IP address hashing in advertisement gateway
First Claim
1. A computer-implemented method of mediating advertisements through an advertisement gateway to protect the identity of an electronic device, the method comprising the following steps, all of which are performed by an advertisement gateway on a network:
- receiving, at the advertisement gateway from an electronic device via the network, a request message for an advertisement provided by an advertisement provider server, wherein the request message comprises device identifying information of the electronic device;
hashing the device identifying information of the electronic device with a temporary identifier comprising a time period in which the request message is received;
creating a unique identification for the electronic device based on the hashing, wherein the unique identification remains constant for a given time period before changing;
replacing the device identifying information in the request message with the unique identification that shields the device identifying information of the electronic device from the advertisement provider server communicatively coupled to the advertisement gateway by hiding the device identifying information from the advertisement provider server and providing the unique identification only during the given time period prior to changing the unique identification;
in response to replacing the device identifying information with the unique identification that shields the advertisement provider server from the device identifying information of the electronic device, sending the request message comprising the unique identification to the advertisement provider server;
in response to sending the request message comprising the unique identification, receiving, at the advertisement gateway from the advertisement provider server, the advertisement based on the request message comprising the unique identification sent to the advertisement provider server;
based on the advertisement received from the advertisement provider server, detecting that the advertisement comprises an external content source reference that identifies a content provider server for the electronic device to directly;
in response to the detecting, embedding a parameter in the advertisement to correspond with the external content source reference identifying the content provider server;
rewriting the advertisement to use a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway instead of using the external content source reference that identifies the content provider server;
based on the embedding and the rewriting, creating a modified advertisement comprising the embedded parameter and the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway; and
sending, from the advertisement gateway, the modified advertisement to the electronic device.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method of mediating advertisements through an advertisement gateway comprises receiving, at an advertisement gateway, a request message for an advertisement from an electronic device, hashing identifying information in the request message with a temporary identifier, creating a unique identification for the electronic device based on the hashing, replacing, by the advertisement gateway, the identifying information in the request message with the unique identification, sending, by the advertisement gateway, the request message comprising the unique identification to an advertisement provider server, receiving, at the advertisement gateway, an advertisement based on the request message comprising the unique identification, and sending, from the advertisement gateway, the advertisement to the electronic device.
237 Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A computer-implemented method of mediating advertisements through an advertisement gateway to protect the identity of an electronic device, the method comprising the following steps, all of which are performed by an advertisement gateway on a network:
-
receiving, at the advertisement gateway from an electronic device via the network, a request message for an advertisement provided by an advertisement provider server, wherein the request message comprises device identifying information of the electronic device; hashing the device identifying information of the electronic device with a temporary identifier comprising a time period in which the request message is received; creating a unique identification for the electronic device based on the hashing, wherein the unique identification remains constant for a given time period before changing; replacing the device identifying information in the request message with the unique identification that shields the device identifying information of the electronic device from the advertisement provider server communicatively coupled to the advertisement gateway by hiding the device identifying information from the advertisement provider server and providing the unique identification only during the given time period prior to changing the unique identification; in response to replacing the device identifying information with the unique identification that shields the advertisement provider server from the device identifying information of the electronic device, sending the request message comprising the unique identification to the advertisement provider server; in response to sending the request message comprising the unique identification, receiving, at the advertisement gateway from the advertisement provider server, the advertisement based on the request message comprising the unique identification sent to the advertisement provider server; based on the advertisement received from the advertisement provider server, detecting that the advertisement comprises an external content source reference that identifies a content provider server for the electronic device to directly; in response to the detecting, embedding a parameter in the advertisement to correspond with the external content source reference identifying the content provider server; rewriting the advertisement to use a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway instead of using the external content source reference that identifies the content provider server; based on the embedding and the rewriting, creating a modified advertisement comprising the embedded parameter and the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway; and sending, from the advertisement gateway, the modified advertisement to the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. A computer-implemented method of mediating advertisements through an ad gateway to protect the identity of an electronic device, the method comprising the following steps, all of which are performed by an advertisement gateway on a network:
-
receiving, at the advertisement gateway from the mobile device via the network, a request message for content, wherein the request message comprises device identifying information for the electronic device; hashing the device identifying information of the electronic device with a temporal identifier comprising a time period in which the request message is received; creating a unique identifier for the electronic device based on the hashing, wherein the unique identifier comprises a number in an IP address format, wherein the number is not an IP address of the electronic device, and wherein the unique identifier remains constant for a given time period before changing; replacing the device identifying information in the request message with the unique identifier that shields the device identifying information of the electronic device from a provider server communicatively coupled to the advertisement gateway by hiding the device identifying information from the provider server and providing the unique identifier only during the given time period prior to changing the unique identifier; in response to replacing the device identifying information with the unique identification that shields the content server from the device identifying information of the electronic device, sending the request message comprising the unique identifier to the provider server; in response to sending the request message, receiving, at the advertisement gateway, the content based on the request message comprising the unique identification; based on the content received from the provider server, detecting that the content comprises an external content source reference that identifies a content provider server for the electronic device to contact directly; in response to the detecting, embedding a parameter in the content to correspond with the external content source reference identifying the content provider server; rewriting the content to use a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway instead of using the external content source reference that identifies the content provider server; based on the embedding and the rewriting, creating a modified content comprising the embedded parameter and the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway; and sending, from the advertisement gateway, the modified content to the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
-
-
16. A system for protecting the identity of an electronic device by routing through an advertisement gateway comprising:
an advertisement gateway, comprising; a processor, a non-transitory memory, and an ad proxy application stored in the non-transitory memory, that when executed on the processor, configures the processor to; receive a request for an advertisement from an electronic device, wherein the request comprises an originating address; hash the originating address with a temporary identifier comprising a first time period in which the request message is received, wherein the temporary identifier remains constant during the first time period; create a unique identifier for the electronic device based on the hashing, wherein the hashing provides the same unique identifier during the first time period, and wherein the unique identifier remains constant for the first time period before changing; replace the originating address in the request with the unique identifier that shields device identifying information of the electronic device from an advertisement provider server communicatively coupled to the advertisement gateway by hiding the originating address from the advertisement provider server and providing the unique identifier only during the given time period prior to changing the unique identifier; send the request comprising the unique identifier to an advertisement provider server; in response to the request sent to the advertisement provider server, receive content from the advertisement provider server based on the request comprising the unique identifier; based on the content received from the advertisement provider server, detect that the content comprises an external content source reference that identifies a content provider server for the electronic device to contact directly; in response to the detecting, embed a parameter in the content to correspond with the external content source reference identifying the content provider server; rewrite the content to use a proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway instead of using the external content source reference that identifies the content provider server; based on the embedding and the rewriting, create a modified content comprising the embedded parameter and the proxy reference identifying the advertisement gateway; and send the modified content to the electronic device. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
Specification