Method and apparatus for controlling the presentation of confidential content

• US 8,091,138 B2
• Filed: 09/06/2007
• Issued: 01/03/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/06/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: PayPal, Inc. (PayPal Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Yellepeddy, Krishna Kishore, Johnson, Conrad James, McKinstry, Helen, Statham, Perry Lee, Tipton, Sandra Lee
• Primary Examiner(s): Shiferaw, Eleni
• Assistant Examiner(s): FIELDS, COURTNEY D
• Application Number:
  US11/851,224
• Publication Number:
  US 20090070881A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,580 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26, 726/28, 726/3, 726/1, 705/14.27, 705/14.52, 380/28
• US Class Current: 726/26
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0226 Incentive systems for frequent usage, e.g. frequent flyer miles programs or point systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics

Abstract

A computer implemented method and apparatus for controlling the presentation of information. In response to receiving a request to present the information, a process confirms that conditions for presentation of the information are satisfied using a set of presentation policies, wherein the conditions are specified in the set of presentation policies, and wherein the conditions comprise a status of a user and a setting of the user. The process then determines whether confidential content is present in the information. Responsive to the confidential content being present, the process redacts the confidential content before presenting the information to a user, and then updates a presentation history with metadata describing the presentation of the information comprising the confidential content.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for controlling presentation of information, the computer implemented method comprising:

responsive to receiving a request to present the information, confirming that conditions for presentation of the information are satisfied using a set of presentation policies, wherein the conditions are specified in the set of presentation policies, and wherein the conditions comprise a status of a user and a physical setting of the user;

determining, by a processing unit, whether confidential content is present in the information;

responsive to the confidential content being present, redacting the confidential content before presenting the information to a user; and

updating a presentation history with metadata describing the presentation of the information comprising the confidential content.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the status of the user comprises at least one of an authority of the user and an availability of the user.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein redacting the confidential content comprises at least one of obscuring the confidential content, removing the confidential content, and replacing the confidential content with non-confidential content.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining step further comprises at least one of detecting a confidential designation of the information and comparing a content of the information with the presentation history.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the conditions further comprise at least one of a date, a time, and a type of device.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the physical setting of the user comprises surroundings of the user.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the surroundings of the user comprise people located in a vicinity of the user.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the conditions comprise a condition that no other people are present with the user.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the metadata comprises first information for whether the confidential content was presented and second information for the conditions.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the conditions further comprise a type of device, wherein the type of device is selected from a portable device and a non-portable device.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to the confidential content being present, determining whether the user wishes to present the confidential content prior to updating the presentation history with the metadata describing the presentation of the information comprising the confidential content.

6. A computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer recordable medium including computer usable program code for controlling a presentation of information, the computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code for confirming that conditions for presentation of the information are satisfied using a set of presentation policies, wherein the conditions are specified in the set of presentation policies, and wherein the conditions comprise a status of a user and a physical setting of the user;

computer usable program code for determining whether confidential content is present in the information;

computer usable program code for redacting the confidential content before presenting the information to a user in response to the confidential content being present; and

computer usable program code for updating a presentation history with metadata describing the presentation of the information comprising the confidential content.

7. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the status of the user comprises at least one of an authority of the user and an availability of the user.

8. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein redacting the confidential content comprises at least one of obscuring the confidential content, removing the confidential content, and replacing the confidential content with non-confidential content.

9. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the determining step further comprises at least one of detecting a confidential designation of the information and comparing a content of the information with the presentation history.

10. The computer program product of claim 6, wherein the conditions further comprise at least one of a date, a time, and a type of device.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a bus system;

a communications system connected to the bus system;

a memory connected to the bus system, wherein the memory includes computer usable program code; and

a processing unit connected to the bus system, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable program code to confirm, in response to receiving a request to present the information, that conditions for presentation of the information are satisfied using a set of presentation policies, wherein the conditions are specified in the set of presentation policies, and wherein the conditions comprise a status of a user and a physical setting of the user;

determines whether confidential content is present in the information;

redacts the confidential content before presenting the information to a user in response to the confidential content being present; and

updates a presentation history with metadata describing the presentation of the information comprising the confidential content.