Privacy protected interactions with third parties

• US 9,450,924 B2
• Filed: 08/25/2014
• Issued: 09/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TrueX, Inc. (PaeDae, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: TrueX, Inc. (PaeDae, Inc.)
• Inventors: Rangsikitpho, Joshua, Stein, Aaron
• Primary Examiner(s): McNally, Michael S
• Application Number:
  US14/467,793
• Publication Number:
  US 20140365772A1
• Time in Patent Office: 757 Days
• Field of Search: 713/168
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload

Abstract

Various embodiments are directed to computer-implemented methods and systems for a site to facilitate privacy protected interactions between users of a site and a third party utility. For example, a computer may receiving from a user selected from the users of the site, a request to interact with the third party utility. The computer may also encrypt an identification of the user to generate an encrypted user identification associated with the third party utility; and provide the encrypted user identification and the request to the third party utility.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating privacy protected interactions between users of an application store site and a third party utility, the method comprising:

receiving an advertisement from a third party utility by a computer system hosting an application store site storing a database of computer applications and configured to provide user devices access to the applications;

providing, by the application store site to a user device, content for presentation on the user device in responses to the user device accessing the application store site, the content including the advertisement received from the third party utility and information associated with the application store site;

receiving, from the user device by the application store site, a request to communicate with the third party utility;

responsive to receiving the request, accessing a user account database storing user identification information to retrieve user identification information for the user, and generating using an encryption process by the application store site, an encrypted user identification from the retrieved user identification information, the encrypted user identification information requiring a decryption key to decrypt;

providing, by the application store site, the encrypted user identification and the request to the third party utility for processing, wherein the decryption key to decrypt the encrypted user identification is not provided by the application store site to the third party utility; and

storing, by the application store site in a data store, the encrypted user identification.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the application store site a request from the user device for information associated with an application from the database of computer applications, the application developed by an additional third party utility;

transmitting from the application store site to the additional third party utility the encrypted user identification;

responsive to the user purchasing the application, transmitting from the application store site the application to the user device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the user device communicates with the additional third party utility to purchase the application and delivering the application comprises:

receiving at the application store site a request from the additional third party utility to deliver the application to the user associated with the encrypted user identification;

decrypting at the application store site the user identification to identify the user, and transmitting, from the application store site to the user device, the application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the advertisement comprises a content link pointing to additional content associated with the third party utility.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the application store site from the third party utility, an additional request to perform an action related to the user associated with the encrypted user identification;

decrypting at the application store site the encrypted user identification to identify the user, and

performing, by the application store site, the action based on the identification of the user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the action comprises awarding a credit to the user.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the user identification associated with the user is encrypted using an encryption key associated with the third party utility.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the application store site from the user, an additional request to communicate with an additional third party utility;

encrypting at the application store site a user identification associated with the user to generate an additional encrypted user identification associated with the additional third party utility;

providing, by the application store site to the additional third party utility, the additional encrypted user identification.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein encrypting the user identification associated with the user comprises encrypting the user identification with an encryption key associated with the additional third party utility.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the application store site from the third party utility, a message directed to the encrypted user identification;

decrypting, at the application store site, the encrypted user identification to identify the user, and

transmitting the message to the user based on the identification of the user.

11. A computer-implemented method for facilitating privacy protected interactions between users of a gaming site and a third party utility, the method comprising:

receiving an advertisement from a third party utility by a computer system hosting a gaming site storing a database of computer executable games and configured to provide user devices access to the games;

providing, by the gaming site to a user device, content for presentation on the user device in responses to the user device accessing the gaming site, the content including the advertisement received from the third party utility and information associated with the gaming site;

receiving, from the user device by the gaming site, a request to communicate with the third party utility;

responsive to receiving the request, accessing a user account database storing user identification information to retrieve user identification information for the user, and generating using an encryption process by the gaming site, an encrypted user identification from the retrieved user identification information, the encrypted user identification information requiring a decryption key to decrypt;

providing, by the gaming site, the encrypted user identification and the request to the third party utility for processing, wherein the decryption key to decrypt the encrypted user identification is not provided by the gaming site to the third party utility; and

storing, by the gaming site in a data store, the encrypted user identification.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the advertisement comprises a content link pointing to additional content associated with the third party utility.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, at the gaming site from the third party utility, an additional request to perform an action related to the user associated with the encrypted user identification;

decrypting at the gaming site the encrypted user identification to identify the user; and

performing, by the gaming site, the action based on the identification of the user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the action comprises awarding a credit to the user.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the user identification associated with the user is encrypted using an encryption key associated with the third party utility.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving, at the gaming site from the user, an additional request to communicate with an additional third party utility;

encrypting at the gaming site a user identification associated with the user to generate an additional encrypted user identification associated with the additional third party utility;

providing, by the gaming site to the additional third party utility, the additional encrypted user identification.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein encrypting the user identification associated with the user comprises encrypting the user identification with an encryption key associated with the additional third party utility.

18. A computer-implemented method for facilitating privacy protected interactions between users of a media site and a third party utility, the method comprising:

receiving an advertisement from a third party utility by a computer system hosting a media site storing a database of media files and configured to provide user devices access to media files;

providing, by the media site to a user device, content for presentation on the user device in responses to the user device accessing the media site, the content including the advertisement received from the third party utility and information associated with the media site;

receiving, from the user device by the media site, a request to communicate with the third party utility;

responsive to receiving the request, accessing a user account database storing user identification information to retrieve user identification information for the user, and generating using an encryption process by the media site, an encrypted user identification from the retrieved user identification information, the encrypted user identification information requiring a decryption key to decrypt;

providing, by the media site, the encrypted user identification and the request to the third party utility for processing, wherein the decryption key to decrypt the encrypted user identification is not provided by the computer system to the third party utility; and

storing, by the media site in a data store, the encrypted user identification.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving, at the media site from the third party utility, an additional request to perform an action related to the user associated with the encrypted user identification;

decrypting at the media site the encrypted user identification to identify the user, and performing, by the media site, the action based on the identification of the user.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the action comprises awarding a credit to the user.