Researchers Submit Patent Application, “Prevention Of Unauthorized Access To Information”, for Approval (USPTO 20220366075): Patent Application

2022 DEC 07 (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 Albero, George Anthony (Chanlotte, NC, US); Mendu, Madhavi (Edison, NJ, US), filed on May 17, 2021, was made available online on November 17, 2022.

No assignee for this patent application has been made.

News editors obtained the following quote from the background information supplied by the inventors: “Protecting personal information has become a challenge today. Stolen personal information may be used to commit several types of fraud including opening fraudulent accounts, filing phony health insurance claims, making unauthorized purchases, selling personal information on the dark web and the like. Personal information of users is readily displayed in many user devices. For example, identity cards, driving licenses, credit cards and debit cards display a user’s personal information imprinted on them such as name, age, license number, credit card/debit card number, expiration date and other personal user information. This makes it easy for perpetrators to steal user information from these devices. Even when personal information is encoded (e.g., Quick Response (QR) code, bar code, digital encoding etc.) such that only authorized decoders can decode the information, perpetrators have devised ingenious methods to extract such encoded information.”

As a supplement to the background information on this patent application, NewsRx correspondents also obtained the inventors’ summary information for this patent application: “The system and methods implemented by the system as disclosed in the present disclosure provide technical solutions to the technical problems discussed above by encoding user information such that only authorized decoders can access the encoded user information. The disclosed system and methods provide several practical applications and technical advantages. For example, the disclosed system provides the practical application of protecting user information from theft by encoding the user information in a manner that does not allow extraction of the user information by reading the encoded information alone. As disclosed in the following disclosure, an encoder encodes user information by generating and assigning a random code pattern to the user information associated with each user. Each random code pattern is completely random such that the random code pattern itself does not include any meaningful information. As the code pattern does not include any user information, having access to the code pattern alone is of no use to a perpetrator. This allows the code patterns to be imprinted and displayed on user devices such as identity cards, credit cards and debit cards for ease of reading by an authorized decoder without the fear of data theft.

“The disclosed system provides an additional practical application of providing a highly secure method for decoding encoded user information. For example, as disclosed in the following disclosure, a personal identifier is assigned to a user which acts as a key to decoding a random code pattern that encodes the user information. An authorized decoder must obtain the personal identifier from the user and query a mapping table based on a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user in order to access the user information. The personal identifier adds another layer of security to the randomness of the code pattern. Thus, disclosed system and methods implemented by system as discussed herein provide a high degree of information security.

“In one or more embodiments, an encoder generates a random, assigns the random code pattern to a user and assigns a personal identifier of the user to the random code pattern. The encoder maps a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to user information associated with the user and stores an association of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information in a mapping table. In some cases, the encoder may receive from a decoder a query comprising the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user, wherein the decoder is configured to decode the random code pattern. The encoder determines based on the mapping table, the user information mapped to the combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier and transmits the user information to the decoder.

“In one or more embodiments, a decoder obtains a random code pattern from at least one of a card or a device owned by a user. The decoder further obtains a personal identifier from the user. The decoder then queries a mapping table based on a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user, wherein the mapping table comprises user information associated with each of a plurality of users mapped to a respective unique combination of a random code pattern and a personal identifier of the user. The decoder obtains user information of the user in response to the query, wherein one or more actions are performed based on the user information.

“Certain aspects of the present disclosure may include some, all, or none of these advantages. These advantages and other features will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims.”

The claims supplied by the inventors are:

“1. A system comprising: at least one processor configured to: generate a random code pattern; assign the random code pattern to a user; assign a personal identifier of the user to the random code pattern; map a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to user information associated with the user; store an association of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information in a mapping table; receive from a decoder a query comprising the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user, wherein the decoder is configured to decode the random code pattern; determine based on the mapping table, the user information mapped to the combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier; and transmit the user information to the decoder; and a memory coupled to the at least one processor and configured to store the mapping table.

“2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: obtain a plurality of pattering elements comprising one or more of numbers, letters, words, shapes, images, pictures, special characters, bar code patterns, Quick Response (QR) code patterns and combinations thereof; and randomly combine two or more of the patterning elements to generate the random code pattern.

