Profile Field Encryption for Selective Consumer Access
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Solution Overview
Problem
Managing profile stores with sensitive information is challenging due to security concerns and the difficulty in creating coherent snapshots during continuous updates, which complicates operations like search indexing and batch processing.
Innovation Solution
A selective encryption technique encrypts each field in a profile with a symmetric key, which is then encrypted with public keys of authorized consumers, allowing only authorized individuals to decrypt specific fields, and a system for creating snapshots and updates that ensures security and coherence.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If all profile fields are encrypted for all consumers, then consumer privacy is protected, but data accessibility and personalization capabilities deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments profile data into multiple encryption tiers based on consumer preferences. Different fields (e.g., birth date, gender, location) are encrypted with different keys, allowing selective access. This enables the system to protect privacy while maintaining data accessibility for personalized advertising by matching ad criteria against appropriately decrypted fields.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different encryption levels and access permissions to different data fields based on their sensitivity and usage requirements. Each profile field can have its own encryption key and access control settings, allowing the system to optimize privacy protection for sensitive fields while maintaining accessibility for less sensitive fields needed for advertising personalization.
2Adaptability or versatility
If selective encryption is implemented with multiple consumer preferences, then privacy control is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal encryption framework where a single system architecture handles multiple consumer preferences and encryption requirements. The same encryption infrastructure supports different encryption keys, algorithms, and access control policies through a standardized interface, reducing overall system complexity despite the variety of encryption options.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer (encryption management system) that handles the complexity of selective encryption. This intermediary manages key generation, storage, and retrieval, as well as coordinate decryption operations between advertisers and consumers. By centralizing these complex functions, the patent simplifies the interface between advertisers and the encrypted data system.
3Productivity
If advertisers can access decrypted profile data, then ad personalization improves, but consumer data security risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the specific profile fields needed for ad personalization from the fully encrypted profile data. Advertisers receive and process only the decrypted fields relevant to their ad criteria (e.g., location, age range), while the rest of the profile remains encrypted. This minimizes the exposure of sensitive data and reduces security risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary decryption of only the necessary profile fields before ad matching occurs. The system identifies which fields are needed for the advertiser's criteria, decrypts only those fields, and performs the matching operation. This preliminary selective decryption reduces the amount of sensitive data exposed during the advertising process.
Data Source
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AI summary
The disclosed embodiments relate to a system that provides a selective encryption technique that encrypts all of the fields in a profile, and selectively enables consumers of the profile information to decrypt specific fields in the profiles. This is accomplished by encrypting each field in the profile using a randomly generated symmetric key, and then encrypting the symmetric key for each field with public keys belonging to individuals who are authorized to access each field. These encrypted public keys are stored in a header of the profile to enable individuals to use their corresponding private keys to decrypt symmetric keys for the specific fields that they are authorized to access.