Privacy centric feature analysis for mobile devices

• US 9,313,656 B1
• Filed: 08/14/2015
• Issued: 04/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Quantcast
• Original Assignee: Quantcast
• Inventors: Feldman, Konrad S., Vogel Fernandez de Castro, Daniel, Blum, Michael R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Miller, Brandon
• Application Number:
  US14/826,618
• Time in Patent Office: 242 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Privacy centric feature analysis. A secure set of multiple mapped features is selected and provided to a mobile device. Each mapped feature maps a sharable feature to a matching criterion for an item of protected information and no combination of mapped features for a secure set are unique to an individual item of protected information. Privacy compliance instructions enable the mobile device to select a mapped feature from a received set of mapped features by identifying an item of protected information available to the mobile device which corresponds to a matching criterion found in the received set of mapped features. The sharable feature of the selected mapped feature is identified and sent to a privacy compliant destination. Advantageously, the analysis system protects the privacy of the mobile device user because it does not require the mobile device to relay protected information for the selection of customized content or relevant advertisements.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for feature analysis, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of mapped features wherein each respective mapped feature comprises an item of protected information mapped to a sharable feature;

selecting a set of at least two mapped features from the plurality;

providing the set to a mobile device; and

providing privacy compliance instructions to the mobile device for execution at the mobile device wherein the privacy compliance instructions comprise instructions for;

detecting an available item of protected information;

selecting a sharable feature from the provided set of at least two mapped features by identifying the sharable feature from the provided set that maps to the available item of protected information; and

sending the selected sharable feature in conjunction with a non-unique identifier.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of a mobile application installation installed on the mobile device, the non-unique identifier common to a cohort of mobile application installations.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of the mobile device common to a cohort of mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein:

at least one mapped feature maps multiple non-contiguous geographic locations to a sharable feature.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein:

at least one mapped feature maps an item of protected information comprising a geographic location to a sharable feature which is not a geographic location.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the available item of protected information comprises a predicted future geographic location of the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein:

one mapped feature comprises an item of protected information mapped to a plurality of sharable features;

the privacy compliance instructions comprise instructions for;

selecting the plurality of sharable features from the provided set of at least two mapped features by identifying the plurality of sharable features from the provided set that map to the available item of protected information;

and,

wherein sending comprises sending the selected plurality of sharable features in conjunction with a non-unique identifier.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the privacy compliance instructions further comprise instructions for:

rating the identified item of protected information; and

sending the rating.

9. A non-transitory computer readable medium with computer executable instructions stored thereon executed by a processor to perform a method, the method comprising:

generating a plurality of mapped features wherein each respective mapped feature comprises an item of protected information mapped to a sharable feature;

selecting a set of at least two mapped features from the plurality;

providing the set to a mobile device; and

providing privacy compliance instructions to the mobile device for execution at the mobile device wherein the privacy compliance instructions comprise instructions for;

detecting an available item of protected information;

selecting a sharable feature from the provided set of at least two mapped features by identifying the sharable feature from the provided set that maps to the available item of protected information; and

sending the selected sharable feature in conjunction with a non-unique identifier.

10. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of a mobile application installation installed on the mobile device, the non-unique identifier common to a cohort of mobile application installations.

11. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of the mobile device common to a cohort of mobile devices.

12. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

at least one mapped feature maps multiple non-contiguous geographic locations to a sharable feature.

13. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

at least one mapped feature maps an item of protected information comprising a geographic location to a sharable feature which is not a geographic location.

14. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

one mapped feature comprises an item of protected information mapped to a plurality of sharable features;

the privacy compliance instructions further comprise instructions for;

selecting the plurality of sharable features from the provided set of at least two mapped features by identifying the plurality of sharable features from the provided set that map to the available item of protected information;

and,

wherein sending comprises sending the selected plurality of sharable features in conjunction with a non-unique identifier.

15. The medium of claim 9 wherein:

the privacy compliance instructions further comprise instructions for;

rating the identified item of protected information; and

sending the rating.

16. A system comprising:

a processor; and

,

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing processor-executable computer program instructions, the instructions comprising instructions for;

generating a plurality of mapped features wherein each respective mapped feature comprises an item of protected information mapped to a sharable feature;

selecting a set of at least two mapped features from the plurality;

providing the set to a mobile device; and

providing privacy compliance instructions to the mobile device for execution at the mobile device wherein the privacy compliance instructions comprise instructions for;

detecting an available item of protected information;

selecting a sharable feature from the provided set of at least two mapped features by identifying the sharable feature from the provided set that maps to the available item of protected information; and

sending the selected sharable feature in conjunction with a non-unique identifier.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of a mobile application installation installed on the mobile device, the non-unique identifier common to a cohort of mobile application installations.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the non-unique identifier is a non-unique identifier of the mobile device common to a cohort of mobile devices.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein:

at least one mapped feature maps an item of protected information comprising a geographic location to a sharable feature which is not a geographic location.

20. The system of claim 16 wherein:

the privacy compliance instructions further comprise instructions for;

rating the identified item of protected information; and

,

sending the rating.