Anonymous shipment brokering

• US 9,262,623 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2012
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/22/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: McAfee, LLC
• Original Assignee: McAfee, Inc. (McAfee, LLC)
• Inventors: Stecher, Martin
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Chau
• Assistant Examiner(s): Jamshidi, Ghodrat
• Application Number:
  US13/591,678
• Publication Number:
  US 20140059693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,273 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/45 Structures or tools for the administration of authentication
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/08 Logistics, e.g. warehousing, loading or distribution; Inventory or stock management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/00 Network architectures or network communication protocols for network security cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for secret or secure communication H04L9/00; network architectures or network communication protocols for wireless network security H04W12/00; security arrangements for protecting computers or computer systems against unauthorised activity G06F21/00
• 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

Abstract

A request is received for a brokered shipment from a particular entity to an anonymous user. A shipping identifier is obtained from a shipping entity, on behalf of the particular entity, for the shipment from the particular entity to the anonymous user. The shipping identifier is communicated to the particular entity and the shipping identifier is associated with a unique user identifier unique, within a system, to a pairing of the anonymous user with the particular entity. Address information of the anonymous user is unknown to the particular entity, and address information is obtained from the shipping entity for the anonymous user. In some aspects, address information of the particular user is received from a second entity and applied to the shipment identifier in connection with delivery of the shipment to the particular user.

Claims

1. At least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:

receive first data from a first entity, wherein the first data comprises a first input generated from a secret value of the first entity;

perform a hash of the first input with a second input secret to a privacy broker system to generate a private identifier corresponding to a particular user, wherein the privacy broker system comprises at least one processor device, the particular user is anonymous to the privacy broker system, and the private identifier is generated jointly with the first entity;

receive, at the privacy broker system, second data describing a request for a brokered shipment from a particular entity to the particular user, wherein the particular user is also anonymous to the particular entity;

send data comprising a shipping identifier request corresponding to the received request for a brokered shipment to a shipping service system;

receive third data from the shipping service system, at the privacy broker system and on behalf of the particular entity, wherein the third data identifies a shipping identifier from the shipping service system for the shipment from the particular entity to the particular user;

send fourth data, from the privacy broker system to the particular entity over a network connection, identifying to the particular entity the shipping identifier associated with the brokered shipment; and

associate the shipping identifier with the private identifier, wherein the user private identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the particular user with the particular entity, wherein address information of the particular user is unknown to the particular entity and the privacy broker system, the private identifier abstracts identity of the particular user, and address information is obtained by the shipping service system for the particular user.

2. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein first entity comprises an identity provider, and the identity provider stores user data for a plurality of users including the particular user.

3. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the request identifies attributes of the shipment.

4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the attributes include at least one of package weight, package size, package contents, departing location, and destination region.

5. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein identity of the particular entity is anonymous to the shipping service system and arranging the purchase preserves anonymity of the particular entity.

6. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the shipment address is provided by the particular user to the shipping service system referencing the shipping identifier.

7. The storage medium of claim 1, wherein the shipment address is provided to the shipping service system by an identity provider system associated with the particular user and referencing the shipping identifier.

8. At least one non-transitory machine accessible storage medium having instructions stored thereon, the instructions when executed on a machine, cause the machine to:

receive, at a computing system, first data describing a request for a shipment identifier from a privacy broker on behalf of an anonymous first entity for a particular shipment from the first entity to a particular user, wherein the particular user is anonymous to the privacy broker and the first entity, address information of the particular user is unknown to the privacy broker and the first entity, and the first entity is anonymous to a shipping service to send the particular shipment;

generate, at the computing system, the shipment identifier;

send second data describing the shipment identifier over a network to at least one of the privacy broker and the first entity for forwarding to the particular user;

receive third data comprising address information of the particular user from a second entity, wherein the address information is identified as associated with the shipment identifier, the second entity comprises an identity provider maintaining user information for a plurality of users including the particular user, the identity provider identifies the address information of the particular user based on a user identifier for the particular user, the user identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the particular user with the first entity, and the user identifier is generated using a joint hash by the privacy broker and the identity provider; and

associate the address information with the shipment identifier throughout delivery of the particular shipment to the particular user.

9. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the request identifies attributes of the particular shipment, wherein the instructions, when executed, are to further cause the machine to calculate a shipping cost for the particular shipment based on the identified attributes.

10. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the second entity is the particular user.

11. The storage medium of claim 8, wherein the instructions, when executed, are to further cause the machine to identify data that identifies deposit of a parcel corresponding to the particular shipment with a shipping service associated with the shipment identifier, wherein the parcel includes the shipment identifier and is deposited without a destination address and association of the address information with the shipment identifier is to cause the address information to be applied to the parcel after the deposit.

12. A method comprising:

receiving first data from a first entity, wherein the first data comprises a first input generated from a secret value of the first entity;

performing a hash of the first input with a second input secret to a privacy broker system to generate a private identifier corresponding to a particular user, wherein the privacy broker system comprises at least one processor device, the particular user is anonymous to the privacy broker system, and the private identifier is generated jointly with the first entity;

sending data comprising a shipping identifier request corresponding to the received request for a brokered shipment to a shipping service system;

receiving, at the privacy broker system comprising at least one processor device, second data describing a request for a brokered shipment from a particular entity to the particular user, wherein the particular user is also anonymous to the particular entity;

receiving third data from the shipping service system, at the privacy broker system and on behalf of the particular entity, wherein the third data identifies a shipping identifier from the shipping service system for the shipment from the particular entity to the particular user;

sending fourth data, from the privacy broker system to the particular entity over a network connection, identifying to the particular entity the shipping identifier associated with the brokered shipment; and

associating the shipping identifier with the private identifier, wherein the private identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the particular user with the particular entity, wherein address information of the particular user is unknown to the particular entity and the privacy broker system, the private identifier abstracts identity of the particular user, and address information is obtained by the shipping service system for the particular user.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, at a computing system comprising at least one processor device, first data describing a request for a shipment identifier from a privacy broker on behalf of an anonymous first entity for a particular shipment from the first entity to a particular user, wherein the particular user is anonymous to the privacy broker and the first entity, address information of the particular user is unknown to the privacy broker and the first entity, and the first entity is anonymous to a shipping service to send the particular shipment;

generating the shipment identifier;

sending second data describing the shipment identifier over a network to at least one of the privacy broker and the first entity for forwarding to the particular user;

receiving third data comprising address information of the particular user from a second entity, wherein the address information is identified as associated with the shipment identifier, the second entity comprises an identity provider maintaining user information for a plurality of users including the particular user, the identity provider identifies the address information of the particular user based on a user identifier for the particular user, the user identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the particular user with the first entity, and the user identifier is generated using a joint hash by the privacy broker and the identity provider; and

associating the address information with the shipment identifier throughout delivery of the particular shipment to the particular user.

14. A system comprising:

at least one processor device;

at least one memory element; and

a privacy broker, adapted when executed by the at least one processor device to;

receive data from a first entity, wherein the first data comprises a first input generated from a secret value of the first entity;

perform a hash of the first input with a second input secret to the privacy broker to generate a private identifier corresponding to a particular user, wherein the privacy broker comprises at least one processor device, the particular user is anonymous to the privacy broker, and the private identifier is generated jointly with the first entity;

receive a request for a brokered shipment from a particular entity to the particular user, wherein the particular user is also anonymous to the particular entity;

obtain, on behalf of the particular entity, a shipping identifier from a shipping entity for the shipment from the particular entity to the particular user;

send the shipping identifier to the particular entity; and

associate the shipping identifier with the private identifier, wherein the private identifier is unique, within a system, to a pairing of the particular user with the particular entity, wherein address information of the particular user is unknown to the particular entity and the privacy broker, the user identifier abstracts identity of the particular user, and address information of the particular user is obtained by the shipping entity for the brokered shipment.