Patent ID: 8489894
Filing Date: 2013-07-16
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for utilizing reference tokens to enable sharing of sensitive data amongst a plurality of applications associated with one or more merchants, comprising the steps of: receiving a particular item of sensitive data at a reference token service, wherein the particular item of sensitive data is of a particular data type comprising a particular format, and wherein the particular item of sensitive data is received from a trusted source application associated with a particular merchant; identifying at the reference token service one or more reference token pools corresponding to the particular merchant, wherein each reference token pool includes a plurality of reference tokens each having a specific format corresponding to a respective sensitive data type utilized by the particular merchant; identifying at the reference token service a particular reference token pool from the identified one or more reference token pools based on the particular format of the received particular item of sensitive data; transmitting the particular item of sensitive data from the reference token service to a crypto system for tokenization; receiving a crypto token corresponding to the particular item of sensitive data at the reference token service from the crypto system; associating the crypto token received from the crypto system with a particular reference token selected from the particular reference token pool; and transmitting the particular reference token to the trusted source application, whereby the trusted source application is able to share the particular reference token with other trusted source applications associated with the particular merchant.