Personal information protection method, personal information protection system, processing device, portable transmitter/receiver, and program

• US 20040015690A1
• Filed: 04/15/2003
• Published: 01/22/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Japan Corporation (A Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Mieko Ishii
• Inventors: Tsukamoto, Yutaka, Torigai, Masamichi, Fujii, Mikio
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,556 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/156
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/12 specially adapted for electronic shopping systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3821 Electronic credentials
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/383 Anonymous user system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/385 using an alias or single-use codes
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/40 Authorisation, e.g. identification of payer or payee, verification of customer or shop credentials; Review and approval of payers, e.g. check credit lines or negative lists
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0609 Buyer or seller confidence or verification

Abstract

A prescribed virtual person was created for allowing a real person (user) in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person (virtual person) and act as the virtual person when acting on a network and registered in a database 12a of a financial institution 7 for enabling the user to make shopping or the like as the virtual person with an electronic certificate issued by the financial institution 7 for the virtual person when pretending to be the virtual person and acting on the network, and the address of the virtual person necessary as the destination of a purchased article was set to a nearby convenience store. When acting on the network as the virtual person, cookies are rendered easily acceptable as compared with the case of the real person.

Claims

1. A private information protection method protecting private information on a network through a computer system, characterized in:

a virtual person creation step of creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network;

a registration step of registering information capable of specifying the association between said real person and said virtual person in a prescribed institution having the duty of confidentiality;

an electronic certificate issuance step of issuing an electronic certificate for said virtual person; and

an address set step for setting the address of said virtual person to a different address from said real person;

for rendering acceptance limitation for identification data transmitted from a site for identifying a user variable with a case of acting on the network as said real person and with a case of acting on the network as said virtual person.

2. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing of creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

registration processing means for performing processing of registering information capable of specifying the association between said real person and said virtual person in a prescribed institution having the duty of confidentiality.

3. The private information protection system according to claim 2, wherein said prescribed institution is a financial institution.

4. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing of creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

electronic certificate issuance processing means performing processing for issuing an electronic certificate for said virtual person.

5. The private information protection system according to claim 4, wherein said electronic certificate is issued by a prescribed institution having the duty of confidentiality registering information capable of specifying the association between said real person and said virtual person for certifying that said virtual person is registered in this prescribed institution.

6. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

address set means performing processing for setting the address of said virtual person to a different address from said real person.

7. The private information protection system according to claim 6, wherein the address of said virtual person is the address of a prescribed convenience store.

8. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

credit number issuance processing means performing processing for issuing a credit number for said virtual person,

for allowing the real person to make payment on credit as said virtual person through the credit number issued by said credit number issuance processing means.

9. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

account opening processing means performing processing for opening a bank account for said virtual person,

for allowing the real person to settle accounts as said virtual person through funds in the account opened by said account opening processing means.

10. A private information protection system protecting private information on a network through a computer system, including:

virtual person creation processing means performing processing for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network,

for rendering acceptance limitation for identification data transmitted from a site for identifying a user variable with a case of acting on the network as said real person and with a case of acting on the network as said virtual person.

11. A processor employed for protection of private information on a network, including:

request acceptance means accepting a request for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network;

virtual person creation processing means performing processing for creating the prescribed virtual person on condition that the request is accepted by said request acceptance means; and

association storage processing means performing processing for storing information capable of specifying the association between the virtual person created by said virtual person creation processing means and said real person corresponding to this virtual person as a database.

12. A processor for protecting private information on a network, including:

public key storage processing means performing processing for accepting input of a public key for a prescribed virtual person created for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network and storing this input public key in a database; and

electronic certificate creation/issuance processing means for performing processing of creating and issuing an electronic certificate for said virtual person corresponding to said stored public key, wherein

said electronic certificate creation/issuance processing means performs creation/publishing office processing for the electronic certificate on condition that it is registered said virtual person for whom information capable of specifying the association between said real person and said virtual person is registered in a prescribed institution having the duty of confidentiality.

