Patent Publication Number: US-2021173954-A1

Title: Method and system for aggregating users? consent

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/429,107, filed on Jun. 3, 2019 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to the field of processing data features, and more particularly to processing automotive data records obtained from connected vehicles. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Prior to the background of the invention being set forth, it may be helpful to provide definitions of certain terms that will be used hereinafter. 
     The term “connected vehicle” as used herein is defined as a car or any other motor vehicle such as a drone or an aerial vehicle that is equipped with any form of wireless network connectivity enabling it to provide and collect data from the wireless network. The data originated from and related to connected vehicles and their parts is referred herein collectively as “automotive data”. 
     The term “data marketplace” or “data market” as used herein is defined as an online platform that enables a plurality of subscribers (e.g. applications, users) to access and consume data. Data marketplaces typically offer various types of data for different markets and from different sources. Common types of data consumers include business intelligence, financial institutions, demographics, research and market data. Data types can be mixed and structured in a variety of ways. Data providers may offer data in specific formats for individual clients. 
     Data consumed in these marketplaces may be used by businesses of all kinds, fleets, business and safety applications and many types of analysts. Data marketplaces have proliferated with the growth of big data, as the amount of data collected by municipalities and smart cities, businesses, websites and services has increased, and all that data has become increasingly recognized as an asset. 
     The term “privacy regulations” as used herein is defined as regulations aimed primarily to give control to individuals over their personal data. Exemplary privacy regulations include the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union (EU) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Similar privacy regulations are in force or being contemplated in other jurisdictions. 
     Controllers of personal data must put in place appropriate technical and organizational measures to implement the data protection principles. Business processes that handle personal data must be designed and built with consideration of the principles and provide safeguards to protect data and use the highest-possible privacy settings by default, so that the data is not available publicly without explicit, informed consent, and cannot be used to identify a subject without additional information stored separately. 
     A processor of personal data must clearly disclose any data collection, declare the lawful basis and purpose for data processing, and state how long data is being retained and if it is being shared with any third parties. Data subjects have the right to request a portable copy of the data collected by a processor in a common format and the right to have their data erased under certain circumstances, a concept also known as the right to be forgotten. 
     The term “data anonymization” as used herein is defined as a type of information sanitization whose intent is privacy protection. It is the process of either encrypting or removing personally identifiable information from data sets, so that the people and other entities whom the data describe remain anonymous. 
     In accordance with the prior art, in cases where automotive data from data sources is being sent directly to third party applications, the consent of automotive data owners (e.g., drivers) is managed at the data sources themselves. In any case that a third-party application requests access to specific data of a specific user, the data source first needs to seek consent from the user or check whether consent has been already given by the user. The user identification and consent can be carried out using existing protocols such as “oAuth” and “openID Connect”. 
     The introduction of automotive data marketplaces complicates the management of users consent, and there is a need to effectively monitor and manage the consent given by data owners (users) for various third-party services (applications) that request access to automotive data originated by automotive data sources but managed and stored by the marketplace. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to some embodiments of the present invention, a method and a system for aggregating users&#39; consents for use of automotive data by data services are provided herein. The method may include the following steps: obtaining, from a plurality of data sources, a plurality of automotive data records associated with connected vehicles having respective users; determining for each request for automotive data made by said data services, which of the data records require consent; aggregating consent data for each data records, responsive to an indication that the respective user have been authenticated by the data sources; and providing the data services with access to automotive data based on the aggregated consent data. The system may implement the aforementioned steps in a form of a server on a computer network. 
     These additional, and/or other aspects and/or advantages of the present invention are set forth in the detailed description which follows. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The subject matter regarded as the invention is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. The invention, however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with objects, features, and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description when read with the accompanying drawings in which: 
         FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating non-limiting exemplary architecture of a marketplace server for aggregating automotive data as well as users consent for a regulated consumption of the automotive data, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a process diagram illustrating non-limiting exemplary flow of managing the aggregated users consent, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a high-level flowchart illustrating non-limiting exemplary method in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     It will be appreciated that, for simplicity and clarity of illustration, elements shown in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, where considered appropriate, reference numerals may be repeated among the figures to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     In the following description, various aspects of the present invention will be described. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations and details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will also be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without the specific details presented herein. Furthermore, well known features may be omitted or simplified in order not to obscure the present invention. 
     Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that, throughout the specification, discussions utilizing terms such as “processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining,” or the like refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulates and/or transforms data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities within the computing system&#39;s registers and/or memories into other data similarly represented as physical quantities within the computing system&#39;s memories, registers or other such information storage, transmission or display devices. 
       FIG. 1  is a block diagram illustrating non-limiting exemplary architecture  100  of a marketplace server for aggregating automotive data as well as users&#39; consent for a regulated consumption of the automotive data, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention. 
