HTTP Header PII Indication for Low-Overhead Message Handling

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing methods for identifying Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in HTTP messages are inefficient and require significant changes to application formats, leading to increased resource consumption and potential data exposure risks.

Innovation Solution

A method involving appending a header field to HTTP messages to indicate the presence or absence of PII, allowing receivers to determine the presence of PII without parsing the message body, thus enabling efficient and compliant data handling.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If PII identification is implemented by parsing the entire HTTP message body, then measurement precision of personal data is improved, but use of energy and processing time increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovePII identification accuracyVSAvoidprocessing energy

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSUse of energy by moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts only the necessary portion of information (PII presence indication) from the HTTP message body by using a header field marker, rather than parsing the entire message body. This extraction approach maintains PII identification accuracy while significantly reducing processing energy consumption.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies preliminary action by adding a PII indication marker to the HTTP message header before message transmission and processing. This allows receiving systems to identify PII presence without performing energy-intensive full message body parsing, thus reducing processing energy while maintaining identification accuracy.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Reliability

If data tagging is applied to identify PII in HTTP messages, then reliability of data protection is improved, but device complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedata protection reliabilityVSAvoidsystem complexity

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the PII identification function into two parts: a simple marker indication in the HTTP message header and the actual PII data in the message body. This segmentation maintains data protection reliability by clearly marking PII presence while reducing system complexity by avoiding the need for complex parsing and analysis of message body contents.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism - the PII indication marker in the HTTP header - that mediates between the need for reliable PII identification and the desire to keep system complexity low. This marker serves as a simple signal that enables downstream systems to handle PII appropriately without requiring complex identification logic.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Ease of operation

If message body format is modified to include PII indicators, then ease of operation for PII identification is improved, but manufacturing precision of message format is worsened

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovePII identification easeVSAvoidmessage format precision

Core Design Contradiction:

Ease of operationVSManufacturing precision

Solution Approach 1:

The patent moves the PII indication from the traditional message body dimension to the message header dimension. This dimensional change places the PII indicator in a separate, standardized header field, making PII identification easier while maintaining message format precision by using established HTTP header structures rather than modifying the message body format.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #17Another dimension (Dimensionality change)

4Measurement precision

If full message body parsing is performed to detect PII, then measurement precision of personal data location is improved, but productivity of message processing is reduced

Engineering Contradiction:

ImprovePII location precisionVSAvoidmessage processing throughput

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSProductivity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts the PII location information function to the HTTP message header through a dedicated indication marker. This extraction allows receiving systems to immediately identify PII presence without performing time-consuming full message body parsing, thus maintaining PII location precision while significantly improving message processing throughput and productivity.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentUS20250373679A1Indicating personal data in an HTTP message

Publication Date: 2025.12.04 TELEFONAKTIEBOLAGET LM ERICSSON (PUBL)

AI summary

A network, a transmitter, a receiver, a method, a computer program and a computer program product for providing an indication of personal data in an HTTP message including a body is disclosed. The network includes the transmitter and the receiver. The network appends a header field to the HTTP message by the transmitter, wherein the appended header field indicates either presence or absence of personal data in the body, transmits the HTTP message including the appended header field to the receiver from the transmitter, receives the HTTP message including the appended header field and determines if the HTTP message includes personal data in the body based on the appended header field.