Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Data Bank For Managing Streams Of Personal Data”, for Approval (USPTO 20210042805)

2021 FEB 26 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- From Washington, D.C., NewsRx journalists report that a patent application by the inventors Clauss, Mark E. (Bloomington, IL); Binion, Todd (Bloomington, IL), filed on October 23, 2020, was made available online on February 11, 2021.

The patent’s assignee is State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company (Bloomington, Illinois, United States).

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Individuals are increasingly generating large amounts of personal data, often in the form of ongoing digital personal data streams wherein an activity by the user produces an output describing that activity. The output may be digitally stored and communicated with other parties, most often via the Internet. These personal data streams may originate from a variety of computing devices. Any personal data stream may be digitally stored, transmitted, and may be subject to periodic updates as the owner generates new pieces of personal data.

“Owners of personal data streams increasingly show anxiety with respect to the security of their streams, not only because of risk of identity theft or financial loss, but also because of potential intrusion into their personal lives and loss of personal privacy. Personal data stream owners demonstrate a desire to organize and control access to their own data streams in response to these anxieties. Managing the data streams manually has several drawbacks, such as requiring significant effort and/or being beyond the technical sophistication of most users.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The present embodiments relate to a trusted third party acting as a custodian or banker to safeguard and manage individual streams of data. With an individual’s permission or affirmative consent, a ‘data bank’ may aggregate personal or sensitive data associated with the individual. The data may include financial, telematics, health and wellness, interconnected home, smart or autonomous vehicle, account, utility or vehicle usage, user geolocation information, ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) devices, wearables, browser data, and/or other data streams, including those mentioned herein. The data bank may act as a middleman and offers access to the individual’s personal data to several end users, such as via an online auction. The bids for access to the individual’s personal data may be pushed to the individual by the data bank. If a bid is accepted and data access granted, the end user may perform computer analysis on the individual’s personal data to provide tailored offers for goods or services based upon the individual’s personal data, such as data that reveals preferences and/or unmet needs of the individual for certain types of products or services (e.g., specific types of vehicles, home equipment, clothing, restaurants, movies, entertainment, vacations, etc.). An individual may also be provided revenue or monies in return or exchange for providing access to their individual data.

“In one aspect, a computer-implemented method of operating a data bank of personal data may be provided. The method may include, with an owner of personal data’s permission or affirmative consent, (1) receiving a stream of personal data corresponding to an owner of the personal data; (2) receiving, from the owner of the personal data, a privacy level directive corresponding to the stream of personal data, the privacy level directive identifying at least one category of non-sharable data in the stream of personal data; (3) receiving, from a personal data consumer, a set of personal data criteria; (4) in accordance with the personal data criteria and the privacy level directive, matching, via one or more processors, the personal data consumer with the stream of personal data; (5) receiving, from the personal data consumer, offer terms; and/or (6) presenting, via the one or more processors, the offer terms, to the owner of the personal data, to facilitate operating a data bank of personal data and/or receiving offers for access to personal data. The method may include additional, less, or alternate functionality, including that discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of granting access to personal data streams may be provided. The method may include, with a user’s permission or affirmative consent, (1) establishing, via one or more processors, a data bank account for a user, the data bank account managing access to a plurality of personal data streams for the user; (2) receiving, via the one or more processors, a user selection of a type of personal data streams to deposit in the data bank account; (3) receiving, via the one or more processors, permission from the user to grant access to one or more of the deposited personal data streams to a third party end-user to complete a personal data-related transaction between the third party end-user and the user; (4) responsive to receiving the permission, granting, via the one or more processors, access to the one or more of the deposited personal data streams to the third party end-user; and/or (5) updating, via the one or more processors, a display of personal data-related transactions to include an indication of the completed personal data-related transaction to facilitate the user monitoring and controlling their personal data and/or personal data stream transactions. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.

