Managing personal privacy settings

• US 9,092,642 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2012
• Issued: 07/28/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Prakash, Gyan, Poornachandran, Rajesh
• Primary Examiner(s): Zee, Edward
• Application Number:
  US13/629,389
• Publication Number:
  US 20140090091A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,034 Days
• Field of Search: 726/26, 726/27, 726/28, 726/29, 705/319
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/955 using information identifiers, e.g. uniform resource locators [URL]
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6272 by registering files or documents with a third party
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 8/61 Installation

Abstract

Various systems and methods for managing user information on mobile devices are described herein. A selection of user information is received from a user operating a user device. A privacy setting for the selection of user information is received from the user, the privacy setting to permit or deny access to the user information to a third-party application. The selection of user information and the privacy setting is transmitted from the user device to a receiving device, where the receiving device is configured to enforce the privacy setting for the third-party application executing on the receiving device.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium for managing user information comprising a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device, cause the computing device to:

receive at a user device from a source device, user information and a privacy setting for the user information, the user information related to that of a remote user, and the privacy setting used to permit or deny access to the user information to a third-party application executing on the user device, wherein the user information and privacy setting are stored in a data store at the source device and organized into an information profile reflecting an aspect of the remote user, and wherein the information profile is associated with a user of the user device;

store the user information and privacy setting at the user device;

attempt to install the third-party application on the user device;

check the privacy setting for the user information;

allow or deny the third-party application to install based on the privacy setting;

, and

manage a request to access the user information from the third-party application based on the privacy setting.

2. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the source device comprises an intermediary device that stores and forwards the user information and the privacy setting.

3. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive user information and the privacy setting further comprise instructions to:

recurrently connect to the source device to determine whether user information is available to download; and

download the user information and the privacy setting.

4. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 3, further comprising instructions to:

access stored user information, the stored user information being previously downloaded and stored at the user device; and

update at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting downloaded from the source device.

5. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, wherein the instructions to receive user information and the privacy setting comprise instructions to:

receive a push notification from the source device; and

in response to receiving the push notification, connect with the source device and retrieve the user information and the privacy setting.

6. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 5, further comprising instructions to:

access stored user information, the stored user information being previously received and stored at the user device; and

update at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting received from the source device.

7. The at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 1, further comprising instructions to:

execute the third-party application on the user device;

check the privacy setting for the user information; and

allow or deny access to the user information for the third-party application based on the privacy setting.

8. A system for managing user information, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory including a plurality of instructions that in response to being executed on the processor, cause the processor to;

receive at a user device from a source device, user information and a privacy setting for the user information, the user information related to that of a remote user, and the privacy setting used to permit or deny access to the user information to a third-party application executing on the user device, wherein the user information and privacy setting are stored in a data store at the source device and organized into an information profile reflecting an aspect of the remote user, and wherein the information profile is associated with a user of the user device;

store the user information and privacy setting at the user device;

attempt to install the third-party application on the user device;

check the privacy setting for the user information;

allow or deny the third-party application to install based on the privacy setting; and

manage a request to access the user information from the third-party application based on the privacy setting.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the source device comprises an intermediary device that stores and forwards the user information and the privacy setting.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions to receive user information and the privacy setting further comprise instructions to:

recurrently connect to the source device to determine whether user information is available to download; and

download the user information and the privacy setting.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising instructions to:

access stored user information, the stored user information being previously downloaded and stored at the user device; and

update at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting downloaded from the source device.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions to receive user information and the privacy setting comprise instructions to:

receive a push notification from the source device; and

in response to receiving the push notification, connect with the source device and retrieve the user information and the privacy setting.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising instructions to:

access stored user information, the stored user information being previously received and stored at the user device; and

update at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting received from the source device.

14. The system of claim 8, further comprising instructions to:

execute the third-party application on the user device;

check the privacy setting for the user information; and

allow or deny access to the user information for the third-party application based on the privacy setting.

15. A method for managing user information, the method comprising:

receiving at a user device from a source device, user information and a privacy setting for the user information, the user information related to that of a remote user, and the privacy setting used to permit or deny access to the user information to a third-party application executing on the user device, wherein the user information and privacy setting are stored in a data store at the source device and organized into an information profile reflecting an aspect of the remote user, and wherein the information profile is associated with a user of the user device;

storing the user information and privacy setting at the user device;

attempting to install the third-party application on the user device;

checking the privacy setting for the user information;

allowing or denying the third-party application to install based on the privacy setting; and

managing a request to access the user information from the third-party application based on the privacy setting.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the source device comprises an intermediary device that stores and forwards the user information and the privacy setting.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving user information and the privacy setting further comprises:

recurrently connecting to the source device to determine whether user information is available to download; and

downloading the user information and the privacy setting.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

accessing stored user information, the stored user information being previously downloaded and stored at the user device; and

updating at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting downloaded from the source device.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein receiving user information and the privacy setting comprises:

receiving a push notification from the source device; and

in response to receiving the push notification, connecting with the source device and retrieve the user information and the privacy setting.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

accessing stored user information, the stored user information being previously received and stored at the user device; and

updating at least one of the stored user information or corresponding privacy setting, based on the user information and privacy setting received from the source device.

21. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

executing the third-party application on the user device;

checking the privacy setting for the user information; and

allowing or denying access to the user information for the third-party application based on the privacy setting.