wherein the at least one invitational content server is configured for delivering targeted invitational content assets to a plurality of client devices based on the demographic data.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the content distribution system is further configured for segmenting the demographic data into one or more segment brackets.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the repackaging module is further configured for repackaging at least one additional content restriction with the unique anonymous identifier and the user'"'"'s demographic data.

17. The system of claim 10, wherein at least one content provider uses the unique anonymous identifier to determine whether a request for content comes from a human user and not a Bot.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising:

a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions thereon; and

the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a processing device, cause the processing device to perform a method, comprising;

receiving, from a first computer service, a request for a user identifier for use in uniquely identifying the user of the computing device;

assigning a first user identifier specific to the first computer service to identify the user of the computing device;

sending the first user identifier to the first computer service in fulfillment of the request;

receiving from a second computer service, a request for a user identifier for use in uniquely identifying the user of the computing device;

assigning a second user identifier specific to the second computer service to identify the user of the computing device; and

sending the second user identifier to the second computer service in fulfillment of the request.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the requests for a user identifier are also accompanied with a request for user profile information.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable instructions, when executed by a processing device, further cause the processing device to perform a method, comprising:

determining information to be shared with the second service, the information to be shared with the first service being different than information shared with the first service.

21. A method of ensuring user privacy comprising:

receiving, by an invitational content server, one or more requests for invitational content from a client device, wherein the requests comprise packaged data including segmented demographic data and an anonymous client identifier;

enforcing, by the invitational content server, one or more privacy compliance requirements for requests for invitational content received from a client device, including;

analyzing whether the segmented demographic data contains a unique device identifier that was previously used to ascertain the identity of the user when a client device obtained user demographic data from a database;

replacing, in the invitational content server, instances of the unique device identifier with the anonymous client identifier;

determining if the client device making the request for invitational content is associated with a user who has opted out of receiving invitational content that uses segmented user data in a decision relating to what invitational content to serve to the user; and

ignoring, in a decision relating to what invitational content to serve a user, segmented user data which was received in the past by a user for who has since been determined to have opted out of receiving invitational content that uses segmented user data; and

repeating, by the invitational content server, the process of enforcement on a regular basis upon receiving subsequent requests of invitational content from the client device.