Method and apparatus for facilitating an anonymous information system and anonymous service transactions

• US 6,938,022 B1
• Filed: 05/12/2000
• Issued: 08/30/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Tara C. Singhal
• Original Assignee: Tara C. Singhal
• Inventors: Singhal, Tara C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hayes, John W.
• Application Number:
  US09/570,232
• Time in Patent Office: 1,936 Days
• Field of Search: 705/74, 705/78, 705/51, 705/64, 705/75
• US Class Current: 705/74
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6254 by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6263 during internet communication, e.g. revealing personal data from cookies
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/04 Payment circuits
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/0855 involving a third party
• 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 20/401 Transaction verification
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions

Abstract

An information system (12) for storing personal information of a customer (20) is provided herein. The customer (20) preferably communicates with the information system (12) using the Internet. Further, the customer (20) preferably uses an anonymous identifier (320) to gain access to the information system (12). The customer (20) can create the anonymous identifier (320) to assure anonymity and to facilitate anonymous and secure transactions over the Internet. Some or all of the personal information of the customer (20) is preferably electronically shredded and defaced before storage in the information system (12). This feature allows the customer (20) to maintain private data (25) in the information system (12) anonymously and shields the private data (25) from even the operators of the information system (12). In addition to maintaining the private data (25), the information system (12) allows the customer (20) to anonymously receive an estimate on a service and/or receive a service (806) from the service merchant (22) without the merchant (22) knowing the identity of the customer (20). Examples of services (806) that may be received from service merchants (22) include an insurance quote for a vehicle, an insurance quote for a structure, a life insurance quote, a health insurance quote, an insurance quote on some other item, a one time use of special software such as tax computation software, a quote on a loan, interest rates for a loan application, and clothing that is custom tailored.

Claims

1. An information system for storing personal data of a data owner in data servers on a global computer network, comprising;

a. a receiving function that receives,

(i) an access key,

(ii) personal data of identifying data type that if used by itself is sufficient to identify the data owner, and

(iii) personal data of non-identifying data type that by itself is insufficient to identify the data owner;

b. a defacing function that parses the identifying data into shreds that preserve the character of the identifying data, for each of these shreds maintains a random order list of shreds, aliases each shred with another shred from the corresponding list, and saves defaced identifying data made of these aliased shreds, and the non-identifying data in the data servers using the access key as a reference.

2. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

the receiving function requires entry of an access key made up of a structured sequence of at least three entries that have a format from the group that includes a calendar date, a personal phrase, name abbreviations, an address zip code, and a four-digit personal number.

3. The system as in claim 2, comprising:

a mapping function that maps the access key into a sequence number and saves the mapping into a first data server and references the personal data in a second data server by the sequence number.

4. The system as in claim 1, wherein the identifying data comprising:

data from a group that includes (i) name, (ii) address, (iii) telephone number, (iv) e-mail address, (v) bankcard data, (vi) driver license data, and (vii) social security number.

5. The system as in claim 1, wherein the non-identifying data comprising data from a group that includes (i) financial data that supports a loan application, (ii) income and deduction data that supports a tax calculation, (iii) insurance data that supports a life, health, and auto insurance quotation, (iv) health data that supports a health examination, health diagnosis and treatment, and (v) body dimension data that supports a custom tailoring and fitting of wear articles.

6. The system as in claim 1, wherein the defacing function comprising:

a. a sub-function shredding the identifying data of a name into first, middle and last name shreds;

b. a sub-function maintaining random order lists of each of these types of names;

c. a sub-function identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets to the positions, finding names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data server.

7. The system as in claim 1, wherein the defacing function comprising:

a. a sub-function shredding identifying data having an alphanumeric string into individual digits;

b. a sub-function maintaining random order lists of alphabets and numerals that comprise the string;

c. a sub-function identifying the position of each digit in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the digits from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced digits and the random offsets in the data servers.

8. The system as in claim 1, wherein the defacing function comprising:

a. a sub-function shredding identifying data of address into street name, city name and state name;

b. a sub-function maintaining random order lists of each of these types of names;

c. a sub-function identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data servers.

9. The system as in claim 1, wherein the defacing function comprising:

a. a sub-function shredding identifying data of e-mail address into digits of name and e-mail server name;

b. a sub-function maintaining random order lists of alphabets, numerals and e-mail server names;

c. a sub-function identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data servers.

10. The system as in claim 1, having a function for retrieving the identifying data, comprising:

a. a sub-function for receiving the access key and type of identifying data to be retrieved and retrieving the corresponding defaced data from the data servers;

b. an un-defacing function that uses aliased data shreds and using the random order lists of the shreds recreates the identity data, sends to the data owner and immediately deletes the recreated data.

11. The system as in claim 1, having a function for retrieving non-identifying data, comprising:

a. a sub-function for receiving the access key and type of non-identifying data to be retrieved;

b. a sub-function for retrieving the corresponding non-identifying data from the data servers and sending to the data owner.