“In another aspect, a computer-implemented method of managing access to streams of personal data may be provided. The method may include, with a user’s permission or affirmative consent, (1) receiving a stream of personal data owned by a user, the stream of personal data including data generated by the user and data pertaining to an identity of the user; (2) receiving, from the user, a privacy level directive for the stream of personal data identifying at least one category of non-sharable data in the stream; (3) in accordance with the privacy level directive, redacting the at least one category of non-sharable data from the stream to generate a sharable personal data stream; (4) receiving, from the user, an indication of permission to grant access to the shareable personal data stream to a consumer of personal data; and/or (5) granting, to the consumer of personal data, access to the sharable personal data steam to facilitate managing access to personal data. The method may include additional, less, or alternate actions, including those discussed elsewhere herein.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A computer-implemented method of operating a data bank of personal data, the method comprising: receiving a stream of personal data corresponding to an owner of the personal data; receiving, from the owner of the personal data, first and second privacy level directives corresponding to the stream of personal data; receiving, from a plurality of consumers of personal data including a first personal data consumer, a plurality of bids associated with first offer terms; receiving, from a second personal data consumer, second offer terms; presenting, via the one or more processors, the first offer terms and the plurality of bids to the owner of the personal data, to facilitate operating a data bank of personal data and/or receiving offers for access to personal data; presenting, via the one or more processors, the second offer terms, to the owner of the personal data, to facilitate operating a data bank of personal data and/or receiving offers for access to personal data; receiving, from the owner of the personal data, an indication of an acceptance of a set of winning bids of the plurality of bids, the winning bids each corresponding to the first offer terms; sanitizing, via one or more processors, the stream of personal data according to the first privacy level directive and creating a first sanitized stream of personal data; sanitizing, via one or more processors, the stream of personal data according to the second privacy level directive and creating a second sanitized stream of personal data; and granting, via the one or more processors, the first personal data consumer access to the corresponding first or second sanitized stream of personal data.

“2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: after granting access to the stream of personal data, receiving, from the owner of the personal data, an indication that permission for the first personal data consumer to access the first or second sanitized stream of personal data has been revoked; and terminating, via the one or more processors, the access of the first personal data consumer to the corresponding first or second sanitized stream of personal data.

“3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein granting the first personal data consumer access to the first or second sanitized stream of personal data further comprises: granting, via the one or more processors, the first personal data consumer at least one of a right to view the first or second sanitized stream of personal data or a right to control a source of the first or second sanitized stream of personal data.

“4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the stream of personal data further comprises: receiving personal data related to at least one of finances, education, utility usage, shopping or spending habits, activities, hobbies, commercial transactions, social networks, media preferences, telematics data, interconnected home data, insurance-related information, or smart or autonomous vehicle data.

“5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving the stream of personal data further comprises: receiving personal data related to a family which includes the owner of the personal data.

“6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: granting, via the one or more processors, the second personal data consumer access to the corresponding second sanitized stream of personal data.

“7. A computer-implemented method of granting access to personal data streams, the method comprising: establishing, via one or more processors, a data bank account for a user, the data bank account managing access to a plurality of personal data streams for the user; receiving, via the one or more processors, a user selection of a type of personal data streams to deposit in the data bank account; receiving, via the one or more processors, a user selection of first and second privacy level directives corresponding to the deposited personal data streams, the first privacy level directive identifying at least one category of non-sharable data in the stream of personal data, and the second privacy level directive identifying at least one additional category of non-sharable data in the stream of personal data distinct from the at least one category of non-sharable data identified by the first privacy level directive; receiving, from a plurality of end-users of personal data including a first third party end-user, a plurality of bids associated with first offer terms; receiving, from a second third party end-user, second offer terms; sending, to the user, the first offer terms and the plurality of bids; presenting, via the one or more processors, the first offer terms and the plurality of bids to the user; presenting, via the one or more processors, the second offer terms, to the owner of the personal data; receiving, from the user, an indication of an acceptance of a set of winning bids of the plurality of bids, the winning bids each corresponding to the first offer terms; sanitizing, via the one or more processors, the deposited personal data streams according to the first privacy level directive and creating a first sanitized personal data stream; sanitizing, via the one or more processors, the deposited personal data streams according to the second privacy level directive and creating a second sanitized personal data stream; granting, via the one or more processors, the first third party end-user access to the corresponding first or second sanitized stream of personal data; and updating, via the one or more processors, a display of personal data-related transactions to include an indication of the completed personal data-related transaction to facilitate the user monitoring and controlling the personal data and/or personal data stream transactions.

