Electronic personal assistant privacy

• US 9,977,832 B2
• Filed: 09/03/2015
• Issued: 05/22/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dow, Eli M., Gilchrist, James P., Schmidt, Steven K., Stocker, IV, Charles J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Poltorak, Peter
• Application Number:
  US14/844,203
• Publication Number:
  US 20160357970A1
• Time in Patent Office: 992 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/04 for providing a confidential data exchange among entities communicating through data packet networks
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/20 for managing network security; network security policies in general filtering policies H04L63/0227
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72403 with means for local support of applications that increase the functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/74 with voice recognition means

Abstract

A method comprises receiving a first user communication, accessing a directory entry associated with the user, accessing, by a processor, a database stored in a memory that includes content designated as private that is associated with the user in the directory, determining with the processor whether the first user communication includes content designated as private that is associated with the user, generating a second user communication by removing the content designated as private that is associated with the user from the first user communication, and sending the second user communication to an electronic personal assistant.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a first user communication;

accessing a directory entry associated with the user;

accessing, by a processor, a database stored in a memory that includes content designated as private that is associated with the user in the directory;

determining with the processor whether the first user communication includes content designated as private that is associated with the user;

generating a second user communication by removing the content designated as private that is associated with the user from the first user communication; and

sending the second user communication to an electronic personal assistant,

wherein the first user communication includes geographic data that includes a location from where the first user communication is sent, wherein the database includes content designated as private that is associated with the location from where the first user communication is sent in the directory.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending the first user communication to an electronic personal assistant for processing responsive to determining that the first user communication does not include content designated as private.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user communication includes a unique identifier of the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user communication includes a textual communication.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the directory uses a directory access protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic personal assistant is operative to receive the first communication, process the communication, and return a result to the first user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the first user communication is received from a user device.

8. A method comprising:

receiving a first user communication from a user device;

accessing a directory entry associated with the user;

accessing with a processor a database stored in a memory that includes content designated as private that is associated with the user;

determining with the processor whether the first user communication includes content designated as private that is associated with the user; and

sending a message including permission for the user device to send the first user communication to an electronic personal assistant for processing responsive to determining that the first user communication does not include content designated as private that is associated with the user,

generating a second user communication by removing the content designated as private that is associated with the user from the first user communication; and

sending the second user communication to an electronic personal assistant;

wherein the first user communication includes geographic data that includes a location from where the first user communication is sent, wherein the database includes content designated as private that is associated with the location from where the first user communication is sent in the directory.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the first user communication includes a unique identifier of the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the first user communication includes a textual communication.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the directory uses a directory access protocol.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the electronic personal assistant is operative to receive the first communication, process the communication, and return a result to the first user.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the first user communication is received from a user device.