12. The system as in claim 1, further comprising:

a function enabling conducting a service transaction by the data owner with a service provider, the function having, (i) a sub-function transferring selected non-identity data to the service provider, (ii) a sub-function receiving results from the service provider, (iii) a sub-function un-defacing a part of identity data necessary to forward the service results and (iv) a sub-function forwarding the service results to the data owner and immediately deleting the identity data used for forwarding.

13. The system as in claim 1 having a function enabling conducting a service transaction by the data owner with a service provider comprising:

a. a function receiving, from a service provider web page, a service selection and a service specific data;

b. a function displaying a web page for entry of the access key, receiving the entry of the access key, displaying types of non-identifying data, receiving selection of the non-identifying data required for the service;

c. a function retrieving the selected non-identifying data, creating a transaction reference, and sending the service specific data, the non-identifying data and the transaction reference to the service provider, the data servers having pre-stored data specific to the service provider enabling contacting the service provider.

14. The system as in claim 13, for service transactions requiring a service fee, having a function comprising:

a. a function retrieving and un-defacing identity data of bankcard;

b. a function connecting to a bankcard processing network, providing the bankcard data for collecting funds equal to a service charge from the data owner, and immediately deleting the bankcard data; and

c. a sub-function forwarding the service charge, identified by the transaction reference, to the service provider.

15. A system for protecting identity data in data servers while being stored there comprising:

a. a receiving function that receives, an access key and the identity data;

b. a defacing function that parses the identifying data into shreds that preserve the character of the identifying data, for each of these shreds maintains a random order list of shreds, aliases each shred with another shred from the corresponding list;

c. a mapping function that maps the access key to a sequence number, saves the mapping in a first data server and saves the defaced identity data in a second data server anchored by the sequence number.

16. The system as in claim 15, wherein the defacing function comprising:

a. a sub-function shredding identity data into name-character and non-name character data;

b. a sub-function maintaining a first group lists of random order name-character data and a second group lists of random order alphabets and numerals;

c. a sub-function identifying the position of each name data in the first group of lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the name from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the second data server anchored by the sequence key;

d. a sub-function identifying the position of each digit of the non-name data in the second group of lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the digit from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced digits and the random offsets in the second data server anchored by the sequence number.

17. The system as in claim 16, wherein the sub-function of applying random offsets comprising:

a function that applies a plurality of random offsets and to each of these plurality of offsets uses an operator from a group of operators that includes addition and subtraction.

18. A method of storing personal data of a data owner in data servers on a global computer network, comprising the steps of:

a. entering an access key;

b. entering personal data of identifying data type that is sufficient to identify the data owner;

c. entering personal data of non-identifying data type that by itself is insufficient to identify the data owner;

d. defacing the identifying data by parsing into shreds that preserve the character of the identifying data, for each of these shreds maintaining a random order list of shreds, aliasing each shred with another shred from the corresponding list, and saving the defaced identifying data made of these aliased shreds and the non-identifying data in the data servers using the access key as a reference.

19. The method as in claim 18, further comprising the step of:

requiring entry for the access key of a structured sequence of at least three entries that have a format from the group that includes a calendar date, a personal phrase, name abbreviations, an address zip code, and a four-digit personal number.

20. The method as in claim 19, comprising the step of:

mapping the access key into a sequence number, saving the mapping into a first data server, and referencing the personal data in a second data server by the sequence number.

21. The method as in claim 18, wherein the Identifying data comprising:

entering data from a group that includes (i) name, (ii) address, (iii) telephone number, (iv) e-mail address, (v) bankcard data, (vi) driver license data, and (vii) social security number.

22. The method as in claim 18, wherein the step of defacing identifying data comprising the steps of:

a. shredding the identifying data of a name into first, middle and last name shreds;

b. maintaining random order lists of each of these types of names;

c. identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets to the positions, finding names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data servers.

23. The method as in claim 18, wherein the step of defacing the identifying data comprising the steps of:

a. shredding identifying data having an alphanumeric string into individual digits;

b. maintaining random order lists of alphabets and numerals that comprise the string;

c. identifying the position of each digit in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the digits from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced digits and the random offsets in the data servers.

24. The method as in claim 18, wherein the step of defacing identifying data comprising the steps of:

a. shredding identifying data of an address into street name, city name and state name;

b. maintaining random order lists of each of these types of names;

c. identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data servers.

25. The method as in claim 18, wherein the step of defacing comprising the steps of:

a. shredding identifying data of e-mail address into digits of name and e-mail server name;

b. maintaining random order lists of alphabets, numerals and e-mail server names;

c. identifying the position of each shred in the lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding the names from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced names and the random offsets in the data servers.

26. The method as in claim 18, for retrieving the identifying data, comprising steps of:

a. entering the access key and selecting identifying data to be retrieved;

b. retrieving the corresponding defaced data from the data servers;

c. recreating the identity data by un-defacing it, by using aliased data shreds and using the random order lists of the shreds, and sending to the data owner and immediately deleting the recreated data.