“8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein receiving the user selection of the type of personal data streams further comprises: receiving, via the one or more processors, a user selection of a type of personal data within a personal data stream of the plurality of personal data streams to deposit in the data bank account.

“9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein receiving an indication of an acceptance of a set of winning bids of the plurality of bids further comprises: receiving, via the one or more processors, one or more conditions from the user characterizing how the first sanitized personal data stream is shared with one or more third party entities or merchants.

“10. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein receiving the one or more conditions further comprises: receiving, via the one or more processors, one or more conditions indicating a type of data security precautions to secure the first sanitized personal data stream, an amount or type of personal information to share, a type of third party end-user with which to share the personal information, or a duration the personal information will be shared.

“11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: generating, via the one or more processors, a user interface to display a plurality of indications corresponding to the first sanitized personal data stream.

“12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein generating the user interface further comprises: for the first sanitized personal data stream, displaying, via the one or more processors, a set of transactions associated with a respective deposited personal data stream, wherein displaying the transaction includes displaying an indication of a third party end-user with access to at least a portion of the deposited personal data stream.

“13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein generating the user interface further comprises: for the deposited personal data stream, generating, via the one or more processors, a user interface element that, when selected, causes the deposited data stream to be removed from the data bank account.

“14. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising: receiving, from another third party end-user of the plurality of end-users of personal data, a signal indicating activation of an access purchase opportunity; automatically identifying, via the one or more processors, a personal data stream of the first sanitized personal data streams matching the activated purchase opportunity, the matching based upon an analysis of personal information associated with the user; and in response to identification, generating, via the one or more processors, an indication notifying the user to the activated purchase opportunity.

“15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, further comprising: transmitting, to the user, the indication; and responsive to transmitting the indication, receiving, from the user, an acceptance, approval, or modification of the activated purchase opportunity.

“16. A computer-implemented method of managing access to streams of personal data, the method comprising: receiving a stream of personal data corresponding to user, the user being an owner of the personal data, the stream of personal data including data generated by the user and data pertaining to an identity of the user; receiving, from the owner of the personal data, first and second privacy level directives corresponding to the stream of personal data; receiving, from a plurality of consumers of personal data including a first consumer of personal data, a plurality of bids associated with first offer terms; receiving, from a second consumer of personal data, second offer terms; receiving, from the owner of the personal data, an indication of an acceptance of a set of winning bids of the plurality of bids, the winning bids each corresponding to the first offer terms; sanitizing, via one or more processors, the stream of personal data according to the first privacy level directive and creating a first sharable personal data stream; sanitizing, via one or more processors, the stream of personal data according to the second privacy level directive and creating a second sharable personal data stream; receiving, from the user, an indication of permission to grant access to the first shareable personal data stream to the first consumer of personal data; and granting, to the first consumer of personal data, access to the first sharable personal data stream to facilitate managing access to personal data.

“17. The method of claim 16, wherein the data generated by the user comprises: data generated by a household appliance, transactions in a financial account, a wearable device, use of public transportation, a global positioning system, or an internet browser.

“18. The computer-implemented claim of claim 17 further comprising: receiving, from the user, an indication of permission to grant access to the second shareable personal data stream to a second consumer of personal data; granting, to the second consumer of personal data, access to the second sharable personal data stream to facilitate managing access to personal data; and providing, upon sharing of personal data to the second personal data consumer, the transaction log of personal data streams, the transaction log displayed to the owner of the personal data and showing, in real-time, each discrete piece of information shared with the second personal data consumer

“19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein granting the first consumer of personal data access to the first sharable personal data stream further comprises: granting, via the one or more processors, the first consumer of personal data at least one of a right to view the first sharable personal data stream or a right to control a source of the first sharable personal data stream.

“20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: receiving, from the user, an indication that permission to access the first shareable personal data stream has been revoked; and terminating the access of the respective first consumer of personal data to the respective first shareable personal data stream.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Clauss, Mark E.; Binion, Todd. Data Bank For Managing Streams Of Personal Data. Filed October 23, 2020 and posted February 11, 2021. Patent URL: http://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=%2220210042805%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20210042805&RS=DN/20210042805

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