Patent ID: 8650213
Filing Date: 2014-02-11
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
1. A method of data mining in a privacy-preserving manner in a distributed computing environment including a plurality of entities, comprising the steps of: a first entity of the plurality of entities exchanging summary information with a second entity of the plurality of entities via a privacy-preserving data sharing protocol such that the privacy of the summary information is preserved, the summary information associated with an entity relating to data stored at the entity; and the first entity mining data based on at least the summary information obtained from the second entity via the privacy-preserving data sharing protocol; wherein the summary information exchanging step comprises: the first and second entities each generating a random number; in a first round, the first entity and the second entity adding their random numbers to a global count, in a given order, to generate an overall global count, wherein a current count value that an entity receives from a previous entity in the given order is the global count; and in a second round, the first entity and second entity adding a first value and a second value, respectively, to the overall global count, in the given order, the first and second values representing private data of the first and second entities.