Patent Application Titled “Methodology For Blinded Messaging” Published Online (USPTO 20210385197): Patent Application

2021 DEC 23 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Washington, D.C., by NewsRx journalists, a patent application by the inventors Ashby, Blake (Ferguson, MO, US); Mitchell, Bill (St. Louis, MO, US); Niemann, Ryan (Chesterfield, MO, US), filed on June 2, 2021, was made available online on December 9, 2021.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “

“Field of the Invention

“The present disclosure relates to the field of communications. In particular, this disclosure relates to systems and methods for providing a blinded messaging system and method, which facilitates one party seeking individuals with particular skills, backgrounds, or other attributes in a de-identified manner that preserves the anonymity of the individuals being searched.

“Description of the Related Art

“The world is increasingly concerned with the privacy of personal and identifying information, particularly in the interconnected digital age where the vast majority of information about people is stored on computer networks. Governments have responded with legislative efforts focused on protecting and maintaining personal privacy, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”). These and other laws highlight the desire by many to maintain the privacy of personal information. In the United States, there is not yet a comprehensive federal scheme for general privacy protection, but federal law does include a number of subject-matter specific laws targeted to the privacy of specific types of personal information. Examples include the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (“FERPA”) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”), which require certain institutions and types of data custodians to protect, respectively, educational student data, and health care information.

“While these laws are valuable and important, they do have some undesirable downstream effects. For example, the current state of FERPA guidelines protects information about students. With some exceptions, this law generally prohibits educational institutions from disclosing information in children’s educational records to third parties other than parents or legal guardians without the student’s parent or guardian’s prior (usually written) consent. This covers a range of records, ranging from grades to aptitude and interest tests and survey scores to behavior records, such as educational disciplinary actions or even extracurricular group membership

“This makes it difficult for third parties to identify specific students or groups of students for whom certain educational or career information or materials are most relevant or applicable. For example, suppose an international non-profit organization providing vaccinations to emerging economies seeks to expand to a new country and is interested in graduating students who may be interested in the mission of the organization and/or have language proficiency in the new country. The organization cannot simply contact schools and request lists of students majoring in health science or international affairs, or those who have majored in or speak another language, because disclosing that information without the student’s prior consent is not permitted. This means that organizations can merely advertise their mission and goals broadly and hope that their message reaches the students most likely to be interested and well-suited for the opportunity.

“This results in a poor noise-to-bandwidth ratio at job fairs and recruiting events for graduating students, who may wander from booth to booth in crowded auditoriums for hours and become frustrated and discouraged, even while perhaps passing right by an ideal match without realizing it simply because the student didn’t see the organization’s signage. This makes the search for students by enterprises unnecessarily difficult and expensive, and it makes the search by students for interesting and enriching educational, work, or volunteer opportunities unnecessarily overwhelming, frustrating, and daunting. This can also result is students making life-changing decisions without access to the best and most relevant information, and perhaps even taking mismatched opportunities out of desperation, which can result in low job satisfaction, building the wrong kind of resume, and generally sending the student off on the wrong career path while saddled with oppressive student loan debt.

“While this is certainly true in college, this is likely even more applicable for high school students, who generally lack significant exposure to the job market and are often unaware that certain careers exist at all or are misinformed about the requirements or qualifications of certain jobs and career options, many of which have been heavily fictionalized and misrepresented in popular culture.

“Additionally, certain types of careers and educational opportunities are best suited to students with specific backgrounds and interests. Performance in school is of interest to employers, the military, public agencies, as well as colleges and trade schools. Factors such as grades, classes taken, attendance, and extra-curricular activities (e.g., service organizations, athletics, and clubs) can all be indicators of bib s inability for jobs, projects, majors, or other opportunities. Organizations seeking candidates for job, career, or educational opportunities rarely benefit from attracting mismatched students, and instead seek students with the right combination of academic achievement, interests and activities.

“Therefore, what is needed in the art is a system that facilitates “blinded” messaging between such institutions and students that protects the privacy of student information while also assisting students with using their educational experiences and other qualifications to identify promising career and educational opportunities. Such a solution should also provide a mechanism for providers (e.g., employers and educational institutions) to reach students whose qualifications (e.g., grades, attendance, interests, career goals, extra-curricular activities) are a good match for the providers’ available opportunities.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent application, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The following is a summary of the invention in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not intended to identify key or critical elements of the invention or to delineate the scope of the invention. The sole purpose of this section is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

“Because of these and other problems in the art, described herein, among other things, is a computer-implemented method for implementing a blinded messaging service comprising: providing a server computer communicably coupled to a telecommunications network, the server computer programmed to provide a blinded messaging service over the telecommunications network; providing a provider computer of at least one provider, the provider computer communicably coupled to the server computer via the telecommunications network; providing a plurality of candidate computers, each candidate computer being a computer of a candidate and communicably coupled to the server computer via the telecommunications network; receiving at the computer server, for each candidate in the plurality of candidates, candidate profile data for the each candidate; receiving, at the computer server from the provider computer, a communication comprising candidate selection criteria, the candidate selection criteria comprising information about characteristics desired by the at least one provider for a candidate for an opportunity offered by the provider; receiving, at the computer server from provider computer, a communication comprising information about the opportunity; the computer server determining, based on a comparison of the received candidate selection criteria to the candidate profile data for each candidate in the plurality of candidates, a second plurality of candidates whose candidate profiles match the received candidate selection criteria; and for each candidate in the second plurality of candidates, receiving, at the candidate computer for the each candidate in the second plurality of candidates, a copy of the received communication comprising information about the opportunity.

