Managing privacy of information during shipments

• US 9,886,656 B2
• Filed: 09/22/2015
• Issued: 02/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/22/2015
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chen, Jia L., Fang, Bing, Ruan, Gao Y., You, You
• Primary Examiner(s): THIAW, CATHERINE B
• Application Number:
  US14/860,898
• Publication Number:
  US 20170083802A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06K 19/06037 multi-dimensional coding
• CPC Class Codes: G09C 5/00 Ciphering apparatus or methods not provided for in the preceding groups, e.g. involving the concealment or deformation of graphic data such as designs, written or printed messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0861 Generation of secret information including derivation or calculation of cryptographic keys or passwords
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/30 Public key, i.e. encryption algorithm being computationally infeasible to invert or user's encryption keys not requiring secrecy

Abstract

A method for managing privacy of information on a shipping label associated with a shipment is provided. The method includes receiving information associated with the shipment, generating at least two decryption keys associated with at least two pieces of information from the information, generating encrypted messages by encrypting the at least two pieces of information based on the at least two decryption keys including a first and second encrypted message encrypted based on a first and second decryption key, respectively, generating a machine-readable code including the encrypted messages, generating a shipping label including machine-readable code, and providing the first and second decryption keys based on a first and second status of the shipment, respectively.

Claims

1. A method for managing privacy of information on a shipping label associated with a shipment, the method comprising:

receiving, by a shipping device, a plurality of pieces of information associated with the shipment;

generating, by the shipping device, at least two decryption keys associated with at least two pieces of information from the plurality of pieces of information;

generating, by the shipping device, two or more encrypted messages by encrypting the at least two pieces of information based on the at least two decryption keys, wherein a first encrypted message is encrypted based on a first decryption key and a second encrypted message is encrypted based on a second decryption key, and wherein the first decryption key is associated with a first status of the shipment that is different from a second status of the shipment associated with the second decryption key;

generating, by the shipping device, a machine-readable code including the first and second encrypted messages;

generating, by the shipping device, the shipping label, wherein the shipping label includes the machine-readable code;

receiving, by the shipping device, the first status from a first user device, and sending the first decryption key to the first user device based on the first status of the shipment, thereby allowing the first user device to decode the first encrypted message from the shipping label; and

receiving, by the shipping device, the second status from a second user device and sending the second decryption key to the second user device based on the second status of the shipment, thereby allowing the second user device to decode the second encrypted message from the shipping label.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the machine-readable code is a two-dimensional, machine-readable code.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a third encrypted message is encrypted based on a third decryption key, wherein the third decryption key is associated with a third status of the shipment that is different from the first status of the shipment and the second status of the shipment, and wherein the third encrypted message is included in the machine-readable code, and the method further comprising:

providing the third decryption key based on the third status of the shipment.

4. The method according to claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a notification that the first status of the shipment is completed, and

wherein providing the second decryption key is in response to the notification that the first status of the shipment is completed, and

receiving a notification that the second status of the shipment is completed, and wherein providing the third decryption key is in response to the notification that the second status of the shipment is completed.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the two or more encrypted messages are merged into one merged encrypted message.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shipping label is affixed to a package associated with the shipment.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the shipping label includes non-encrypted information.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the at least two pieces of information include at least one of information associated with a receiver of the shipment and information associated with a sender of the shipment.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a notification that the first status of the shipment completed, and wherein providing the second decryption key is in response to the notification that the first status of the shipment is completed.

10. A computer program product for managing privacy of information on a shipping label associated with a shipment, the computer program product comprising at least one computer readable non-transitory storage medium having computer readable program instructions thereon for execution by a processor, the computer readable program instructions comprising program instructions for:

receiving, by a shipping device, a plurality of pieces of information associated with the shipment,

generating, by the shipping device, at least two decryption keys associated with at least two pieces of information from the plurality of pieces of information;

generating, by the shipping device, two or more encrypted messages by encrypting the at least two pieces of information based on the at least two decryption keys, wherein a first encrypted message is encrypted based on a first decryption key and a second encrypted message is encrypted based on a second decryption key, and wherein the first decryption key is associated with a first status of the shipment that is different from a second status of the shipment associated with the second decryption key;

generating, by the shipping device, a machine-readable code including the first and second encrypted messages;

generating, by the shipping device, the shipping label, wherein the shipping label includes the machine-readable code;

receiving, by the shipping device, the first status from a first user device and sending the first decryption key to the first user device based on the first status of the shipment, thereby allowing the first user device to decode the first encrypted from the shipping label, and

receiving, by the shipping device, the second status from a second user device, and sending the second decryption key to the second user device based on the second status of the shipment, thereby allowing the second user device to decode the second encrypted message from the shipping label.

11. The computer program product according to claim 10, wherein the machine-readable code is a two-dimensional, machine-readable code.

12. The computer program product according to claim 10, wherein a third encrypted message is encrypted based on a third decryption key, wherein the third decryption key is associated with a third status of the shipment that is different from the first status of the shipment and the second status of the shipment, and wherein the third encrypted message is included in the machine-readable code, and the method further comprising:

providing the third decryption key based on the third status of the shipment.

13. A computer system for managing privacy of information on a shipping label associated with a shipment, the computer system comprising:

at least one processing unit;

at least one computer readable memory;

at least one computer readable tangible, non-transitory storage medium; and

program instructions stored on the at least one computer readable tangible, non-transitory storage medium for execution by the at least one processing unit via the at least one computer readable memory, wherein the program instructions comprise program instructions for;

receiving, by a shipping device, a plurality of pieces of information associated with the shipment;

generating, by the shipping device, at least two decryption keys associated with at least two pieces of information from the plurality of pieces of information;

generating, by the shipping device, two or more encrypted messages by encrypting the at least two pieces of information based on the at least two decryption keys, wherein a first encrypted message is encrypted based on a first decryption key and a second encrypted message is encrypted based on a second decryption key, and wherein the first decryption key is associated with a first status of the shipment that is different from a second status of the shipment associated with the second decryption key;

generating, by the shipping device, a machine-readable code including the first and second encrypted messages;

generating, by the shipment device, the shipping label, wherein the shipping label includes the machine-readable code;

receiving, by the shipping device, the first status from a first user device, and sending the first decryption key to the first user device based on the first status of the shipment, thereby allowing the first user device to decode the first encrypted message from the shipping label; and

receiving, by the shipping device, the second status from a second user device, and sending the second decryption key to the second user device based on the second status of the shipment, thereby allowing the second user device to decode the second encrypted message from the shipping label.

14. The computer system according to claim 13, wherein the machine-readable code is a two-dimensional, machine-readable code.

15. The computer system according to claim 13, wherein a third encrypted message is encrypted based on a third decryption key, wherein the third decryption key is associated with a third status of the shipment that is different from the first status of the shipment and the second status of the shipment, and wherein the third encrypted message is included in the machine-readable code, and the method further comprising:

providing the third decryption key based on the third status of the shipment.