Patent Abstract:
A data vault system allows for centralized storage of personal data about a consumer in a transparent multi-tiered structure including a global data store and multiple vendor or category cards. Data in the category cards describing a subset of the globally stored data to be shared with individual vendors and provide fine resolution sharing control. The data in each structure is synchronized so that vendor or category cards may be auto populated.

Full Description:
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR   DEVELOPMENT 
     CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0001]    The present invention relates to computerized systems for controlling the sharing of personal data in online transactions and the like and in particular to a system providing transparent, high resolution control of the dissemination of personal data including after-the-fact revocation of sharing. 
         [0002]    The widespread use of online services makes the control of one&#39;s personal data increasingly difficult. Many such services expressly request personal data, but even when information is not consciously provided by a user, personal data from online activity, including search requests, purchases, and a user&#39;s location, may be collected and aggregated by online services and applications either for use by the service or application providers or to be sold to third parties. 
         [0003]    Wholesale blocking of the tracking or use of personal data may be undesirable to the extent that the collection and use of personal data offsets the cost of services and applications that are otherwise desirable to the user. The collection of personal data may further enhance the efficiency of services provided to the user and allow the development of new services desired by the user. 
         [0004]    Nevertheless, user concerns about information tracking are real, and instances of abusive or overreaching data collection jeopardize beneficial applications of such data collection and in the creation and offering of services that require or are otherwise supported by such data collection. 
         [0005]    Online users, in theory, can safeguard their personal data by careful review of the contract terms and conditions of online service providers, but as a practical matter the transaction costs of such a review make this impractical for most individuals. In light of the difficulty of understanding and managing the use of personal data, a concerned user may logically default to a position of sharing no personal data. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    The present invention provides a centralized and transparent clearinghouse for personal data through which a consumer may understand and control access to his or her personal data with respect to multiple third parties. Centralization allows consumers to reduce their transaction costs in supplying personal data and in updating that information to the extent that only a single location need be consulted and redundant data entry for different third parties can be avoided. The invention provides a clear, fine-grained index of the sharing status of a variety of types of personal data and allows this information to correct, append or even delete shared personal data even after it has been shared. 
         [0007]    Specifically, in one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of managing personal data of consumers by providing a first data structure holding personal data linked to a consumer and multiple second data structures identified to different third parties and holding subsets of personal data of the first data structure. An authenticated data connection with a remote consumer electrical device is used for receiving personal data for an authenticated consumer the first and second data structures linked to the authenticated consumer. The personal data stored in the first and second data structures is synchronized and personal data of the second data structures is shared different third parties identified to the second data structures. 
         [0008]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a centralized clearinghouse for personal information subject to well understood privacy guarantees that nevertheless provides for simple data entry by the consumer who may make use of previously entered and globally stored data. 
         [0009]    The authenticated data connection may further provide a display of personal data of the first and second data structures at the remote consumer electrical device. 
         [0010]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a system that is highly transparent and yet can accommodate data provided to many different third parties or used in multiple ways. 
         [0011]    The authenticated data connection may further accept editing commands for the personal data through the authenticated data connection changing the personal data in the first or second data structure. 
         [0012]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to allow data entry or editing by the consumer either on a global basis or for a particular vendor without unnecessary duplication of effort. 
         [0013]    The authenticated data connection may further accept display commands changing at least one of a sorting, filtering, or pagination of the personal data as displayed. 
         [0014]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a method of managing potentially large amounts of data under the control of a single consumer by simplifying access and understanding of that data. 
         [0015]    Each second data structure may be linked to a different third party. 
         [0016]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide an intuitive method of data organization (for example by different vendors) without unnecessarily duplicating the effort required by the consumer in providing that data. 
         [0017]    Alternatively or in addition, the first data structure may be divided into multiple categories of personal data including the categories of: business, retail, and personal. 
         [0018]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to permit the consumer to organize his or her personal information in logical groupings that may for example be managed together. 
         [0019]    The step of entering data may be performed through a link from a program specific to a third-party. 
         [0020]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to provide a seamless customer experience when the consumer in sharing data with a vendor while allowing the convenience of the centralized data store. 
         [0021]    The second data structure may include a sharing status for different elements of the personal data of the data structure controlling how the third parties may share the data of the second data structures. The sharing status may provide conditional sharing according to conditions of the time limit for sharing or sharing for targeted advertising purposes or promotions, improvement of services or products, or aggregation with other data. 
