Facilitating anonymized communication sessions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10560841-B2
Application number	US-201815988831-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 24, 2018
Priority date	May 24, 2017
Publication date	Feb 11, 2020
Grant date	Feb 11, 2020

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media for facilitating anonymized communication sessions. An anonymized communication platform receives a request to initiate an anonymized communication session between a first user and a second user of an online service. The anonymized communication platform selects, from a set of available proxy contact identifiers, a first proxy contact identifier for the first user, and a second proxy contact identifier for the second user, and generates an anonymized communication record for the anonymized communication session that indicates that that the first proxy contact identifier is assigned to the first user and the second proxy contact identifier is assigned to the second user. The anonymized communication platform causes the first proxy contact identifier and the second proxy contact identifiers to be provided to the first and second users.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
providing, by an anonymized communication platform, an Application Programming Interface (API) to an online service, the online service incorporating the API into a client-side application provided by the online service to users of the online service, the API incorporated into the client-side application providing the users of the online service to initiate anonymized communication sessions facilitated by the anonymized communication platform as part of the online service, the online service being a separate entity from the anonymized communication platform;
receiving, at the anonymized communication platform, a request from a first client device that is executing the client-application provided by the online service, the request being to initiate an anonymized communication session between the first client device and a second client device as part of the online service, the first client device being associated with a first user of the online service and the second client device being associated with a second user of the online service, the API of the anonymized communication platform that is incorporated into the client-side application causing the client device to transmit the request to the anonymized communication platform;
in response to receiving the request, selecting, from a set of available proxy contact identifiers, a first proxy contact identifier for the first user, the first proxy contact identifier enabling communication with the anonymized communication platform;
generating an anonymized communication record for the anonymized communication session between the first client device and the second client device, the anonymized communication record indicating that the first proxy contact identifier is assigned to the first contact identifier for the first client device; and
causing the first proxy contact identifier to be provided to the second client device associated with the second user, the first proxy contact identifier enabling the second client device to communicate with the first client device during the anonymized communication session.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, from the second client device, a communication for the first user, the communication having been transmitted by the second client device using the first proxy contact identifier;
identifying, based on the anonymized communication record, that the first proxy contact identifier is assigned to the first contact identifier for the first client device; and
transmitting the communication to the first client device using the first contact identifier.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first proxy contact identifier comprises:
determining a current location of the second client device;
identifying, from the set of available proxy contact identifiers, a subset of available proxy contact identifiers that are associated with the current location of the second client device; and
selecting the first proxy contact identifier from the subset of available proxy contact identifiers that are associated with the current location of the second client device.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
selecting, from the set of available proxy contact identifiers, a second proxy contact identifier for the second user, the second client device being reachable using a second contact identifier;
updating the anonymized communication record to indicate that the second proxy contact identifier is assigned to the second contact identifier for the second client device; and
causing the second proxy contact identifier to be provided to the first client device for use by the first user to communicate with the second user during the anonymized communication session.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first proxy contact identifier and the second proxy contact identifier are a same proxy contact identifier.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first contact identifier is a first phone number, and the first proxy contact identifier is a second phone number that is different than the first phone number.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein causing the first proxy contact identifier to be provided to the second client device comprises:
returning the first proxy contact identifier to the online service in response to the request, wherein the online service provides the first proxy contact identifier to the second client device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is received from the online service in response to the first user and the second user being paired through the online service.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request is received from the first client device as a result of the first user using the online service to initiate communication with the second user.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a second request to initiate a second anonymized communication session between the first user and a third user of the online service;
in response to receiving the second request, selecting a second proxy contact identifier for the first user, the second proxy contact identifier being different than the first proxy contact identifier, and the second proxy contact identifier enabling communication with the anonymized communication platform;
generating a second anonymized communication record for the second anonymized communication session between the first user and the third user, the second anonymized communication record indicating that that the second proxy contact identifier is assigned to the first contact identifier for the first client device;
causing the second proxy contact identifier to be provided to a third client device associated with the third user, the second proxy contact identifier enabling the second user to communicate with the first user during the second anonymized communication session;
while the first communication session is active, receiving, from the third client device, a communication for the first user, the communication having been transmitted by the third client device using the second proxy contact identifier;
identifying, based on the second anonymized communication record, that the second proxy contact identifier is assigned to the first contact identifier for the first client device; and
transmitting the communication to the first client device using the first contact identifier.

11. An anonymized communication platform comprising:
one or more computer processors; and
one or more computer-readable mediums storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more computer processors, cause the anonymized communication platform perform operations comprising:
providing, by an anonymized communication platform, an Application Programming Interface (API) to an online service, the online service incorporating the API into a client-side application provided by the online service to users of the online service, the API incorporated into the client-side application providing the users of the online service to initiate anonymized communication sessions facilitated by the anonymized communication platform as part of the online service, the online service being a separate entity from the anonymized communication platform;
receiving a request from a first client device that is executing the client-application provided by the online service, the request being to initiate an anonymized communication session between the first client device and a second client device as part of the online service, the first client device being associated with a first user of the online service and the second client device being associated with a second user of the online service, the API of the

Assignees

• Twilio Inc

Inventors

• Stein Benjamin
• Ganly David
• Mckay Malachy

Classifications

• H04W4/02

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04L63/0421 Primary

  Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer · CPC title

• H04W12/02 Primary

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title