Anonymous Re-Identification Codes with Time-Location Transformations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing re-identification systems lack privacy-by-design, allowing re-identification codes to be retroactively linked to absolute identities across time and locations, necessitating complex security measures to prevent unauthorized identification.
Innovation Solution
Implement a transformation functionality that alters re-identification codes based on time and/or location-dependent parameters, maintaining similarity while thwarting tracking across time and location, using cryptographic secrets and similarity-preserving transformations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If re-identification codes are stored securely using strongly guarded and closed systems, then identification security is improved, but device complexity and implementation effort increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the static re-identification code into a dynamic code that changes based on time and location parameters. By applying transformation functions that depend on these parameters, the system maintains security without requiring complex storage systems, as the codes naturally expire and become unusable outside their valid context windows.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic transformation parameters that change over time and location, making the re-identification codes adaptive rather than static. This dynamic approach allows the system to maintain security through parameter changes rather than through complex security infrastructure, reducing implementation complexity.
2Measurement precision
If re-identification codes remain the same across time and locations, then re-identification accuracy is improved, but privacy protection deteriorates due to retroactive identification risks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies transformation functions that modify re-identification codes based on time and location parameters. The transformation preserves the similarity relationship between codes from the same person while making codes from different time periods or locations incomparable, thus maintaining accuracy within context while protecting against retroactive identification.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the re-identification space by introducing time and location as dividing dimensions. Codes are segmented into different validity windows and geographic regions, allowing accurate matching within segments while preventing cross-segment tracking, thereby protecting privacy without sacrificing re-identification capability within appropriate contexts.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If transformation parameters change frequently to prevent tracking, then privacy protection is improved, but re-identification functionality across different time frames and locations deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent carefully designs transformation parameters that change with time and location to prevent tracking, while the transformation function itself preserves the similarity structure. This allows re-identification to work correctly within the same time frame and location while preventing cross-time and cross-location tracking, balancing privacy protection with functional reliability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic transformation system where parameters adapt to time and location context. The transformation is dynamic enough to prevent tracking across different contexts but consistent enough within each context to maintain re-identification functionality, achieving both privacy protection and system reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
Examples relate to a concept for anonymous re-identification, more specifically, but not exclusively, to systems, apparatuses, methods and computer programs for performing anonymous re-identification and for training a machine-learning model for use in anonymous re-identification. An apparatus (20) for re-identification comprises processing circuitry (24) configured to obtain media data via an interface (22). the processing circuitry is configured to generate a re-identification code representing at least a portion of the media data using a hashing algorithm. The processing circuitry is configured to transform the re-identification code using a transformation functionality to obtain a transformed re-identification code. The transformation functionality is configured to transform the re-identification code such that, if the re-identification code is similar to a further re-identification code generated by the hashing algorithm according to a similarity metric, the transformed re-identification code is similar to a further transformed re-identification code being a transformed version of the further re-identification code. The transformation functionality is configured to transform the re-identification code based on a transformation parameter, with the transformation parameter being dependent on a time and/or a location. The processing circuitry is configured to provide the transformed re-identification code.