Multi-Database Personal Information Analysis with Transient Tokens
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems face challenges in safeguarding personal information on digital platforms, particularly in compliance with regulations like GDPR, which require de-identification and secure handling of user data while maintaining the ability to provide personalized experiences.
Innovation Solution
A method and system utilizing transient tokens to access and analyze de-identified personal information, where a transient token is assigned to user credentials, allowing matching with personalized content without revealing user identities, and enabling secure handling and reuse across multiple requests.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If personal information is stored in a database managed by the digital platform, then personalized content delivery is improved, but data security and privacy protection deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a third-party service as an intermediary that stores de-identified personal information and performs analysis operations. The digital platform never directly stores sensitive personal information, yet can still obtain personalized content through the intermediary's analysis capabilities. This mediator architecture resolves the contradiction by separating data storage security responsibilities from content delivery functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts personally identifiable information from the data storage function by using de-identified data. The third-party service stores and analyzes only de-identified personal information, removing the security vulnerability of storing raw personal data while maintaining the ability to perform personalized analysis. This extraction of identifying information resolves the security concern while preserving functionality.
2Reliability
If de-identified personal information is stored by a third party, then data security is improved, but the ability to match requests with user-specific content deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses transient tokens as temporary copies that represent user sessions without containing actual personal information. These tokens enable the matching of requests with de-identified data while maintaining security, as the tokens themselves do not reveal user identities but serve as functional substitutes for direct user identification in the secure environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transforms personal information into de-identified form by changing its parameters - removing personally identifiable elements while retaining analytical value. This parameter transformation allows the data to maintain its utility for personalized content delivery while eliminating the security risks associated with storing raw personal information.
3Reliability
If transient tokens are used to match requests with output, then privacy protection is improved, but system complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs transient tokens as disposable, short-lived identifiers that serve their purpose in matching requests with de-identified data and then become obsolete. These temporary tokens provide privacy protection through their ephemerality - they cannot be traced back to user identities and are discarded after use, simplifying privacy management compared to permanent identification systems.
Data Source
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AI summary
A computing device implemented method comprises: receiving data representing user credentials from an application server; assigning a transient token to the received user credentials and initiating transmission of the user credentials and the assigned transient token to a remote system, wherein the transient token assigned to the received user credentials is generated independent of the user credentials, the remote system operative to (i) generate a unique token from the user credentials, (ii) receive data representing personal information corresponding to the user credentials based on matching the generated unique token and a token corresponding to the user credentials of the personal information, and (iii) generate personalized content based on the personal information; receiving the personalized content and the transient token from the remote system; and initiating transmission of the received personalized content to the application server, wherein initiating transmission of the received personalized content to the application server is based upon matching the transient token received from the remote system to the transient token transmitted to the remote system. A system comprising a request server and a computer readable storage device implementing the method are also described.