Computational systems and methods for regulating information flow during interactions

• US 10,546,295 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2011
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Elwha LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Davis, Marc E., Dyor, Matthew G., Gates, William, Huang, Xuedong, Hyde, Roderick A., Jung, Edward K. Y., Kare, Jordin T., Levien, Royce A., Lord, Richard T., Lord, Robert W., Lu, Qi, Malamud, Mark A., Myhrvold, Nathan P., Nadella, Satya, Reed, Daniel, Shum, Harry, Tegreene, Clarence T., Wood, Jr., Lowell L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Chirag R
• Application Number:
  US13/374,530
• Publication Number:
  US 20130060619A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,952 Days
• Field of Search: 705 1423, 713150, 706 14, 709224, 726 21
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/102 Bill distribution or payments
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/384 using social networks
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4014 Identity check for transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4015 using location information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/4016 involving fraud or risk level assessment in transaction processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/405 Establishing or using transaction specific rules
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/00 Commerce
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0185 Product, service or business identity fraud
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0861 using biometrical features, e.g. fingerprint, retina-scan cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication using biological data H04L9/3231
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses, computer program products, devices and systems are described that carry out accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction; evaluating the transaction; and negotiating presentation of at least one persona to the party to the transaction at least partly based on an evaluation of the transaction.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

circuitry configured for accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction involving a sale of one or more goods;

circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction to identify a monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods;

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information; and

circuitry configured for presenting the at least one persona including the reduced personal information negotiated by the circuitry configured for negotiating for use in the transaction.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction to identify a monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods comprises:

circuitry configured for parsing at least one web page associated with the transaction to identify a token commanding a web browser to control a display of a dollar value; and

circuitry configured for analyzing the identified token to detect the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction involving a sale of one or more goods comprises:

circuitry configured for accepting at least one request for personal information from a vendor in an online transaction involving the sale by the vendor of the one or more goods, including at least accepting at least one request for at least one of name, physical address, email address, phone number, or credit card information as the personal information.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein the monetary surcharge is determined via reference to a persona negotiation ruleset during the negotiating, the persona negotiation ruleset including at least one rule specifying at least one monetary threshold above which either an entirety of the personal information requested by the party to the transaction is provided or that the monetary cost of the transaction is increased in exchange for the reduced personal information, the persona negotiation ruleset further including at least one rule specifying that below the at least one monetary threshold the transaction may proceed with the reduced personal information without the monetary surcharge.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on correlating the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction with a persona negotiation ruleset, the persona negotiation ruleset including at least three monetary cost thresholds mapping one or more monetary cost bounds to one or more amounts of personal information for inclusion in the persona.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including at least one indication of creditworthiness to the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, the at least one indication of creditworthiness including at least one history of one or more payments by the initiator of the transaction to the party to the transaction, wherein a length of the at least one history is mapped to further decreases in an amount of personal information required.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction to identify a monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods comprises:

circuitry configured parsing at least one web page associated with the transaction to identify a token commanding a web browser to control a display of a currency symbol;

circuitry configured for analyzing the identified token to detect a monetary value in proximity to the currency symbol; and

circuitry configured for inferring that the monetary value in proximity to the currency symbol is the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for presenting the at least one persona including the reduced personal information negotiated by the circuitry configured for negotiating for use in the transaction comprises:

circuitry configured for determining at least one identity of at least one vendor acting as the party to the transaction at least partly based on analyzing at least some markup language code representing the at least one web page associated with the transaction to identify the at least one vendor;

circuitry configured for querying at least one vendor-specific persona database using the at least one identity of at least one vendor as a search term to obtain at least some information as to where on a checkout page received from the party to the transaction one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information should go; and

circuitry configured for placing one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information into one or more fields of the at least one web page associated with the transaction at least partly based on the circuitry configured for querying at least one vendor-specific persona database using the at least one identity of at least one vendor as a search term.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein circuitry configured for querying at least one vendor-specific persona database using the at least one identity of at least one vendor as a search term to obtain at least some information as to where on a checkout page received from the party to the transaction one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information should go comprises:

circuitry configured for obtaining at least some checkout page markup language code known to be used by the at least one vendor from the at least one vendor-specific persona database; and

circuitry configured for correlating one or more fields indicated by the at least some checkout page markup language code known to be used by the at least one vendor with the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information for subsequent placement of the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information into one or more corresponding fields of the at least one web page associated with the transaction.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein circuitry configured for correlating one or more fields indicated by the at least some checkout page markup language code known to be used by the at least one vendor with the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information for subsequent placement of the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information into one or more corresponding fields of the at least one web page associated with the transaction comprises:

circuitry configured for determining one or more XY coordinates corresponding to one or more locations on the at least one web page associated with the transaction for the one or more fields indicated by the at least some checkout page markup language code known to be used by the at least one vendor, including at least retrieving the one or more XY coordinates pertaining to the at least one vendor via searching the at least one vendor-specific persona database using the at least one identity of at least one vendor as a search term; and

circuitry configured for assigning the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information to the one or more XY coordinates that have been retrieved from the at least one vendor-specific persona database and corresponding to one or more locations on the at least one web page associated with the transaction for subsequent placement of the one or more elements of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information into the at least one web page associated with the transaction at the one or more XY coordinates.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge payable to the party to the transaction is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by a seller that is the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge payable to the seller is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for a buyer who is the initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the buyer'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the seller agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the buyer'"'"'s personal information.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including no personal information relating to an initiator of the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for the initiator not providing any personal information while the party to the transaction agrees to let the transaction proceed without any personal information relating to the initiator.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded on the basis of at least one future condition including at least a promise to pay the monetary surcharge within a defined time period after the one or more goods are delivered to the initiator of the transaction.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic signature from the party to the transaction.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic signature from the party to the transaction comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with a digital signature from the party to the transaction.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the circuitry configured for evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic signature from the initiator of the transaction.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with an electronic signature from the initiator of the transaction comprises:

circuitry configured for negotiating the presentation of the at least one persona including the reduced personal information, wherein the negotiation is concluded with a digital signature from the initiator of the transaction.

20. A method, comprising:

accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction involving a sale of one or more goods;

evaluating the transaction to identify a monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods;

negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information; and

presenting the at least one persona including the reduced personal information negotiated by the negotiating for use in the transaction,

wherein at least one of the accepting, evaluating, negotiating, or presenting is at least partly implemented using at least one processing device.

21. A system, comprising:

at least one computing device; and

one or more instructions which, when executed on the at least one computing device, configure the at least one computing device to perform one or more operations including at least;

accepting at least one request for personal information from a party to a transaction involving a sale of one or more goods;

evaluating the transaction to identify a monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods;

negotiating presentation of at least one persona including reduced personal information than was initially requested by the party to the transaction at least partly based on the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods identified by the evaluating the transaction, wherein a monetary surcharge is added to the monetary cost corresponding to the sale of the one or more goods in exchange for an initiator of the transaction not providing at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information to the party to the transaction while the party to the transaction agrees to let the sale of the one or more goods proceed without the at least one element of the initiator'"'"'s personal information;

presenting the at least one persona including the reduced personal information negotiated by the negotiating for use in the transaction.