Secure Content Distribution Using Encrypted User Data Mediation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for selecting and distributing digital components to client devices fail to adequately protect user privacy and data security, particularly in the absence of third-party cookies, allowing publishers to track user interests and access sensitive information.
Innovation Solution
A secure distribution system that encrypts user data and applies differential privacy techniques to select digital components based on encrypted user data, ensuring that only encrypted content is provided to client devices, preventing publishers from accessing or inferring user information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If publishers access user data to select and distribute digital components, then content relevance is improved, but user privacy and data security deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
A secure distribution system acts as an intermediary between publishers and user data. The system receives encrypted user data, performs decryption and component selection internally, then returns only encrypted component identifiers to publishers. This mediator architecture allows content relevance to be improved through data processing while preventing publishers from directly accessing or inferring user information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the sensitive data processing operations from the publisher's control environment and relocates them to a secure distribution system. By taking out the decryption and selection logic from publisher servers, the system enables relevant content delivery without exposing user data to publishers, thus improving content relevance while protecting user privacy.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If encrypted user data is used for component selection, then user privacy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple functions into the secure distribution system: encrypted data reception, decryption using stored keys, candidate component selection based on decrypted data, and encrypted identifier return. By combining these operations in a single trusted system rather than distributing them across multiple entities, the patent protects user privacy through encryption while managing complexity through functional consolidation.
3Adaptability or versatility
If publishers can decrypt and view digital component data, then content customization is improved, but data security deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of giving publishers decryption capabilities to enable content customization, the patent inverts the approach: the secure distribution system performs decryption and selection, then returns only encrypted component identifiers that publishers cannot decrypt or view. This inversion allows the system to achieve content customization through intelligent selection while maintaining data security by preventing publisher access to component content.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for selecting and distributing digital components to client devices in ways that protect user privacy and confidential data of content platforms and/or digital component providers are described. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, by a publisher server of a publisher and for a client device of a user, a content request that requests content of the publisher for presentation to the user, the content request comprising a set of data that includes encrypted user data. The publisher server provides the set of data to a secure digital distribution system configured to decrypt the encrypted user data to obtain cleartext user data and select candidate digital components based on the user data. The publisher server receives, from the secure distribution system, candidate digital component data for each of one or more candidate digital components.