         [0022]    It is thus a feature of its least one embodiment of the invention to provide fine-grained control of personal information. 
         [0023]    The display of sharing status may further display benefits gained or lost by sharing or not sharing of this personal data. 
         [0024]    It is thus a feature of at least one embodiment of the invention to generate a brokerage system allowing the consumer to obtain maximum benefit from a sharing of their personal data. 
         [0025]    These particular objects and advantages may apply to only some embodiments falling within the claims and thus do not define the scope of the invention. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0026]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a computation environment suitable for use with the present invention providing multiple portable remote computing devices intercommunicating over the Internet with a data vault system of the present invention and multiple third party customer relationship systems including, for example CRM, POS or other similar systems; 
           [0027]      FIG. 2  is a logical diagram of the data vault of  FIG. 1  showing the division of data into global data and vendor related data cards; 
           [0028]      FIG. 3  is a flowchart of the principal operations of the data vault in managing personal data including enrollment of information partners, managing permissions, intent casting, and wallet functions; 
           [0029]      FIG. 4  is an example screenshot showing a graphic user interface for explicit enrollment of information partners; 
           [0030]      FIG. 5  is a set of fragmentary screenshots showing graphic user interfaces for implicit enrollment of information partners and the entry of data; 
           [0031]      FIG. 6  is a set of fragmentary screenshots showing a graphic user interface for managing permissions for shared personal data; 
           [0032]      FIG. 7  is a set of fragmentary screenshots showing a user interface for intent casting; 
           [0033]      FIG. 8  is a fragmentary screenshot of a graphic user interface for permissions associated with personal data related to location; 
           [0034]      FIG. 9  is a data flow diagram of a location tracking system for in-store location tracking; and 
           [0035]      FIG. 10  is a data flow diagram for a wallet system providing control of personal data and real or virtual currency. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
       [0036]    Referring now to  FIG. 1 , an example online service system  10  providing a data vault system  11  of the present invention may provide multiple remote mobile consumer devices  12  such as cell phones, tablet computers, or the like. 
         [0037]    As is generally understood in the art and as depicted with respect to mobile consumer device  12   b,  such mobile consumer devices  12  generally include a processor  14  communicating with a memory  16  that may hold an operating system  18  and one or more application programs  20 . The mobile consumer device  12  may further include communication and location hardware such as a cell phone transceiver system  22  for communicating with a cell phone system through a cell phone tower  24 . The cell phone transceiver system  22  may be used for the transmission of either or both voice and data, the latter of which may allow communication with websites on the Internet  26 . 
         [0038]    Alternatively or in addition, the mobile consumer device  12   b  may include a wireless transceiver  28  communicating with a local wireless server  30 , for example, using a Wi-Fi, or other data communication technique as well as a near field communication module  29 . 
         [0039]    Often the mobile consumer device  12   b  will include a GPS receiver  32  receiving satellite signals from satellites  36  to provide for location information identifying the location of the mobile consumer device  12   b.    
         [0040]    As is generally understood in the art, the mobile consumer device  12  may also have a user interface screen  37  allowing for the display of graphic and textual information and the input of textual and/or image information through a keyboard, microphone, camera or the like. 
         [0041]    A consumer using the mobile consumer device  12  may also have other computing resources at his or her disposal including, for example, a conventional desktop or laptop computer  38  also connected to the Internet  26 . As will be generally understood in the art, these latter computers  38  also include a processor, memory, operating and application programs and the necessary network interface for Internet connection. 
         [0042]    Generally, the present invention provides a data vault server  40  communicating with the Internet  26  through standard network interface  51  and therefore with the remote mobile consumer devices  12  and personal computers  38 . The data vault server  40  may comprise one or more server systems as is understood in the art (including those implemented as cloud services) generally providing a processor  42  and a memory  44  holding an operating system  46  and a data vault program  48 , as will be described in more detail below, such as may be executed by the processor  42 . The data vault server  40  may further include a mass storage device  50 , for example, implementing a database program necessary to track consumer personal data and sharing preferences as will be described below. 
         [0043]    Also communicating with the Internet  26  and thus with the remote mobile consumer devices  12 , personal computers  38 , and data vault server  40  connected to the Internet  26 , may be one or more vendor systems  52  that may be used to process consumer information, for example, for business planning, the routing of promotional information, the implementation of reward programs, and the offering and providing of other services. These vendor systems  52 , may, for example, execute commercial customer relation management (CRM) programs, such as Salesforce commercially available from Salesforce.com, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif., and may be connected to multiple terminals  54  for access and use of customer information. Generally each of the vendor systems  52  will also include a processor  56 , a memory  58  holding an operating system  59  and a CRM program  60 , and a database system  62  of a type known in the art. It will be appreciated that the CRM program of these vendor systems  52  may in addition or alternatively be executed by or at the data vault server  40 , for example, in a separate computer or as part of the data vault program  48 , without communication over the Internet  26  but rather to implement a hosted CRM system. 
