Analytics Data Validation via Encrypted Content Embedding

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional analytics data collection techniques are inherently untrustworthy due to their unauthenticated source, leading to errors and corruption, which undermines the accuracy and usefulness of the data.

Innovation Solution

The implementation of encrypted analytics data by content providers, which is inaccessible to client devices, is used to validate the collected data through decryption and consistency checks with dynamic analytics data, ensuring only valid data is used for analysis.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If analytics data is collected from unauthenticated sources to support client-side analytics, then the quantity of analytics data is increased, but the reliability of the analytics data deteriorates due to susceptibility to errors and corruption by malicious parties

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvequantity of analytics dataVSAvoidreliability of analytics data
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by embedding encrypted analytics data within the web content before it is delivered to client devices. This encrypted data serves as a pre-prepared validation mechanism that will later enable the analytics service to verify the authenticity and integrity of analytics reports, thus preventing errors and corruption before they can compromise the data reliability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent uses encrypted analytics data as an intermediary element between the content provider and the analytics service. This encrypted data acts as a trusted mediator that carries authentication information through the untrusted client device environment, enabling the analytics service to verify the legitimacy of analytics reports without being directly exposed to the unauthenticated source.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Reliability

If encrypted analytics data is embedded in web content to enable validation, then the reliability of analytics data is improved, but the device complexity increases due to encryption and decryption operations

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvereliability of analytics dataVSAvoidcomplexity of analytics processing
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the computationally intensive encryption and decryption operations from the client device environment and relocates them to the analytics service server. The client device only needs to collect and transmit analytics data, while the server performs the cryptographic validation, thus reducing the complexity burden on client devices while maintaining reliability improvements.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent changes the parameter of where cryptographic operations occur in the system architecture. Instead of requiring client devices to perform encryption/decryption, the system transforms the encrypted data during transmission and performs decryption/validation at the server端, thereby altering the distribution of computational complexity across the system.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

3Object-affected harmful factors

If analytics data is encrypted to prevent client device access, then the security of analytics data is improved, but the ease of operation deteriorates due to decryption requirements

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvesecurity of analytics dataVSAvoidease of analytics data processing
Core Design Contradiction:
Object-affected harmful factorsVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements self-service by designing the encrypted analytics data to automatically validate itself during the analytics reporting process. The encrypted data embedded in web content serves itself as an authentication mechanism, requiring no additional manual verification steps. The decryption and validation occur automatically as part of the standard analytics data collection workflow, maintaining ease of operation while improving security.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #25Self-service

Data Source

PatentUS9369474B2Analytics data validation
Publication Date: 2016.06.14 ADOBE INC
  • US9369474B2 patent drawing
  • US9369474B2 patent drawing
  • US9369474B2 patent drawing

AI summary

Analytics data validation techniques are described. In one or more implementations, an analytics service collects analytics data from a client device that describes web content and consumption of the web content by the client device. The collected analytics data includes encrypted analytics data that is not accessible by the client device and dynamic analytics data that describes the consumption of the web content by the client device. The encrypted analytics data is decrypted and a determination is made as to whether the collected analytics data is valid using the decrypted analytics data based on whether the decrypted analytics data includes expected parameters or that the dynamic analytics data is consistent with the decrypted analytics data. Responsive to a determination that the collected analytics data is valid, use of the collected analytics data is permitted are part of a web content analysis.