Information content distribution based on privacy and/or personal information

• US 20030105719A1
• Filed: 02/21/2002
• Published: 06/05/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Bisdikian, Chatschik, Berger, Stefan, Naghshineh, Mahmoud, Sow, Daby Mousse, Lee, Nathan Junsup, Perret, Veronique
• Granted Patent: US 7,162,451 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/51
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/10 specially adapted for electronic funds transfer [EFT] systems; specially adapted for home banking systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/1235 with control of digital rights management [DRM]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/425 using two different networks, one for transaction and one for security confirmation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/188 Electronic negotiation
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/16 for devices exhibiting advertisements, announcements, pictures or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0604 with predefined switching scheme
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/084 Equal gain combining, only phase adjustments antenna beam scanning or forming by phase or amplitude control H01Q3/26, e.g. phased arrays
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/0894 using different delays between antennas
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15507 Relay station based processing for cell extension or control of coverage area, network planning with network coordinated processing with regard to cell extension H04W16/26; network topologies using dedicated repeater stations H04W84/047; terminal devices adapted for relaying to or from an other terminal H04W88/04
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/15535 Control of relay amplifier gain amplifier gain control in general H03G3/00; gain control reducing self - or loop interference H04B7/15578
• CPC Class Codes: H04J 13/12 Generation of orthogonal codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0041 Arrangements at the transmitter end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0045 Arrangements at the receiver end
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0066 Parallel concatenated codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0069 Puncturing patterns
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0071 : Use of interleaving interleaving per se H03M13/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/06 : using space diversity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/08 : by repeating transmission, e.g. Verdan system H04L1/1858 and H04L1/189 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1819 : with retransmission of additional or different redundancy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1841 : Resequencing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1845 : Combining techniques, e.g. code combining
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1848 : Time-out mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2001/0096 : Channel splitting in point-to-point links
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 : Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/28 : in relation to timing considerations
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/34 : ensuring sequence integrity, e.g. using sequence numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0023 : Time-frequency-space
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0042 : intra-user or intra-terminal allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0044 : allocation of payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0083 : symbol-by-symbol
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 : wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/065 : for group communications cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for key management involving conference or group key H04L9/0833
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 : Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 : Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 : User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 : using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/143 : Downlink power control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/225 : Calculation of statistics, e.g. average, variance
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/24 : using SIR [Signal to Interference Ratio] or other wireless path parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/241 : taking into account channel quality metrics, e.g. SIR, SNR, CIR, Eb/lo
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/242 : taking into account path loss
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/245 : taking into account received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/46 : in multi hop networks, e.g. wireless relay networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 : Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 : Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 : Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 : Privileged access

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus to protect user privacy while accessing information in public places, using both public and personal devices. This is achieved by employing a mechanism that prevents private information from being displayed on public devices. Instead, this type of information is made available only to a user'"'"'s personal device(s) that the user carries and/or trusts. An example embodiment of the invention shows relevant parts of the information content, referred to also as information documents or simply documents, to multiple devices based on privacy level and user preferences. Embodiments of the present invention also provide personalized services based on privacy levels defined by users. These users can for example be customers of a retail store. The service provided is sometimes also based on user history of accessing information documents. It permits personalized information to be sent to a customer'"'"'s personal device.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

routing a first portion of information to a first device and at least one other portion of information to at least one other device in response to a user'"'"'s query, said method including;

receiving said query and identifying said user'"'"'s meeting a first identification criterion;

forming an identification when said first identification criterion is met;

employing said identification in forming said first portion of information and said at least one other portion of information; and

forwarding said first portion of information to said first device and said at least one other portion of information to said at least one other device.

2. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of identifying is performed by an identifier, and step of employing is performed by a respondent server.

3. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said first device is a user device employed in making said query, and said step of identifying includes identifying said user device employing identification criteria.

4. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein one of said identification criteria is a criterion selected from a group of criteria including:

identifying a device identification;

identifying a device group identification;

identifying a user identification;

identifying a user group identification;

authenticating user of said device by user identification and password;

employing a verification signature included in said query;

employing an RF id tag;

employing a 3rd party mechanism; and

any combination of said criteria.

5. A method as recited in claim 3, wherein said step of identifying further includes verifying said user meeting a verification criteria.

6. A method as recited in claim 5, wherein said verification criterion is a criterion selected from a group of criteria including:

verifying a device identity;

verifying a device group identity;

verifying a user identity;

verifying a user group identity;

authenticating user of said device by user identification and password;

employing a verification signature included in said query;

employing an RF id tag;

employing a 3rd party device; and

combination of said criteria.

7. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising a first entity supplying said first device to a user.

8. A method as recited in claim 7, wherein said first entity is a business and said user is a customer.

9. A method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

said user employing said first device in a session; and

associating said user for said session employing said verification.

10. A method as recited in claim 2, wherein said respondent server is also said identifier.

11. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of receiving said query [and identifying] said user'"'"'s meeting a first identification criterion, includes at least one step from a group of steps including:

user pre-registering query;

utilizing user criteria;

selecting a hyper-link;

sending mail.

12. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said first portion of information includes private user information and said at least one other portion of information includes public information.

13. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein content included in said first portion of information and/or included in said at least one other portion of information is based on a preference criterion.

14. A method as recited in claim 13, wherein said preference criterion is a criterion selected from a group of criteria including:

security level;

user profile;

user data;

user history;

preferred customer status;

user affiliation;

user service level association;

time of day;

day of year;

religion;

ethnic background;

national background;

gender;

sexual orientation;

demographic information;

context;

inventory;

classification level; and

any combination of the above.

15. A method as recited in claim 14, further comprising changing preference criteria dynamically.

16. A method as recited in claim 15, wherein said step of changing preference criteria is performed dynamically during a session.

17. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein preference criteria change dynamically during a session by a user.

18. A method as recited in claim 1, further comprising forming a user profile database for a plurality of users.

19. A method as recited in claim 13, further comprising forming a user profile database for a plurality of users based on said preference criteria.

20. A method as recited in claim 16, wherein said step of forming is repeated in accordance with a database update criterion.

21. A method as recited in claim 20, wherein said database update criterion is a criterion selected from a group of criteria including:

change of preference criteria by user;

change of identification criteria;

information access;

change of context; and

any combination of the above criteria.

22. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein said step of forming an identification when said first identification criterion is met, includes:

identifying user; and

associating said user with said user profile.

23. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of forming an identification when said first identification criterion is met, includes:

identifying user;

associating said user with said identification criterion;

24. A method as recited in claim 18, wherein said step of forming an identification when said first identification criterion is met includes:

associating said identification criterion with user profile.

25. A method as recited in claim 19, wherein said step of employing said identification in forming said first portion of information and said at least one other portion of information, includes:

creating rules for forming said first portion and said at least one other portion based on said preference criteria;

employing said rules to form said first portion and said at least one other portion;

26. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein said step of forwarding includes encrypting said first portion with a first encryption key and/or encrypting at least one of said at least one other portion with at least one other encryption key.

27. A method as recited in claim 26, further comprising at least one encrypting marker indicating that one of said portions is encrypted.

28. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein at least one of said at least one encrypting markers is encrypted.

29. A method as recited in claim 27, wherein each marker in a plurality of said at least one of said at least one encrypting markers is a unique marker indicating requirement of a unique decrypting key.

42. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing information routing, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 1.

47. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for information routing, said method steps comprising the steps of claim 1.

30. An apparatus comprising:

means for routing a first portion of information to a first device and at least one other portion of information to at least one other device in response to a user'"'"'s query, said means for routing including;

means for receiving said query and identifying said user'"'"'s meeting a first identification criterion;

means for forming an identification when said first identification criterion is met;

means for employing said identification in forming said first portion of information and said at least one other portion of information; and

means for forwarding said first portion of information to said first device and said at least one other portion of information to said at least one other device.

48. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing routing, the computer readable program code means in said computer program product comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the functions of claim 30.

31. A method comprising employing a communications network to which terminal devices are attached for executing browser applications capable of rendering digital information organized into documents, said communication network having at least one database attached for storing digital information organized into documents and being capable of supplying said documents for rendering to said browser applications in said terminal devices, wherein users of said terminal devices are each able to engage in at least one interactive browsing application for viewing a sequence of a plurality of said documents, wherein at least one document from said sequence comprises at least one identifiable portion is associated with particular users belonging to at least one identifiable group of users of said terminal devices, said method including the steps:

a plurality of said users identifying themselves as belonging to one of said at least one identifiable group of users, and wherein at least one particular user identifies oneself as belonging to a first group of users, said users

interacting with at least one of the terminal devices in browsing a sequence of at least one document supplied from one database of said at least one document database, and

rendering a first portion of a particular document associated with said first group of users during the duration of one interactive application, wherein the document databases supply a sequence of information documents to the terminal devices, at least one of the terminal devices being used by the users in the first group of users.

