Patent Issued for System and method for scrubbing data to be shared between organizations (USPTO 11514190): State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company

2022 DEC 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- A patent by the inventors Chittiprolu, Murali (Normal, IL, US), Lewis, George Ross (Bloomington, IL, US), filed on July 21, 2020, was published online on November 29, 2022, according to news reporting originating from Alexandria, Virginia, by NewsRx correspondents.

Patent number 11514190 is assigned to State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

The following quote was obtained by the news editors 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 the background information obtained for this patent, NewsRx journalists 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.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method for scrubbing data for testing a joint solution, the method comprising: capturing, by a first organization, a first data subset in a first memory of the first organization: capturing, by a second organization, a second data subset in a second memory of the second organization; scrubbing, by a first processor of the first organization, the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization; transmitting, by a first communication element of the first organization, the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization via a communication network; scrubbing, by a second processor of the second organization, the second data subset based on the scrubbed first data subset; testing, by the second organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first data subset and the scrubbed second data subset in a test environment provided by the second organization; identifying, by a data control element of the second organization, unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization; and preventing, by the data control element of the second organization, introduction of the unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization.

“2. The computer-implemented method of in claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the first communication element of the first organization, the scrubbed second data subset; and testing, by the first organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first data subset and the scrubbed second data subset.

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

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

“5. The computer-implemented method of in claim 4, wherein the one or more specific data fields comprise at least one of account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers.

“6. The computer-implemented method of 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 of 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 and replacing other characters in the one or more specific data fields.

“8. A computer-implemented method for scrubbing data for testing a joint solution, the method comprising: capturing, by a first organization, a first data subset in a first memory of the first organization; scrubbing, by a first processor of the first organization, the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization; transmitting, by a first communication element of the first organization, the scrubbed first data subset to a second organization; receiving, by the first communication element of the first organization, a scrubbed second data subset from the second organization, the scrubbed second data subset being scrubbed based on the scrubbed first data subset; testing, by the first organization, the joint solution using the scrubbed first data subset and the scrubbed second data subset in a test environment; identifying, by a data control element of the second organization, unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization; and preventing, by the data control element of the second organization, introduction of the unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization.

“9. The computer-implemented method of in claim 8, wherein scrubbing the first data subset involves scrubbing only one or more specific data fields.

“10. The computer-implemented method of in claim 9, wherein the one or more specific data fields contain sensitive information.

“11. The computer-implemented method of in claim 10, wherein the one or more specific data fields comprise at least one of account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers.

“12. The computer-implemented method of in claim 9, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving a format of each of the one or more specific data fields.

“13. A system for scrubbing data to be shared between a first organization and a second organization for testing a joint solution, the system comprising: a first memory of the first organization configured to store a first data subset; a first processor of the first organization configured to scrub the first data subset according to scrubbing rules of the first organization; a first communication element of the first organization configured to communicate via a communication network the scrubbed first data subset from the first organization to the second organization; a second memory of the second organization configured to store a second data subset; a second processor of the second organization configured to scrub the second data subset based on the scrubbed first data subset received from the first organization; wherein the second processor is further configured to use the scrubbed first and second data subsets in a test environment provided by the second organization to test the joint solution; identifying, by a data control element of the second organization, unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization; and preventing, by the data control element of the second organization, introduction of the unscrubbed data communicated by the first organization.

“14. The system of claim 13, wherein scrubbing the first data subset involves scrubbing only one or more specific data fields.

“15. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more specific data fields contain sensitive information.

“16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more specific data fields comprise at least one of account numbers, dates of birth, vehicle identification numbers, telephone numbers, addresses, social security numbers, and personal identification numbers.

“17. The system of claim 14, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving a format of each of the one or more specific data fields.

“18. The system of claim 14, wherein scrubbing the one or more specific data fields includes preserving one or more characters which are relevant to testing the joint solution and replacing other characters in the one or more specific data fields.”

URL and more information on this patent, see: Chittiprolu, Murali. System and method for scrubbing data to be shared between organizations. U.S. Patent Number 11514190, filed July 21, 2020, and published online on November 29, 2022. Patent URL (for desktop use only): https://ppubs.uspto.gov/pubwebapp/external.html?q=(11514190)&db=USPAT&type=ids

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