         [0044]    Referring now to  FIG. 2 , the data vault server  40  of the present invention may communicate with a consumer  64  through one of the mobile consumer devices  12  or general purpose computer  38  to receive personal data about the consumers  64  and provide that personal data in a controlled manner to multiple vendors  65  (for example, through their vendor systems  52 ). This personal data may be entered into the mobile consumer device  12  or general purpose computer  38  directly by the consumer  64  or may be collected automatically by the mobile consumer device  12  (for example, as is the case with location or usage data) or derived from communications between the mobile consumer device  12  and other third-party computer systems (for example, in recording purchases, sites visited and the like). In all cases, the consumer information will pass through a secure portal  61  using standard security techniques such as a secure socket layer, encrypted data, password and pin number to prevent unauthorized view of this data from the consumer side and to ensure that a consumer  64  has been authenticated to be that consumer  64  or a representative of that consumer  64  (authenticated consumers) before viewing or modifying data or sharing permissions. 
         [0045]    As implemented by the program  48  on the data vault server  40 , the personal data is received by a synchronization sub block  66  which allocates the data to global data store  67  and multiple vendor data cards  68 . Typically a vendor data card  68  will be associated with a single vendor or brand, such as a store or retail outlet. 
         [0046]    Each of the global data store  67  and vendor data cards  68  may be subject to independent and specific security domains with security keys specific to each consumer that can be reset in real time to provide response to security threats. 
         [0047]    The global data store  67  may be divided into convenient categories  70  such as: business (related to the consumer&#39;s business), retail (related to the consumer&#39;s retail preferences and habits) and personal (related to data describing the consumer&#39;s person). Other categories  70 , such as, for example, bowling (related to the consumer&#39;s bowling interests) can be envisioned. The global data store  67  may also include vendor specific data  72  typically unique to a given vendor. 
         [0048]    Generally, the synchronization sub block  66  places all consumer personal data for a given consumer in the global data store  67  in separate storage areas unique to that consumer which is linked to subsets of this personal data for that consumer that may be contained in one or more of the vendor data cards  68 . As new vendor data cards  68  are created, information in the vendor data cards  68  may be pre-populated from the global data store  67  based on common data names to the extent that this information has already been recorded by the consumer  64 . This greatly simplifies the effort required by the consumer  64  who need not repeatedly provide information to different vendors  65  for the respective vendor card profiles. Only one layer of this hierarchy is shown, however, it will be appreciated that vendor data cards  68  may also be broken into subcategory cards (not shown) providing similar hierarchical and synchronized updating as will be described in greater detail below, while providing increasingly fine control of data by the consumer  64 . 
         [0049]    The consumer  64  may edit (correct, append or delete) the information in either the global data store  67  or the individual vendor data cards  68  and the synchronization sub block  66  serves to propagate those editing changes to the other location regardless of the point of editing. The synchronization may be implemented through indirect references to a single data store or by agents operating to synchronize multiple copies of the data in separate data stores. Changes in the data of the global data store  67  will be reflected to all vendor data cards  68  using that required data, thus providing vendors  65  with constantly updated information regardless of how that information is collected either in the global data store  67  or in any one of the vendor data cards  68 . The information of the vendor data cards  68  is normally associated with a single vendor  65  and may be customized to that vendor  65 . 
         [0050]    The data in the global data store  67  and individual vendor data cards  68  are associated with permission status data, typically on a fine grained basis (e.g. each data element having a separate permission status) that defines whether the data will be shared with a vendor  65  or any vendor  65 . The permission status may be implicit in deletion of the data by the consumer, for example, by editing of the data field value by backspacing over that data (which operates to revoke permission from the vendors  65 ) or explicit by changing the revocation status, in which case the data remains visible (for possible future sharing) in the global data store  67  or individual vendor data card  68  while nevertheless revoking permission from the vendors  65 . 