32. A method as related in claim 31, wherein said first portion of a document which is associated with the users in the first group of users, includes less than the entire document at least once in said sequence of documents rendered on the terminals used by users belonging to the first group, and further comprising at least one step taken from a group of steps including:

rendering a second portion of the document not identified as belonging to the first portion of the document to at least one other terminal device while not rendering said first portion of the document;

assigning a different portion of the document not identified as belonging to the first portion of the document to belong to a third portion of the document which is associated with users of terminals belonging to a second group of users;

associating at least one portion of each said document with user terminals belonging to an identifiable group of users; and

rendering each of said portions of said document only on the terminals used by a particular group of users associated with said particular portion of the document.

33. A method as recited in claim 31, further comprising at least one step taken from a group of steps including:

identifying said user via digital information provided via at least one terminal device used by said user;

wherein a device identifier is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface card attached to said terminal device to the computer communications network, and

identifying the user via user information provided through the terminal devices used by said user;

identifying said user via user information provided during a log-in action to said interactive browsing application for viewing a sequence of documents from one document database;

using said digital information for user identification for associating the user with a particular group of users;

disassociating the user with the particular group of users after a defined period of inactivity on a communications link;

requiring new user identification upon start of a continuation of activity;

using said digital information for user identification for associating the user with a particular group of users;

disassociating the user with the particular group of users upon user log-off; and

requiring new user identification upon a next log-in.

34. The method as recited in claim 31, further comprising at least one step taken from a group of steps including:

said user receiving at least one other portion of a document based on at least one criterion;

employing said criteria in associating various portions of said document according to one or more levels of preference;

relating said levels of preference to a degree of privacy for each portion of each document;

forming said criteria as being users belonging to at least one group of users during at least one session;

storing said criteria together with a document;

storing said criteria for each user group in a user group profile in a database;

updating said user group profile in the database with new criteria during at least one session; and

updating said user group profile in the database with new criteria based on a history of document accesses.

43. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing information routing, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 31.

35. In a computer communications network with at least one terminal computer and at least one server computer, a method comprising using a unique identifier of a terminal computer as a unique identifier of its user, said method including the steps of:

a user using the terminal computer to authenticate said user with at least one server;

said server receiving a unique device identifier from said terminal computer;

said server using said user authentication and/or unique device identifier in creating an association between said user and said terminal computer, and

maintaining said association in effect in accordance with a maintenance policy.

44. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing identifier usage, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 35.

36. A method comprising:

distributing data containing private information to multiple recipients;

breaking said data into at least one fragment; and

encrypting each fragment using one encryption key.

37. The method as recited in claim 36, wherein each of said recipients is a member of at least one group sharing an encryption key, and/or further comprising at least one step taken from a group of steps including:

each of said recipients decoding fragments of the data using said encryption key and deciding whether a result is valid based on information in the data;

adding meta information to at least one encrypted fragment;

adding each encoded fragment with at least one wrapper around it to the final document;

adding meta information to at least one fragment before encryption;

wrapping each fragment with at least one wrapper;

the decoder deciding whether the decoded fragment is valid based on meta information; and

the decoder matching the meta information of the encrypted fragment with the meta information of the decoded fragment.

38. A method comprising:

employing a computer display terminal used for executing at least one interactive application by at least two groups of users, said method including the steps;

identifying each of said users of the display terminal as belonging to a particular one of said groups of users;

engaging a user interactive application through the display terminal;

associating each at least one interactive application with said particular one of said groups;

each user using the interactive applications from said particular one of said groups of users and sharing computer display computing resources; and

managing partitions in displaying differing information to each group.

39. The method as recited in claim 38, further comprising at least one step taken from a group of steps including:

using said display sequentially for each of said group;

switching between pluralities of interactive applications suitable to each group of users after a defined period of time.

40. The method as recited in claim 39, wherein:

the computer resources that manage what is displayed on the display terminal share the display among the groups of users that use it in space simultaneously, and/or

space occupied by each of the interactive applications on the display changes with time; and

/or

the computer resources that manage what is displayed on the display terminal share the display in time and/or space among the group of users using the display terminal.

41. The method as recited in claim 40, wherein the computer resource that manages what is displayed on the display terminal shares the display in time and/or space among the group of users using the display terminal, and further comprising restricting the maximum number of users that can view a particular interactive application on the display terminal to a preset maximum number of users, and/or groups of users engaged in interactive applications through the display terminal time sharing the display terminal when the preset maximum number of users is exceeded.

46. An article of manufacture comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code means embodied therein for causing executing at least one interactive application by at least two groups of users, the computer readable program code means in said article of manufacture comprising computer readable program code means for causing a computer to effect the steps of claim 38.