Systems and methods for effectively anonymizing consumer transaction data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016140544-A1
Application number	US-201414543442-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Nov 17, 2014
Priority date	Nov 17, 2014
Publication date	May 19, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods are described that anonymized consumer transaction data in such manner to prevent de-anonymization to reveal personally identifiable information (PII) of the consumers. The process includes selecting particular consumer transaction data, generating a dictionary of items, generating consumer groups, matching consumer transaction data for each consumer to a group, forming modifiable consumer transaction histories, and quantifying a similarity between consumer groups. In some embodiments, the process includes discarding consumer groups that contain less than a threshold number of consumers, selecting at least one consumer group that contains at least a threshold number of consumers as the anonymized consumer transaction dataset, and providing the anonymized consumer transaction dataset to a third party for analysis.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of anonymizing personal information of consumers, comprising:
receiving, by a transaction data anonymization engine, consumer transaction data; selecting, by the transaction data anonymization engine, particular consumer transaction data based on at least one category of items, wherein the selected consumer transaction data includes personal information of consumers; generating, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a dictionary of the items comprising the selected consumer transaction data that lists each item by an item identifier and at least one attribute; generating, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a plurality of consumer groups based on at least a first item criteria and a second item criteria; matching, by the transaction data anonymization engine, the consumer transaction data for each consumer to a group; duplicating the unaltered consumer transaction history data of each consumer to form modifiable consumer transaction histories; quantifying, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a similarity between consumer groups; discarding, by the transaction data anonymization engine, all the consumer groups that contain less than a threshold number of consumers; selecting, by the transaction data anonymization engine, at least one consumer group that contains at least a threshold number of consumers as the anonymized consumer transaction dataset; and providing, by the transaction data anonymization engine, the anonymized consumer transaction dataset to a third party for analysis.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises at least one of an earliest purchase date of an item and a frequency of purchase of the item.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first item criteria comprises a genre of entertainment and the second item criteria comprises a frequency watched value.

4 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising a third criteria comprising a viewing medium.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the consumer transaction data comprises at least one of unaltered consumer purchase history data and a stock keeping unit (SKU) associated with each purchased item.

6 . A system, comprising:
a data preparation engine comprising a data preparation processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the data preparation processor to:
receive consumer transaction data;
prepare the consumer transaction data; and
transmit the prepared consumer transaction data to an anonymization data engine;
an anonymization data engine operably connected to the data preparation engine, wherein the anonymization engine comprises an anonymization processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the anonymization processor to:
receive the prepared consumer transaction data;
discard all the consumer groups that contain less than a threshold number of consumers;
select at least one consumer group that contains at least a threshold number of consumers as the anonymized consumer transaction dataset; and
a reporting engine operably connected to the anonymization engine, wherein the reporting engine comprises a reporting processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the reporting processor to:
transmit the anonymized consumer transaction data to a third party for consumer transaction data analysis.

7 . A method of anonymizing personal information of consumers, comprising:
receiving, by a transaction data anonymization engine, consumer transaction data; selecting, by the transaction data anonymization engine, particular consumer transaction data based on at least one category of items, wherein the selected consumer transaction data includes personal information of consumers; generating, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a dictionary of the items comprising the selected consumer transaction data that lists each item by an item identifier and at least one attribute; generating, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a plurality of consumer groups based on at least a first item criteria and a second item criteria; matching, by the transaction data anonymization engine, the consumer transaction data for each consumer to a group; duplicating the unaltered consumer transaction history data of each consumer to form modifiable consumer transaction histories; quantifying, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a similarity between consumer groups; combining, by the transaction data anonymization engine, consumer transaction data into groups of consumers by item category; discarding, by the transaction data anonymization engine, all the consumer groups that contain less than a threshold number of consumers; selecting, by the transaction data anonymization engine, at least one consumer group that contains at least a threshold number of consumers as the anonymized consumer transaction dataset; and providing, by the transaction data anonymization engine, the anonymized consumer transaction dataset to a third party for analysis.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the at least one transaction attribute comprises at least one of an earliest purchase date of an item and a frequency of purchase of the item.

9 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the first item criteria comprises a genre of entertainment and the second item criteria comprises a frequency watched value.

10 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising a third criteria comprising a viewing medium.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein the consumer transaction data comprises at least one of unaltered consumer purchase history data and a stock keeping unit (SKU) associated with each purchased item.

12 . A system, comprising:
a data preparation engine comprising a data preparation processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the data preparation processor to:
receive consumer transaction data;
prepare the consumer transaction data; and
transmit the prepared consumer transaction data to an anonymization data engine;
an anonymization data engine operably connected to the data preparation engine, wherein the anonymization engine comprises an anonymization processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the anonymization processor to:
combine consumer transaction data into groups of consumers by item category;
discard all the consumer groups that contain less than a threshold number of consumers;
select at least one consumer group that contains at least a threshold number of consumers as the anonymized consumer transaction dataset; and
a reporting engine operably connected to the anonymization engine, wherein the reporting engine comprises a reporting processor and a storage device, wherein the storage device stores instructions configured to cause the reporting processor to:
transmit the anonymized consumer transaction data to a third party for consumer transaction data analysis.

13 . A method of anonymizing personal information of consumers, comprising:
receiving, by a transaction data anonymization engine, consumer transaction data; selecting, by the transaction data anonymization engine, particular consumer transaction data based on at least one category of items, wherein the selected consumer transaction data includes personal information of consumers; generating, by the transaction data anonymization engine, a dictionary of the items comprising the selected consumer transaction data tha

Assignees

• Mastercard International Inc

Inventors

• Howe Justin X
• Reiskind Andrew

Classifications

• G06Q30/0615

  Anonymizing · CPC title

• G06Q20/383 Primary

  Anonymous user system · CPC title

• G06F21/6254

  by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification · CPC title