13. A processor for protecting private information on a network, including:

payment approval processing means for performing approval processing for payment when a purchase request by credit payment is received through a credit number issued for a prescribed virtual person created for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network; and

payment request processing means performing processing for issuing a request for credit payment approved by said payment approval processing means to a credit card issuing company, wherein

said payment approval processing means approves payment after confirming an electronic certificate issued for said virtual person.

14. A processor for protecting private information on a network, including:

charge request acceptance processing means performing processing for accepting a charge request charging funds in a bank account opened for a prescribed virtual person created for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network for settling accounts; and

charge processing means performing processing for deducing the bank account corresponding to corresponding said virtual person and remitting a fund corresponding to the sum of the charge request from the funds in said bank account when said charge request acceptance processing means accepts the charge request.

15. A processor for protecting private information on a network,

said processor being set on an address of a prescribed virtual person created for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network, said address being different from the address of said real person, and including:

storage processing means performing processing for storing information capable of specifying said virtual person employing the address where this processor is set as his/her address in a database;

keep information storage processing means performing processing for storing information capable of specifying that an article purchased by the virtual person stored in this storage processing means and delivered to the address where said processor is set has been kept; and

delivery approval processing means confirming, when receiving a delivery request for said kept article, that a virtual person issuing this delivery request is the virtual person stored in said database and performing processing for issuing approval for delivery of the corresponding article on condition that it is the virtual person whose article is kept.

16. A program for protecting private information on a network,

for letting a computer function as:

creation request determination means determining whether or not a request operation for creating a prescribed virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network has been made;

birth request transmission means performing processing for transmitting a birth request for said virtual person to a prescribed institution when said creation request determination means determines that the creation request has been made; and

prescribed information transmission means performing processing for transmitting information capable of specifying said real person making the birth request for said virtual person and necessary for bearing said virtual person to said prescribed institution.

17. A processor for protecting private information on a network, wherein

said processor is a portable processor enabled to transfer and receive information to and from a terminal of a user and carried by the user, and used when a real person as said user pretends to be a prescribed virtual person and acts on the network as said virtual person, and

constituted to be capable of storing, when identification data transmitted from a site for identifying the user is transmitted to said terminal, said identification data on behalf of said terminal.

18. The processor according to claim 17, outputting said stored identification data when the user accesses the site through said terminal to be capable of transmitting said stored identification data to said site at need.

19. The processor according to claim 23 or claim 18, further including an input/output part for enabling the terminal of said user to input/output information and identification data storage means storing said identification data when said identification data is input from said input/output part.

20. The processor according to any of claims 17 to 19, externally outputting the stored identification data when an output instruction for the stored identification data is input.

21. The processor according to any of claims 17 to 20, storing information related to said virtual person, and externally outputting the stored information related to said virtual person when an output instruction for information related to said virtual person is input.

22. A portable transmitter-receiver carried by a user for performing transmission/receiving with a nearby base station by radio and capable of entering a network through said base station, comprising:

a processing function for a virtual person for allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be the virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on the network, and

comprising different route enter means for the virtual person for performing processing of directly making radio communication to a terminal connected to the network when the user enters the network as the virtual person with said processing function for the virtual person and entering the network not through an enter route from said base station but from said terminal.

23. A private information protection system allowing a real person in the actual world to pretend to be a virtual person and act as the virtual person when acting on a network, including:

access means accessing a site not intended by said real person in response to a request from said real person.

24. The private information protection system according to claim 23, further including:

private information provision processing means performing processing of providing the real name of said real person to the site accessed by said access means, and

cookie acceptance processing means performing processing for accepting and storing identification data transmitted from the site accessed by said access means for identifying the user.

25. The private information protection system according to claim 23 or claim 24, further including access inhibition means comprised in said access means for determining whether or not the accessed site is within access tolerance previously set by the user and not accessing the site if the site is not within the access tolerance.