Systems and methods for providing anonymized user profile data

• US 9,595,051 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2015
• Issued: 03/14/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Experian Marketing Solutions, LLC (Experian plc)
• Original Assignee: Experian Marketing Solutions Incorporated (Experian plc)
• Inventors: Stack, Brian, Lientz, Andrew, Chamberlain, Simon, Abdous, Yacine, Kahn, Ray
• Primary Examiner(s): Brown, Anthony
• Assistant Examiner(s): Truong, Thong
• Application Number:
  US14/627,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20150262246A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/10 Protecting distributed programs or content, e.g. vending or licensing of copyrighted material protection in video systems or pay television H04N7/16 ; Digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 2220/10 Usage protection of distributed data files
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0269 based on user profile or attribute

Abstract

Embodiments facilitate confidential and secure sharing of anonymous user profile data to improve the delivery of customized content. Embodiments of the invention provide a data appliance to an entity such as a business to convert profile data about the business'"'"'s customers into anonymous identifiers. A similar data appliance is provided to a content provider in one embodiment to generate identifiers for its user profile data. Because the anonymous identifiers are generated with the same anonymization method, identical identifiers are likely generated from profile data of the same users. Therefore, the identifiers can be used to anonymously match the customers of the business to the users of the content provider. Therefore, data can be shared to improve customized content such as advertisements that the business wishes to place with the content provider without requiring the business to disclose customer data in an unencrypted form, and any non-matched data can remain confidential.

Claims

1. A system for sharing consumer data among a plurality of entities, comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to execute instructions that instruct the one or more computing devices to at least;

receive, at a central marketing bureau system comprising one or more computing devices, first encrypted data from a first entity for a group of individuals and second encrypted data from a second entity for the group of individuals,

wherein each respective individual in the group of individuals is associated with at least the first entity and the second entity,

wherein the first encrypted data and the second encrypted data are encrypted using a forward encrypting hash algorithm to transform personally identifiable information associated with respective individuals of the group of individuals into anonymous identifiers associated with the respective individuals, wherein encryption of the first encrypted data and the second encrypted data occurs while the personally identifiable information is in volatile memory;

append supplemental market segment data with the first encrypted data from the first entity and the second encrypted data from the second entity, wherein the respective individuals are associated with one or more market segments of the supplemental market segment data; and

periodically transmit the appended market segment data, including the first encrypted data from the first entity and the second encrypted data from the second entity, to the first entity,

wherein the first entity implements a first data appliance configured to generate an anonymized list of individuals based on matching of the appended market segment data to data associated with the group of individuals stored by the first entity, wherein the anonymized list is used to customize content provided by the first entity to one or more of the group of individuals.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the forward encrypting hash algorithm is a secure hash algorithm (“

SHA”

) or a proprietary hash algorithm.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first data appliance is configured to identify additional individuals referenced in the first encrypted data matching a criterion specified in the supplemental market segment data, wherein the additional individuals were not among the individuals on the anonymized list.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein to generate the anonymized list, the first data appliance is further configured to (1) encrypt personally identifiable information associated with an individual in order to generate a hash for the individual, and (2) match the hash to a record in the supplemental market segment data.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the supplemental market segment data further comprises matching criteria, and wherein at least some of the individuals on the anonymized list are identified based at least in part on the matching criteria.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first data appliance encrypts the personally identifiable information associated with respective individuals using a particular encryption technique, and wherein the second data appliance uses the same particular encryption technique.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the first entity is a content publisher and the second entity is an advertiser.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the instructions further instruct the one or more computing devices to transmit the supplemental market segment data, including the first encrypted data from the first entity and the second encrypted data from the second entity, to a third entity different from the first entity and the second entity.

9. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a central marketing bureau system comprising one or more computing devices, encrypted data for respective groups of individuals each associated with one or more of a plurality of third party entities, the encrypted data being encrypted to transform and anonymize personally identifiable information associated with the individuals;

for respective individuals, supplementing market segment data with the encrypted data from the third party entities; and

periodically transmitting the market segment data, including the encrypted data from each of the plurality of third party entities, to each of the plurality of third party entities,

wherein each of the plurality of third party entities implements a respective data appliance configured to use the market segment data to access an anonymized list of individuals, wherein the anonymized list is used to customize information provided by the respective entity, and wherein to generate the anonymized list, each respective data appliance is further configured to (1) encrypt personally identifiable information associated with an individual in order to generate a hash for the individual, and (2) match the hash to a record in the market segment data.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the market segment data further comprises matching criteria, and wherein at least some of the individuals on the anonymized list are identified based at least in part on the matching criteria.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein each respective data appliance encrypts the personally identifiable information associated with respective individuals using a particular encryption technique, and wherein each respective data appliance uses the same particular encryption technique.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein at least one third party entity is a content publisher and at least another third party entity is an advertiser.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the personally identifiable information comprises names and addresses associated with the plurality of individuals.

14. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, at a central marketing bureau system comprising one or more computing devices, encrypted data for respective groups of individuals each associated with one or more of a plurality of third party entities, the encrypted data being encrypted to transform and anonymize personally identifiable information associated with the individuals;

for respective individuals, supplementing market segment data with the encrypted data from the third party entities; and

periodically transmitting the market segment data, including the encrypted data from each of the plurality of third party entities, to each of the plurality of third party entities,

wherein each of the plurality of third party entities implements a respective data appliance configured to use the market segment data to access an anonymized list of individuals, wherein the anonymized list is used to customize information provided by the respective entity, and wherein each respective data appliance is configured to identify additional individuals referenced in the encrypted data matching a criterion specified in the market segment data, wherein the additional individuals were not among the individuals on the anonymized list.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the criterion is residing within an area with a common postal code.

16. A system for sharing consumer data among a plurality of entities, comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to execute software instructions in order to;

periodically distribute a market segment data structure to each of a plurality of third party entities, wherein the market segment data structure comprises a plurality of unique consumer identifiers for a corresponding plurality of consumers, including consumers associated with each of the plurality of third party entities;

wherein each particular third party entity is configured to retrieve data from a copy of the market segment data structure associated with the particular third party entity in order to obtain information regarding consumers associated with the particular third party entity, and wherein to generate the anonymized list, each respective data appliance is further configured to (1) encrypt personally identifiable information associated with an individual in order to generate a hash for the individual, and (2) match the hash to a record in the market segment data.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein at least one third party entity is a content publisher and at least another third party entity is an advertiser.

18. A system for sharing consumer data among a plurality of entities, comprising:

one or more computing devices configured to execute software instructions in order to;

periodically distribute a market segment data structure to each of a plurality of third party entities, wherein the market segment data structure comprises a plurality of unique consumer identifiers for a corresponding plurality of consumers, including consumers associated with each of the plurality of third party entities;

wherein each particular third party entity is configured to retrieve data from a copy of the market segment data structure associated with the particular third party entity in order to obtain information regarding consumers associated with the particular third party entity, and wherein to retrieve data from the copy of the market segment data structure each particular third party entity is configured to;

encrypt personally identifiable information associated with a consumer in order to generate a hash for the consumer; and

match the hash to a record in the market segment data structure.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein each particular third party entity encrypts the personally identifiable information associated the consumer using a particular encryption technique, and wherein each respective third party entity uses the same particular encryption technique.