         [0051]    The permission status data controls sharing of associated personal data through a revocation element  74  between the data vault system  11  and the vendors  65 . This revocation element  74  may have one or both of a technological feature  75  and legal feature  77 . In one embodiment, the technological feature  75  may provide the vendor  65  with only a pointer or reference to particular elements of personal data in the vendor data cards  68 . In this way, when data of the vendor data cards  68  is changed or erased those changes or erasures appear automatically to the vendor  65  who obtains the data for each use of the data by following the path of the pointer. Alternative systems using expiring cryptographic keys or cryptographic keys that can be changed by the consumer at their will and policies of “no caching” and the like may also be contemplated. Other possible methods of technological control include notifying the vendors  65 , for example, by electronic message who agree contractually to remove or sequester the data, providing joint access to any cached data so that either party may modify the data and the like. These technological features  75  require that the personal data be collected through the data vault server  40  either by direct entry by the consumer  64  or by capture by application program or the like from automatic data generated by the mobile consumer device  12 , to be held exclusively in the data vault server  40  or be controllable by the data vault server  40 . Part of this control process may include a communication of evolving data use conditions to the vendors  65  as personal information and sharing conditions change, to be described below, for example, as a result of changes implemented by the consumer  64 . These changed data use conditions may trigger the technological feature  75  or procedures at the vendor  65  under the terms of a legal feature  77   
         [0052]    The legal feature  77  will typically be one or more contractual terms between operators of the data vault system  11  and representatives of the vendors  65  requiring the vendor  65  to erase and/or stop using the personal data when it has been deleted from the vendor data cards  68  or permission has been revoked per the permission status data. Additional contractual terms may also prevent the vendor  65  from copying or selling or otherwise transferring the personal data to others or to others not bound by similar contractual terms. A financial penalty may be established in the legal feature  77  in the event of breach of the terms related to sharing, the financial penalty being implemented either by liquidated damages, a bond, or an insurance contract. The financial penalty provides incentive for trustworthy use of the personal data and a potential source of compensation to the consumer  64  in the event of breach that may also help promote an environment of trust. Generally, the contract terms require that revocation of permission means that the personal data may not be used by any third party for any purpose or revealed to others in a manner so that personal data with revoke permission is equivalent to a state in which the personal data is in fact erased by the vendor  65 . Importantly, the legal feature  77  does not require original or exclusive possession of the personal data by the data vault system  11  and may be used to “grandfather” vendors  65  into a trusting relationship with consumer  64  by later adoption of system of the data vault system  11  despite earlier data collection. It will be appreciated that revocation, like sharing, may be unconditional, or may provide consumer  64  with an additional set of options providing gradations in revocation. For example, the revocation may be for all personally identifiable uses of the data (typical) but may further go to uses of the data for the purposes of aggregation to develop, for example, propensity scores or the like, or possibly even anonymized data. In all cases of revocation, the consumer  64  is provided with immediate feedback of the action, for example, by a change in the status displayed to the consumer or by e-mail or the like confirming the revocation. 
         [0053]    The execution of the program  48  on the data vault server  40  may provide a permission sub block  78  that communicates with the consumer  64  to manage permissions of data stored in either of the global data store  67  or vendor data cards  68 . Generally, the permission sub block  78  manages editing of the permissions by the consumer  64  or other user authorized by the consumer  64  and synchronizing of permissions between each element of global data store  67  and corresponding permissions of each vendor data card  68  related to the same underlying data. Revocation of the sharing permission for a personal data element in a vendor data card  68  initiates a revocation through the revocation element  74  (regardless of the shared state in the global data store  67 ) for only a single vendor  65  associated with that vendor data card  68 . A revocation of the sharing permission for a personal data element in the global data store  67 , however, initiates a revocation through revocation elements  74  for that data element in the global data store  67  and in all vendor data cards  68  having a corresponding data element, regardless of the shared state in the vendor data card  68 . Revocation of the data element in either the global data store  67  or the vendor data cards  68  may be accompanied by erasing the data element from view by the consumer  64  or may otherwise mark the data of the data element to indicate that it is no longer shared. 
         [0054]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , a program  48  implementing the data vault system of the present invention, may execute on any one of or in a distributed fashion on processor  42  of the data vault server  40 , processor  14  of various mobile consumer devices  12  and processors  56  of vendor systems  52 , to provide for five different tasks states. 
         [0055]    A first task state, indicated by process block  82 , registers a consumer  64  with the data vault system  11  and may include providing some personal data (possibly separate from the data vault global data store  67  and vendor data cards  68 ) needed for administration of the data vault system  11 . This information, for example, may include name and contact information of the consumer  64 , and the selection of a user name and password for logging into the data vault system to ensure that instructions and personal data come from a particular consumer  64 . The registration process may include accepting a contractual agreement by the consumer  64  with respect to use of the system and an explanation of the operation of the data vault system  11 . 