27. The method as in claim 18, for retrieving the non-identifying data, comprising steps of:

a. entering the access key and selecting non-identifying type of personal data to be retrieved;

b. retrieving the corresponding non-identifying data from the data servers and sending to the data owner.

28. The method as in claim 18, enabling conducting a service transaction by the data owner with a service provider comprising the steps of:

a. transferring selected non-identity data to the service provider;

b. receiving results from the service provider;

c. un-defacing a part of identity data necessary to forward the service results, using aliased data shreds and using the random order lists of the shreds; and

d. forwarding the service results to the data owner and immediately deleting the identity data used for forwarding.

29. The method as in claim 18, enabling conducting a service transaction by the data owner with a service provider comprising further steps of:

a. browsing a service provider web page, selecting service and providing service specific data, linking to a processing server from the web page and transferring the service specific data to the processing server;

b. the processing server displaying a web page for entry of the access key, entering the access key, the processing server displaying types of non-identifying data, and selecting the non-identifying data required for the service;

c. the processing server retrieving the non-identifying data, creating a transaction reference, and sending the service specific data, the non-identifying data and the transaction reference to the service provider, the data servers pre-storing data specific to the service provider enabling contacting the service provider.

30. The method as in claim 29, for service transactions requiring a service fee comprising further steps of:

a. retrieving defaced bankcard identity data from the data servers, un-defacing the bankcard data;

b. the processing server connecting to a bankcard processing network, providing the bankcard data for collecting funds equal to a service charge from the data owner, and immediately deleting the bankcard data; and

c. forwarding the service charge, identified by the transaction reference, to the service provider.

31. The method as in claim 18, wherein the non-identifying data comprising:

entering data from a group that includes (i) financial data that supports a loan application, (ii) income and deduction data that supports a tax calculation, (iii) insurance data that supports a life, health, and auto insurance quotation, (iv) health data that supports a health examination, health diagnosis and treatment, and (v) body dimension data that supports a custom tailoring and fitting of wear articles.

32. A method of protecting identity data in data servers while being stored there comprising the steps of:

a. a data owner entering an access key and entering identity data from a group that includes (i) name, (ii) address, (iii) telephone number, (iv) e-mail address, (v) bankcard data, (vi) driver license data, (vii) social security number, and sending to the data servers; and

b. defacing the identity data by parsing into shreds that preserve the character of the identity data, for each of these shreds maintaining a random order list of shreds, aliasing each shred with another shred from the corresponding list, and saving the defaced identity data made of these aliased shreds in the data servers using the access key as a reference.

33. The claim as in 32, wherein the step of defacing identity data comprising the steps of:

a. shredding identity data into name-character and non-name character data shreds;

b. maintaining a first group lists of random order name-character data shreds and a second group lists of random order of alphabets and numerals;

c. identifying the position of each name shred data in the first group of lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding a name shred from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced name shreds and the random offsets in the data servers;

d. identifying the position of each digit of the non-name data in the second group of lists, creating modified list positions by applying random offsets, finding a digit from the lists corresponding to the modified list positions and saving the defaced digits and the random offsets in the data servers.

34. The claim as in 33, wherein the step of applying random offsets comprising the steps of:

applying a plurality of random offsets and for each of the plurality of offsets using an operator from a group that includes addition and subtraction.

35. A method of saving and securing personal data related to a person in a private information bank system comprising the steps of:

a. requiring an initial entry of a structured access key into a computer system of the private information bank, the system assigning a sequence number to the access key and saving the access key and the sequence number in a storage of the computer system;

b. entering personal data divided as identity data and non-identity data into the computer system, the system shredding the identity data into name-type shreds and non-name-type shreds, wherein for each shred type, a plurality of random order list of shreds of that type being maintained in the computer system, the system defacing each shred into an equivalent shred using the random order shred lists, and saving the defaced shreds as an equivalent identity data and the non-identity data anchored by the sequence number in the storage.

36. The method as in claim 35, including a method of retrieving personal data from the private information bank, comprising the steps of:

a. requiring a subsequent entry of the structured access key into the computer system;

b. specifying the non-identity data to be retrieved and specifying a recipient address;

c. mapping the access key to the sequence number, finding the non-identity data from the sequence number, and delivering it to the recipient.

37. The method as in claim 35, including a method of retrieving personal data from the private information bank, comprising the steps of:

a. requiring a subsequent entry of the structured access key into the computer system;

b. specifying the identity data to be retrieved and specifying a recipient address;

c. mapping the access key to the sequence number and finding the equivalent identity data;

d. recreating the identity data from the equivalent identity data using the random order shred lists and delivering it to the recipient.

38. The method as in claim 35, further, comprising the steps of:

a. storing the access key and the assigned sequence number in one part of the storage;

b. storing the equivalent identity data anchored by the sequence number in another part of the storage;

c. storing the non-identity data anchored by the sequence number in yet another part of the storage.