     The system may include: a server  120  configured to obtain a plurality of automotive data relating to connected vehicles originated from a plurality of data sources  110 . System  100  may include a server  110  implementing the data marketplace and connected via network  30  to a plurality of users  50 A- 50 C (e.g., drivers who are the data owners). Vehicle related data, possibly obtained from various sensors on the connected vehicles of users  50 A- 50 C, may be stored in raw format on a plurality of raw automotive data sources  10 A- 10 N and may be accessed by server  110  via a secured data link  20 . Server  110  may include a records processing module  130  implemented by a computer readable code running on computer processor  120 . Records processing module  130  may include a data collector  132 , a normalization module  134  and a data anonymization module that are configured to collect, normalize and anonymize respectively the data arriving from the plurality of automotive data sources  10 A- 10 N, thus creating a processed records data lake  160  storing vehicle related data. The processed automotive data records are being consumed and used by various data consumers such as applications  40 A- 40 C connected to server  110  via network  30 , responsive to various requests for services made by plurality of users  50 A- 50 C. These request may be made directly by users  50 A- 50 C to applications  40 A- 40 C over network  30 . 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, applications  40 A- 40 C may approach server  110  with data requests based upon the requests for services made by users  50 A- 50 C. Server  110  may include a requests manager  150  which may be configured to process requests for data only after verifying user consent for the requested data. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, when applications  40 A- 40 C request data for a certain service (e.g., parking application, insurance application), it is usually unknown to them, which specific sensors and which data sources are needed in order to implement that service. Therefore, the specific users&#39; consent associated with that data is also unknown to the applications. 
     In order to effectively manage the consent of users  50 A- 50 C, server  110  may further include a users consent aggregator  160  implemented by a computer code over computer processor  120 . Users&#39; consent aggregator  160  may be configured to respond to requests for data made to requests manager  150  by indicating first which data records are needed for the requested service. This may be done by data bundles  180  which associate specific services (e.g., use cases of data consumption) and specific data records (e.g., type of data records and source of data records). Once the requested data has been identified, server  110  may enable an authentication session between the relevant user (e.g., user  50 B) and the respective automotive data source (e.g., data source  10 B). The authentication session may be carried out by known protocols such as OpenID Connect and oAuth. Once authentication has been successful and consent for the relevant data records (e.g., a bundle of data records suitable for the requested service), automotive data source (e.g., data source  10 B) provides server  110  with respective access token which may be stored on users&#39; consent database  170  and may be managed and monitored by users&#39; consent aggregator  160 . 
     For each requested data, the process of authentication by one or more of the automotive data sources  10 A- 10 N is repeated, the access tokens or similar user consent data is being aggregated and stored on users&#39; consent database  170  so server  110  eventually holds both aggregated data in the form of processed records data lake  140  and the respective consent data on users&#39; consent database  170  to accompany it. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, user consent data may be in a form of various tables stored on users&#39; consent database  170  mapping data records with respective consent. A consent can be made for the entire duration of the service subscription made between users  50 A- 50 C and respective applications  40 A- 40 C. 
       FIG. 2  is a process diagram illustrating non-limiting exemplary flow of managing the aggregated users&#39; consent, in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. In step  1 , user  50  (data owner) connects, possibly via a browser, to application  40  (data consumer) and requests to login with authorized data source  10 . In step  2 , application  40  forwards user authorization request to marketplace server  110 . In step  3 , marketplace server  110  forwards user authorization request to authorized data source  10 . In step  4 , the authorized data source  10  authenticate user  60 . In step  5 , the authorized data source  10  sends marketplace server  110  an authorization code/token. In step  6 , user  50  is redirected back to application  40  over authentication dialog  52 . In step  7 , marketplace server  110  requests user data from data source  10  for which consent has been given. In step  8 , data source  10  provides marketplace server  110  with the requested user data. In step  9 , the user data is provided from marketplace server  110  to application  40 . 
     It is understood that, when marketplace server  110  acts as user data aggregator, all data from the various data sources is already aggregated, possibly in the form of processed data records on a data lake, and steps  7  and  8  are carried out within marketplace server  110 . 
       FIG. 3  is a high-level flowchart illustrating non-limiting exemplary method in accordance with some embodiments of the present invention. Method  300  may include the following steps: obtaining, from a plurality of data sources, a plurality of automotive data records associated with connected vehicles having respective users  310 ; determining, for each request for automotive data made by said data services, which of the data records require consent  320 ; aggregating consent data for each data record, responsive to an indication that the respective user have been authenticated by the data sources  330 ; and providing the data services with access to automotive data based on the aggregated consent data  340 . 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the indication that the respective user has been authenticated by the data source is achieved by establishing an authentication session between one of the users and a respective data source. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the determining for each request for automotive data made by said data services, which of the data records require consent is carried out using data bundles associating data consumption use cases and respective data records and data sources. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the automotive data records are normalized, anonymized and stored on a data lake. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the aggregating consent data indicates for which of the obtained automotive data records a respective user consent has been given, and for each of the data services. 
     In accordance with some embodiments of the present invention, the aggregating consent data comprises a plurality of access tokens provided by the data sources and authorizing access to data for which respective users have been authenticated. 
