Patent Issued for System And Method For Scrubbing Data To Be Shared Between Organizations (USPTO 10,754,982)

2020 SEP 08 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- According to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx journalists, a patent by the inventors Chittiprolu, Murali (Normal, IL); Lewis, George Ross (Bloomington, IL), filed on February 17, 2017, was published online on September 7, 2020.

The assignee for this patent, patent number 10,754,982, is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

Reporters obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Organizations sometimes conduct joint actions, such as testing organizational products, services, or other solutions, which require an exchange of data and maintenance of common data that is sourced, updated, and used by both organizations. In such situations, it may be desirable for an organization to scrub its data of sensitive information prior to making it externally available, and to prevent the introduction of unscrubbed data into the organization. However, each organization involved in the joint action may have its own process for scrubbing its own data, and these processes may be incompatible to varying degrees. Further, some needs may require scrubbed data while other needs may require unscrubbed data. For example, a simulation operation may require one organization to provide another with unscrubbed data for a line of business being tested, a conversion operation may require the organization to provide a test environment with unscrubbed data for the line of business, and an integration operation may require the organization to provide the test environment with scrubbed data while still maintaining the integrity of the common data.”

In addition to obtaining background information on this patent, NewsRx editors also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent: “Embodiments of the present technology relate to systems and computer-implemented methods for scrubbing organizations’ data of sensitive information prior to exchanging it or otherwise making it externally available, such as when conducting joint testing or other actions, and to prevent the introduction of unscrubbed data from the second organization. Broadly characterized, one organization’s data may be scrubbed using the other organization’s actual scrubbed data in test, rather than the other organization’s scrubbing rules or process.

“In a first aspect, a system may be provided for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution, wherein the first organization may produce a first data set and the second organization may produce a second data set, and the system may broadly comprise the following. A first electronic memory may be configured to capture a first data subset of the first data set, a first electronic processor may be configured to scrub the first data subset according to scrubbing rules, and a first electronic communication element may be configured to communicate via an electronic communication network the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization. A second electronic memory may be configured to capture a second data subset of the second data set, a second electronic processor may be configured to apply the scrubbed first data subset to the unscrubbed second data subset in order to scrub the second data subset, and a second electronic communication element may be configured to communicate via the electronic communication network at least part of the scrubbed second data subset from the second organization to the first organization as part of testing the joint solution or as part of joint testing. The scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a first test environment provided by the first organization to test the joint solution, and the scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a second test environment provided by the second test environment to test the joint solution.

“Additionally or alternatively, (a) the scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a first test environment provided by the first organization to test the joint solution and in a second test environment provided by the second test environment to test the joint solution, respectively, or (b) the scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a joint or shared test environment that is accessible by both the first and second organizations while testing is ongoing. The computer system may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In a second aspect, a computer-implemented method may be provided for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution, wherein the first organization may produce a first data set and the second organization may produce a second data set, and the computer-implemented method may broadly comprise the following. A first data subset of the first data set may be captured in a first electronic memory, and a second data subset of the second data set may be captured in a second electronic memory. The first data subset may be scrubbed according to scrubbing rules by a first electronic processor. The scrubbed first data subset may be communicated from the first organization to the second organization by a first electronic communication element and via an electronic communication network. The scrubbed first data subset may be applied to the unscrubbed second data subset by a second electronic processor in order to scrub the second data subset. At least part of the scrubbed second data subset may be communicated from the second organization to the first organization by a second electronic communication element via the electronic communication network as part of testing the joint solution (or part of joint testing). The scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a first test environment provided by the first organization and in a second test environment provided by the second organization to test the joint solution, or the scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a joint or shared test environment that is accessible by both the first and second organization during testing. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed herein, and may be implemented via one or more processors and/or computer-executable instructions stored on non-transitory computer-readable medium or media.

“In a third aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium with an executable program stored thereon may be provided for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution, wherein the first organization may produce a first data set and the second organization may produce a second data set, wherein the computer program may be configured to instruct a system to perform the following actions. A first data subset of the first data set may be captured in a first electronic memory, and a second data subset of the second data set may be captured in a second electronic memory. The first data subset may be scrubbed according to scrubbing rules by a first electronic processor. The scrubbed first data subset may be communicated from the first organization to the second organization by a first electronic communication element and via an electronic communication network. The scrubbed first data subset may be applied to the unscrubbed second data subset by a second electronic processor in order to scrub the second data subset. At least part of the scrubbed second data subset may be communicated from the second organization to the first organization by a second electronic communication element via the electronic communication network as part of joint testing and/or testing the joint solution. The scrubbed first and second data subsets may be used in a first test environment provided by the first organization and in a second test environment provided by the second organization to test the joint solution. The instructions may direct additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“Various implementations of any or all of the foregoing aspects may include any one or more of the following additional features. The data may be customer data associated with a business endeavor. Scrubbing the first data subset may involve scrubbing only one or more specific data fields, which may contain sensitive information. The specific data fields may include any one or more of account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers. Scrubbing the specific data fields may include preserving a format of each of the specific data fields. Scrubbing the specific data fields may include preserving one or more characters which are relevant to testing the joint solution while replacing other characters in the specific data fields. The process may further include creating by the first organization an additional control at a data integration point to identify and prevent the introduction of unscrubbed data from the second organization.