         [0056]    Once registration is complete, the consumer  64  may make use of any of a number of services provided by the system represented by pendant tasks states of process block  84 ,  86 ,  88 , and  90 . 
         [0057]    Generally process block  84  allows the consumer  64  to enroll information partners (e.g. vendors  65 ) with the data vault system  11  representing vendors  65  with whom the consumer  64  wishes to share information. This enrollment process implements the revocation elements  74  and sharing permissions described above with respect to future information shared by the consumer  64  although, as noted, may also apply contractually retroactively to information previously shared with these vendors  65 . 
         [0058]    Referring also to  FIG. 4 , in one embodiment, this enrollment process may be accomplished by providing the consumer  64  with a pool  92  of potential vendors  65  that have been prescreened as agreeing to participate in the data vault system  11 . As depicted on an enrollment screen  93 , these vendors  65  may, for example, be represented as icons  94  with images and text. This user interface allows the consumer  64  to see a wide variety of different vendors  65  he or she may be interested in sharing data with even if the consumer has had no previous contact with these vendors  65  and thus promotes useful sharing of personal data with a broad range of vendors  65 . The icons  94  representing vendors may include conventional retailers as well as nonconventional service vendors, such as browser providers or map providers, which collect personal data in exchange for providing a mapping or browsing surface. By selecting these nonconventional service vendors, the consumer  64  may control the data collected by the services. 
         [0059]    In this example, the individual vendors  65  represented by the icons  94  may be selected, for example, by sliding icons  94  as indicated by arrow  96  into an sharing pool  98  representing those vendors  65  with whom he consumer  64  wishes to share information per process block  84 . 
         [0060]    Typically, an icon  94  moved into the sharing pool  98  or another selection of an information partner per process block  84  will then cause a data entry screen to open (not shown) allowing the consumer  64  to enter the necessary personal data per process block  86  that may be desired by and/or unique to that vendor  65 . This personal data may include identifying information such as the consumer&#39;s name, contact information, including electronic addresses through which the consumer  64  may wish to receive communications from the vendor  65 , demographic information including gender, age income, and preference information including information about the consumer&#39;s tastes and interests. This process will be described below in more detail with respect to an alternative method of enrollment and data entry but generally will pre-populate the data entry screen with any information already entered into the global data store  67  and will require the user only enter preferred data unique to that vendor  65 . 
         [0061]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 5 , in many cases the process of enrolling information partners of process block  84  and adding data and managing permissions of process block  84  will be combined seamlessly with a visit to a vendor website or use of the vendor&#39;s application program. Either of these options may present to the consumer  64  a welcome screen  100 , for example, displayed on the consumer&#39;s mobile consumer device  12  as generated by the vendor&#39;s software. On the welcome screen  100 , an option may be provided for the consumer  64  to register to share personal data with the vendor  65  through the data vault system  11 , for example, by activating a screen button  102 . 
         [0062]    When the consumer  64  presses this screen button  102 , they may be transferred to a log-in screen  104  implemented by program  48  of the system  11  allowing them to log in to validate their identity, for example, with a name  106  and password  108 . This log-in screen  104  may be triggered by information stored in the mobile consumer device  12  indicating that the consumer  64  has previously registered with the data vault system per process block  82 . Otherwise, the consumer  64  may be transferred to a different screen allowing for complete registration per process block  82 . It will be appreciated, that some of these security features may be offloaded to the vendor website. 
         [0063]    Assuming that the consumer  64  has previously registered, the consumer  64  is transferred to a data entry screen  110  where the consumer  64  may enter any necessary personal data required by the particular vendor  65 . This data entry screen  110  implements the process of process block  86  of adding personal data and managing sharing permissions for that personal data. Data that is being entered for the first time may be assumed to have a status of sharing as evidenced by the act of data entry in this context and by visual reinforcement  109 . 
         [0064]    As noted above, generally core data  112  from global data store  67  will be pre-populated in the data entry screen  110  greatly simplifying the task of entering data by the consumer  64 . The data entry screen  110  may provide required data entry fields  113 , optional data entry fields  114 , and preferred data entry fields  116  corresponding with any of the data of the global data store  67  and vendor specific data  72 . The data of the preferred data entry field  116  need only be entered if the consumer  64  wishes to be entitled to special consideration or benefits beyond those of a basic application to use of the vendor&#39;s website or application. Desirably, these benefits will be described on the data entry screen  110  or there will be a link to further explanation of these benefits. 