“3. The system of claim 1, wherein the random code pattern comprises one or more of numbers, letters, alphanumeric characters, a QR code pattern, a bar code pattern, pictures, shapes, images, special characters and combinations thereof.

“4. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to imprint the random code pattern on one or more of a credit card, a debit card, an identity card and a device owned by the user.

“5. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to transmit the random code pattern to an electronic device owned by the user, wherein the random code pattern is stored in a memory of the electronic device.

“6. The system of claim 1, wherein the personal identifier of the user comprises one or more of numbers, alphabets, alphanumeric characters and special characters.

“7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: assign the random code pattern to a second user; assign a second personal identifier of the second user to the random code pattern, wherein the second personal identifier of the second user is different from the personal identifier of the user; map a combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to second user information associated with the second user; and store a second association of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to the second user information in the mapping table, wherein the combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier is used to access the second user information at the decoder.

“8. The system of claim 1, wherein the mapping table is stored in a central repository accessible by a plurality of decoders.

“9. The system of claim 1, wherein the mapping table is transmitted to one or more decoders for storing in respective local memories of the decoders.

“10. A method for encoding user information, comprising: generating a random code pattern; assigning the random code pattern to a user; assigning a personal identifier of the user to the random code pattern; mapping a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information associated with the user; storing an association of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information in a mapping table; receiving from a decoder a query comprising the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user, wherein the decoder is configured to decode the random code pattern; determining, based on the mapping table, the user information mapped to the combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier; and transmitting the user information to the decoder.

“11. The method of claim 10, wherein generating the random code pattern comprises: obtaining a plurality of pattering elements comprising one or more of numbers, letters, words, shapes, images, pictures, special characters, bar code patterns, Quick Response (QR) code patterns and combinations thereof; and randomly combining two or more of the patterning elements to generate the random code pattern.

“12. The method of claim 10, wherein the random code pattern comprises one or more of numbers, letters, alphanumeric characters, a QR code pattern, a bar code pattern, pictures, shapes, images, special characters and combinations thereof.

“13. The method of claim 10, further comprising imprinting the random code pattern on one or more of a credit card, a debit card, an identity card and a device owned by the user.

“14. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting the random code pattern to an electronic device owned by the user, wherein the random code pattern is stored in a memory of the electronic device.

“15. The method of claim 10, further comprising: assigning the random code pattern to a second user; assigning a second personal identifier of the second user to the random code pattern, wherein the second personal identifier of the second user is different from the personal identifier of the user; mapping a combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to second user information associated with the second user; and storing a second association of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to the second user information in the mapping table, wherein the combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier is used to access the second user information at the decoder.

“16. The method of claim 10, wherein the mapping table is stored in a central repository accessible by a plurality of decoders.

“17. A computer-readable medium storing instructions which when executed by at least one processor perform a method for encoding user information, the method comprising: generating a random code pattern; assigning the random code pattern to a user; assigning a personal identifier of the user to the random code pattern; mapping a combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information associated with the user; storing an association of the random code pattern and the personal identifier to the user information in a mapping table; receiving from a decoder a query comprising the random code pattern and the personal identifier of the user, wherein the decoder is configured to decode the random code pattern; determining, based on the mapping table, the user information mapped to the combination of the random code pattern and the personal identifier; and transmitting the user information to the decoder.

“18. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein generating the random code pattern comprises: obtaining a plurality of pattering elements comprising one or more of numbers, letters, words, shapes, images, pictures, special characters, bar code patterns, Quick Response (QR) code patterns and combinations thereof; and randomly combining two or more of the patterning elements to generate the random code pattern.

“19. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the random code pattern comprises one or more of numbers, letters, alphanumeric characters, a QR code pattern, a bar code pattern, pictures, shapes, images, special characters and combinations thereof.

“20. The computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising instructions for: assigning the random code pattern to a second user; assigning a second personal identifier of the second user to the random code pattern, wherein the second personal identifier of the second user is different from the personal identifier of the user; mapping a combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to second user information associated with the second user; and storing a second association of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier to the second user information in the mapping table, wherein the combination of the random code pattern and the second personal identifier is used to access the second user information at the decoder.”

For additional information on this patent application, see: Albero, George Anthony; Mendu, Madhavi. Prevention Of Unauthorized Access To Information. Filed May 17, 2021 and posted November 17, 2022.

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