“Advantages of these and other embodiments will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of the exemplary embodiments which have been shown and described by way of illustration. As will be realized, the present embodiments described herein may be capable of other and different embodiments, and their details are capable of modification in various respects. Accordingly, the drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“We claim:

“1. A computer-implemented method for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution or conducting joint testing, wherein the first organization produces a first data set and the second organization produces a second data set, the method comprising: capturing, by the first organization, a first data subset of the first data set in a first electronic memory of the first organization; capturing, by the second organization, a second data subset of the second data set in a second electronic memory of the second organization; scrubbing, by a first electronic processor of the first organization, the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization; transmitting, by a first electronic communication element of the first organization, the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization via an electronic communication network; scrubbing, in response to a transmission of the scrubbed first data subset and by a second electronic processor of the second organization, the second data subset based on the scrubbed first data subset; transmitting, by a second electronic processor of the second organization, at least part of the scrubbed second data subset from the second organization to the first organization as part of the joint testing; and testing, in response to a transmission of the at least part of the scrubbed second data subset and by the first organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a first test environment provided by the first organization; and testing, by the second organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a second test environment provided by the second organization.

“2. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 1, wherein the data is customer data associated with a business endeavor.

“3. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 1, wherein scrubbing the first data subset involves scrubbing only one or more specific data fields.

“4. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 3, wherein the one or more specific data fields contain sensitive information.

“5. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 4, wherein the one or more specific data fields are selected from the group consisting of: account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers.

“6. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 3, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving a format of each of the one or more specific data fields.

“7. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 3, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving one or more characters which are relevant to testing the joint solution while replacing other characters in the one or more specific data fields.

“8. The computer-implemented method as set forth in claim 1, further including creating by the first organization an additional control at a data integration point to identify and prevent the introduction of unscrubbed data communicated by the second organization.

“9. A computer-implemented method for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution or conducting joint testing, wherein the first organization produces a first data set of customer data associated with a business endeavor, and the second organization produces a second data set of customer data associated with the business endeavor, the method comprising: capturing, by the first organization, a first data subset of the first data set in a first electronic memory of the first organization; capturing, by the second organization, a second data subset of the second data set in a second electronic memory of the second organization; scrubbing, by a first electronic processor of the first organization, the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization, wherein scrubbing the first data subset involves scrubbing only one or more specific data fields which contain sensitive information, and wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields further includes preserving a format of each of the one or more specific data fields and preserving one or more characters which are relevant to testing the joint solution while replacing other characters in the one or more specific data fields; transmitting, by a first electronic communication element of the first organization, the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization via an electronic communication network; scrubbing, in response to a transmission of the scrubbed first data subset and by a second electronic processor of the second organization, the second data subset based on the scrubbed first data subset; transmitting, by a second electronic processor of the second organization, at least part of the scrubbed second data subset from the second organization to the first organization as part of the joint testing; testing, in response to a transmission of the at least part of the scrubbed second data subset and by the first organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a first test environment provided by the first organization; and testing, by the second organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a second test environment provided by the second organization.

“10. A system for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution or conducting joint testing, wherein the first organization produces a first data set and the second organization produces a second data set, the system comprising: a first electronic memory of the first organization configured to capture a first data subset of the first data set; a first electronic processor of the first organization configured to scrub the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization; a first electronic communication element of the first organization configured to communicate via an electronic communication network the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization; a second electronic memory of the second computing resource configured to capture a second data subset of the second data set; a second electronic processor of the second organization configured to scrub the second data subset based on the scrubbed first data subset received from the first organization; and a second electronic communication element of the second organization configured to communicate via the electronic communication network at least part of the scrubbed second data subset from the second organization to the first organization as part of the joint testing, wherein the first electronic processor is further configured to use the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a first test environment provided by the first organization to test the joint solution, and the second electronic processor is further configured to use the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a second test environment provided by the second organization to test the joint solution.

“11. The system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the data is customer data associated with a business endeavor.

“12. The system as set forth in claim 10, wherein scrubbing the first data subset involves scrubbing only one or more specific data fields.

“13. The system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the one or more specific data fields contain sensitive information.

“14. The system as set forth in claim 13, wherein the one or more specific data fields are selected from the group consisting of: account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers.

“15. The system as set forth in claim 12, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving a format of each of the one or more specific data fields.

“16. The system as set forth in claim 12, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving one or more characters which are relevant to testing the joint solution while replacing other characters in the one or more specific data fields.

“17. The system as set forth in claim 10, wherein the first computing resources are further configured to implement an additional control at a data integration point to identify and prevent the introduction of unscrubbed data communicated by the second organization.”

For more information, see this patent: Chittiprolu, Murali; Lewis, George Ross. System And Method For Scrubbing Data To Be Shared Between Organizations. U.S. Patent Number 10,754,982, filed February 17, 2017, and published online on September 7, 2020. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=10,754,982.PN.&OS=PN/10,754,982RS=PN/10,754,982

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