“In an embodiment of the method, the candidate profile data for each candidate in the plurality of candidates comprises educational data about the each candidate.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the educational data comprises one or more of grades, classes taken, grade point average, attendance history, standardized test scores, and certifications received.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the opportunity is selected from the group consisting of: a job, admission to an academic institution, and enlistment in military service.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the method further comprises: receiving, at the provider computer, a message comprising the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the method further comprises: determining, at the computer server, whether the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates is at or above a predefined threshold; only if the computer servers determines that the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates is at or above the predefined threshold, the computer server transmitting to the provider computer a message comprising the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates; and if the computer server determines that the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates is not at or above the predefined threshold, the computer server does not transmit to the provider computer the message comprising the number of candidates in the second plurality of candidates.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the method further comprises: in response to receiving the copy of the communication comprising information about the opportunity, at least one candidate in the second plurality of candidates manipulating a user interface of the candidate computer of the at least one candidate to draft a response message to the at least one provider; receiving, at the computer server, the at least one candidate response message; the computer server editing the at least one candidate response message to remove from the response message any personal information of the at least one candidate; the computer server transmitting the edited at least one candidate response message to the at least one provider; and receiving, at the at least one provider computer, the transmitted edited at least one candidate response.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the computer server editing the at least one candidate response message to remove from the response message any personal information of the at least one candidate comprises replacing any text in the response message consisting of any candidate profile data for the at last one candidate with anonymized text.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the at least one candidate response message includes image or video data, and the computer server editing the at least one candidate response message to remove from the response any personal information of the at least one candidate comprises anonymizing any portion of the image or video data consisting essentially of any candidate profile data for the at least one candidate.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the anonymizing comprises modifying the image or video data to blur, pixelate, or obscure the portion.

“In a further embodiment of the method, at least one candidate response message includes a digital file and the computer server editing the at least one candidate response message to remove from the response any personal information of the at least one candidate comprises removing from the digital file metadata comprising any candidate profile data for the at least one candidate.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the receiving, at the computer server for each of the candidates, candidate profile data comprising information about the candidate comprises the computer server: causing to be displayed on the candidate computer for the each candidate one or more surveys comprising one of more survey questions; and collecting from the each candidate responses to each of the one of more survey questions of the one or more surveys.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the method further comprises: in response to receiving the copy of the communication comprising information about the opportunity, at least one candidate in the second plurality of candidates manipulating a user interface of the candidate computer of the at least one candidate to initiate a chat session with the at least one provider.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the initiating the chat session comprises: displaying on a display of the candidate computer of the at least one candidate a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by the at least one provider to the at least cone candidate; and displaying on a display of the provider computer a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by the at least one candidate to the at least one provider; wherein the provider computer does not receive personal information of the at least one candidate and the chat display of the provider computer does not display personal information of the at least one candidate.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the method further comprises: for each chat message sent by the at least one candidate, receiving, at the computer server, the each chat message; the computer server editing the each chat message to remove from the each chat message personal information of the at least one candidate; the computer server transmitting the edited each chat message to the at least one provider; receiving, at the provider computer, the transmitted edited each chat message; and the displaying on a display of the provider computer a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by the at least one candidate to the at least one provider further comprising displaying on the display the received edited each chat message.

“In a further embodiment of the method, the computer server editing the each chat message to remove from the each chat message personal information of the at least one candidate comprises replacing any text in the each chat message consisting of any candidate profile data for the at last one candidate with anonymized text.

“In a further embodiment of the method, at least one message in the each chat message comprises image or video data, and the computer server editing the each chat message to remove from the each chat message personal information of the at least one candidate composes anonymizing any portion of the image or image or video data consisting essentially of any candidate profile data for the at least one candidate.

“In a further embodiment of the method, at least one message in the each chat message comprises a digital file, and the computer server editing the each chat message to remove from the each chat message personal information of the at least one candidate comprises removing from the digital metadata comprising any candidate profile data for the at least one candidate.”

