Controlling access to program usage data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10743065-B2
Application number	US-201916382934-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 12, 2019
Priority date	Jan 24, 2005
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

A television program ratings method and system includes transferring information associated with households from a cable provider to a ratings provider such that the ratings provider has access to information associated with sampled households and lacks access to information associated with non-sampled households. To this end, identity information and usage information associated with the households are respectively anonymized and encrypted. Knowledge of the identities of the sampled households enables the anonymized identity information and the encrypted usage information for the sampled households to be respectively de-anonymized and decrypted. The ratings provider knows which households are sampled households. As such, the ratings provider de-anonymizes and decrypts the information associated with the sampled households and then uses the de-anonymized and decrypted information to determine television program ratings. The cable provider anonymizes and encrypts the information for all households as the cable provider does not know which households are sampled households.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
derive a plurality of encryption keys, wherein each encryption key, of the plurality of encryption keys, is based on a respective household identifier of a plurality of household identifiers;
encrypt, for each household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers and using a respective encryption key, a program usage dataset, of a plurality of program usage datasets, associated with the respective household identifier to produce a plurality of encrypted program usage datasets;
anonymize the plurality of household identifiers to produce a plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
send, to a ratings provider, the plurality of anonymized household identifiers and the plurality of encrypted program usage datasets.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
send, to the ratings provider, timing information, wherein the timing information is associated with the plurality of program usage datasets.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to derive the plurality of encryption keys based, at least in part, on:
a shared secret associated with the ratings provider, and
an account number associated with the respective household identifier.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each encryption key, of the plurality of encryption keys, comprises a symmetric encryption/decryption key.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each program usage dataset, of the plurality of program usage datasets, comprises video on demand usage information.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to anonymize the plurality of household identifiers based, at least in part, on a shared secret associated with the ratings provider.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
receive timing information associated with a first set of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
filter, based on a sample time window and the timing information, the first set of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers.

8. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause:
deriving a plurality of encryption keys, wherein each encryption key, of the plurality of encryption keys, is based on a respective household identifier of a plurality of household identifiers;
encrypting, for each household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers and using a respective encryption key, a program usage dataset, of a plurality of program usage datasets, associated with the respective household identifier to produce a plurality of encrypted program usage datasets;
anonymizing the plurality of household identifiers to produce a plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
sending, to a ratings provider, the plurality of anonymized household identifiers and the plurality of encrypted program usage datasets.

9. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the deriving by causing the deriving further based on:
a shared secret associated with the ratings provider, and
an account number associated with the respective household identifier.

10. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein each encryption key, of the plurality of encryption keys, comprises a symmetric encryption/decryption key.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 8 , wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause:
sending, to the ratings provider, timing information, wherein the timing information is associated with the plurality of program usage datasets.

12. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the apparatus to:
receive:
a plurality of anonymized household identifiers, and
a plurality of encrypted program usage datasets corresponding to the plurality of anonymized household identifiers;

de-anonymize, based on a plurality of household identifiers, one or more of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
decrypt, using one or more decryption keys, one or more of the plurality of encrypted program usage datasets corresponding to the one or more of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers, wherein each decryption key of the one or more decryption keys is based on a different household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to de-anonymize the one or more of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers by causing the apparatus to:
anonymize a first household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers to produce a first anonymized household identifier;
determine whether the first anonymized household identifier matches a second anonymized household identifier of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
based on a determination that the first anonymized household identifier matches the second anonymized household identifier of the plurality of anonymized household identifiers, determining that the first household identifier is a de-anonymized version of the second anonymized household identifier.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
decrypt, based on a first decryption key, a first encrypted program usage dataset of the one or more of the plurality of encrypted program usage datasets, wherein the first decryption key is based on a first household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers; and
decrypt, based on a second decryption key, a second encrypted program usage dataset of the one or more of the plurality of encrypted program usage datasets, wherein the second decryption key is based on a second household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers.

15. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
generate a first decryption key, of the one or more decryption keys, based on:
a first household identifier of the plurality of household identifiers,
an account number associated with the first household identifier, and
a shared secret associated with a device that transmitted the plurality of anonymized household identifiers.

16. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the apparatus to:
receive timing information associated with the plurality of anonymized household identifiers; and
filter, based on a sample time window and the timing information, the plurality of anonymized household identifiers.

17. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein a first household identifier, of the plurality of household identifiers, is a media access control address of a device at a first household.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause:
receiving:
a plurality of anonymized household identifiers, and
a plurali

Assignees

• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Chen Michael A

Classifications

• H04N21/44222 Primary

  Analytics of user selections, e.g. selection of programmes or purchase activity (monitoring of user selections in data processing systems G06F11/34; arrangements for monitoring the user's behaviour or opinions in broadcast systems H04H60/33) · CPC title

• H04N21/4532

  involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences (monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18) · CPC title

• H04N21/6581

  Reference data, e.g. a movie identifier for ordering a movie or a product identifier in a home shopping application · CPC title

• H04N21/252

  Processing of multiple end-users' preferences to derive collaborative data · CPC title

• H04N7/17318

  Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests · CPC title