     It should be noted that method  300 , according to some embodiments of the present invention, may be stored as instructions in a computer readable medium to cause processors, such as central processing units (CPU) to perform the method. Additionally, the method described in the present disclosure can be stored as instructions in a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as storage devices which may include hard disk drives, solid state drives, flash memories, and the like. Additionally, non-transitory computer readable medium can be memory units. 
     In order to implement the method according to some embodiments of the present invention, a computer processor may receive instructions and data from a read-only memory or a random-access memory or both. At least one of the aforementioned steps is performed by at least one processor associated with a computer. The essential elements of a computer are a processor for executing instructions and one or more memories for storing instructions and data. Generally, a computer will also include, or be operatively coupled to communicate with, one or more mass storage devices for storing data files. Storage modules suitable for tangibly embodying computer program instructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory, including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, such as EPROM, EEPROM, and flash memory devices and also magneto-optic storage devices. 
     As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the present invention may be embodied as a system, method or computer program product. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may all generally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied in one or more computer readable medium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon. 
     Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may be utilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium would include the following: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that can contain or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. 
     Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wire-line, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing. 
     Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including an object-oriented programming language such as Java, Smalltalk, JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), C++ or the like and conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language or similar programming languages. The program code may execute entirely on the user&#39;s computer, partly on the user&#39;s computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user&#39;s computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user&#39;s computer through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider). 
     Aspects of the present invention are described above with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or portion diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to some embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each portion of the flowchart illustrations and/or portion diagrams, and combinations of portions in the flowchart illustrations and/or portion diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or portion diagram portion or portions. 
     These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable medium produce an article of manufacture including instructions which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or portion diagram portion or portions. 
     The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, other programmable apparatus or other devices to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or portion diagram portion or portions. 
     The aforementioned flowchart and diagrams illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementations of systems, methods and computer program products according to various embodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each portion in the flowchart or portion diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or more executable instructions for implementing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that, in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the portion may occur out of the order noted in the figures. For example, two portions shown in succession may, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the portions may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved. It will also be noted that each portion of the portion diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of portions in the portion diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implemented by special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specified functions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware and computer instructions. 
     In the above description, an embodiment is an example or implementation of the inventions. The various appearances of “one embodiment”, “an embodiment” or “some embodiments” do not necessarily all refer to the same embodiments. 
     Although various features of the invention may be described in the context of a single embodiment, the features may also be provided separately or in any suitable combination. Conversely, although the invention may be described herein in the context of separate embodiments for clarity, the invention may also be implemented in a single embodiment. 
     Reference in the specification to “some embodiments”, “an embodiment”, “one embodiment” or “other embodiments” means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments is included in at least some embodiments, but not necessarily all embodiments, of the inventions. 
     It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein is not to be construed as limiting and are for descriptive purpose only. 
     The principles and uses of the teachings of the present invention may be better understood with reference to the accompanying description, figures and examples. 
     It is to be understood that the details set forth herein do not construe a limitation to an application of the invention. 
     Furthermore, it is to be understood that the invention can be carried out or practiced in various ways and that the invention can be implemented in embodiments other than the ones outlined in the description above. 
     It is to be understood that the terms “including”, “comprising”, “consisting” and grammatical variants thereof do not preclude the addition of one or more components, features, steps, or integers or groups thereof and that the terms are to be construed as specifying components, features, steps or integers. 
     If the specification or claims refer to “an additional” element, that does not preclude there being more than one of the additional element. 
     It is to be understood that, where the claims or specification refer to “a” or “an” element, such reference is not be construed that there is only one of that element. 
     It is to be understood that, where the specification states that a component, feature, structure, or characteristic “may”, “might”, “can” or “could” be included, that particular component, feature, structure, or characteristic is not required to be included. 
     Where applicable, although state diagrams, flow diagrams or both may be used to describe embodiments, the invention is not limited to those diagrams or to the corresponding descriptions. For example, flow need not move through each illustrated box or state, or in exactly the same order as illustrated and described. 
     Methods of the present invention may be implemented by performing or completing manually, automatically, or a combination thereof, selected steps or tasks. 
     The term “method” may refer to manners, means, techniques and procedures for accomplishing a given task including, but not limited to, those manners, means, techniques and procedures either known to, or readily developed from known manners, means, techniques and procedures by practitioners of the art to which the invention belongs. 
     The descriptions, examples, methods and materials presented in the claims and the specification are not to be construed as limiting but rather as illustrative only. 
     Meanings of technical and scientific terms used herein are to be commonly understood as by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs, unless otherwise defined. 
     The present invention may be implemented in the testing or practice with methods and materials equivalent or similar to those described herein. 
     Any publications, including patents, patent applications and articles, referenced or mentioned in this specification are herein incorporated in their entirety into the specification, to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated herein. In addition, citation or identification of any reference in the description of some embodiments of the invention shall not be construed as an admission that such reference is available as prior art to the present invention. 
     While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, but rather as exemplifications of some of the preferred embodiments. Other possible variations, modifications, and applications are also within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should not be limited by what has thus far been described, but by the appended claims and their legal equivalents.