There is additional summary information. Please visit full patent to read further.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for implementing a blinded messaging service comprising: providing a server computer communicably coupled to a telecommunications network, said server computer programmed to provide a blinded messaging service over said telecommunications network; providing a provider computer of at least one provider, said provider computer communicably coupled to said server computer via said telecommunications network; providing a plurality of candidate computers, each candidate computer being a computer of a candidate and communicably coupled to said server computer via said telecommunications network; receiving, at said computer server, for each candidate in said plurality of candidates, candidate profile data for said each candidate; receiving, at said computer server from said provider computer, a communication comprising candidate selection criteria, said candidate selection criteria comprising information about characteristics desired by said at least one provider for a candidate for an opportunity offered by said provider; receiving, at said computer server from provider computer, a communication comprising information about said opportunity; said computer server determining, based an a comparison of said received candidate selection criteria to said candidate profile data for each candidate in said plurality of candidates, a second plurality of candidates whose candidate profiles match said received candidate selection criteria; and for each candidate in said second plurality of candidates, receiving, at said candidate computer for said each candidate in said second plurality of candidates, a copy of said received communication comprising information about said opportunity.

“2. The method of claim 1, wherein said candidate profile data for each candidate in said plurality of candidates comprises educational data about said each candidate.

“3. The method of claim 2, wherein said educational data comprises one or more of grades, classes taken, grade point average, attendance history, standardized test scores, and certifications received.

“4. The method of claim 1, wherein said opportunity is selected from the group consisting of: a job, admission to an academic institution, and enlistment in military service.

“5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, at said provider computer, a message comprising the number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates.

“6. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining, at said computer server, whether the number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates is at or above a predefined threshold; only if said computer servers determines that said number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates is at or above said predefined threshold, said computer server transmitting to said provider computer a message comprising said number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates; and if said computer server determines that said number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates is not at or above said predefined threshold, said computer server does not transmit to said provider computer said message comprising said number of candidates in said second plurality of candidates.

“7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to receiving said copy of said communication comprising information about said opportunity, at least one candidate in said second plurality of candidates manipulating a user interface of said candidate computer of said at least one candidate to draft a response message to said at least one provider; receiving, at said computer server, said at least one candidate response message; said computer server editing said at least one candidate response message to remove from said response message any personal information of said at least one candidate; said computer server transmitting said edited at least one candidate response message to said at least one provider; and receiving, at said at least one provider computer, said transmitted edited at least one candidate response.

“8. The method of claim 7, wherein said computer server editing said at least one candidate response message to remove from said response message any personal information of said at least one candidate comprises replacing any text in said response message consisting of any candidate profile data for said at last one candidate with anonymized text.

“9. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one candidate response message includes image or video data, and said computer server editing said at least one candidate response message to remove from said response any personal information of said at least one candidate comprises anonymizing any portion of said image or video data consisting essentially of any candidate profile data for said at least one candidate.

“10. The method of claim 9, wherein said anonymizing comprises modifying said image or video data to blur, pixelate, or obscure said portion.

“11. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one candidate response message includes a digital file and said computer server editing said at least one candidate response message to remove from said response any personal information of said at least one candidate comprises removing from said digital file metadata comprising any candidate profile data for said at least one candidate.

“12. The method of claim 1, wherein said receiving, at said computer server for each of said candidates, candidate profile data comprising information about said candidate comprises said computer server: causing to be displayed on said candidate computer for said each candidate one or more surveys comprising one of more survey questions; and collecting from said each candidate responses to each of said one of more survey questions of said one or more surveys.

“13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: in response to receiving said copy of said communication comprising information about said opportunity, at least one candidate in said second plurality of candidates manipulating a user interface of said candidate computer of said at least one candidate to initiate a chat session with said at least one provider.

“14. The method of claim 13, wherein said initiating said chat session comprises: displaying on a display of said candidate computer of said at least one candidate a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by said at least one provider to said at least one candidate; and displaying on a display of said provider computer a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by said at least one candidate to said at least one provider; wherein said provider computer does not receive personal information of said at least one candidate and said chat display of said provider computer does not display personal information of said at least one candidate.

“15. The method of claim 14, further comprising: for each chat message sent by said at least one candidate, receiving, at said computer server, said each chat message; said computer server editing said each chat message to remove from said each chat message personal information of said at least one candidate; said computer server transmitting said edited each chat message to said a least one provider; receiving, at said provider computer, said transmitted edited each chat message; and said displaying on a display of said provider computer a chat interface updated in real-time with messages sent by said at least one candidate to said at least one provider further comprising displaying can said display said received edited each chat message.

“16. The method of claim 15, wherein said computer server editing said each chat message to remove from said each chat message personal information of said at least one candidate comprises replacing any text in said each chat message consisting of any candidate profile data for said at last one candidate with anonymized text.

“17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one message in said each chat message comprises image or video data, and said computer server editing said each chat message to remove from said each chat message personal information of said at least one candidate comprises anonymizing any portion of said image or image or video data consisting essentially of any candidate profile data for said at least one candidate.

“18. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one message in said each chat message comprises a digital file, and said computer server editing said each chat message to remove from said each chat message personal information of said at least one candidate comprises removing from said digital file metadata comprising any candidate profile data for said at least one candidate.”

For more information, see this patent application: Ashby, Blake; Mitchell, Bill; Niemann, Ryan. Methodology For Blinded Messaging. Filed June 2, 2021 and posted December 9, 2021. Patent URL: https://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220210385197%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210385197&RS=DN/20210385197

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)