         [0065]    These characterizations of required, optional, and preferred are generally unique to a vendor card  68  and may be stored therewith. In addition, the vendor cards  68  may hold metadata indicating whether all of the data in any of these characterizations has been entered. Thus, the metadata may indicate whether a preferred status has been obtained by the consumer  64  through filling out all of the necessary data fields. This meta data may be shared with the vendor  65  together with the shared data of the vendor card  68  as discussed above with respect to  FIG. 2 . 
         [0066]    It will be appreciated, that there may be multiple preferred data entry fields  116  associated with different levels of preferred treatment. For example, special offers on boots may require entry of particular boot data and independent special offers on hats may require particular entry of data. This metadata may distinguish among these levels. 
         [0067]    Welcome screen  100  and data entry screen  110  may be implemented through separate computer systems (for example, data vault server  40  and vendor system  52 ) but nevertheless are integrated seamlessly into the vendor website or application program from the perception of the consumer  64 . 
         [0068]    Upon completion of the data entry of screen  110  the consumer is returned to a vendor screen  118  which may, for example, provide general information from the vendor including, for example, special offers or benefits that have been triggered by the registration data entry by the consumer. An icon  111  representing the data vault system  11  and the fact that the consumer&#39;s personal data is being protected through the data vault may be displayed subsequent to this registration or log-in to provide the consumer  64  with assurance of data protection. 
         [0069]    This process of enrolling information partners per process block  84  and adding data and managing permissions of process block  86  may thus be accomplished smoothly through a visit to a vendor website or use of the vendor application on the mobile consumer device  12 . In one embodiment, the initial visit to the vendor website may be instituted by a URL encoded in an optically readable tag such as a QR code tag or Microsoft Tag. 
         [0070]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 and 6 , as noted above, entry of the personal data for the first time may provide a default permission to share the data with the vendor  65  as will be indicated by a sharing status indicator; however, the data vault system  11  of the present invention allows the status to be changed through a direct control of sharing permissions as well through a permission screen  120  usable by the consumer  64 . This permission screen  120  will generally be accessed separately from any vendor site, for example, through a mobile consumer device  12  or a computer  38  by directing a browser to a web address of a Web server implemented by program  48  on the data vault server  40  and entering log-in information per screen  104  of  FIG. 5 . 
         [0071]    In one embodiment, accessing the permission screen  120  will default to a global data screen  121  listing all shared personal data of the given consumer  64 , for example, in a set of rows  123  providing one data element per row. A data element in this context means information that would not likely be edited or revoked separately. For a given consumer  64  the number of data elements may be substantial and, accordingly, sorting buttons  122  may be provided to sort the data for ready access, for example, providing sorting, filtering, and pagination, by name of the data element, or date of entry or modification of the data element, the particular vendor using that data element or the type of data element indicating roughly a degree to which the personal data would be considered sensitive to a typical individual. In this latter regard, address information might be considered less sensitive and body weight might be considered more sensitive. 
         [0072]    Each row  123  may show a data name  125  of the type of data (e.g. user name) and/or the actual data value for that data type (e.g. Jane Doe), for example, in text box  124  which may be selected to edit or delete data. In some cases the data element will not be editable by the consumer  64  directly and only a category descriptor  126  (e.g. location tracking or the name provided in the global data store) will be provided. The rows  123  may be organized as discussed above into categories reflecting the category  70  of the global data store  67 . For convenience, the sharing permission of data of all rows  123  within a category  70  may be edited in unison through a set of category controls (not shown) similar to those provided for each row  123 . Vendor specific data  72  can be in a category denoted with that vendor. 
         [0073]    Following the description or actual personal data element is an edit button  132  that may be activated to allow the user to edit the preceding data element, for example, allowing the user to change her or his name as shown. Changes in the global data screen  121  will be reflected into each of the vendor data cards  68  as has been described above. The data may also be deleted through this editing although it is preferred to use the revoke button as will be described. 
         [0074]    As noted, each personal data element may be individually controlled with respect to a sharing status as may be implemented, for example, through a revoke button  128  which revokes an existing sharing permission or a share button  130  which allows sharing of previously revoked permission. As noted above, at the global level this revoke button  128  will revoke permissions for all vendors  65 . The share button  130  at the global level does not provide permission for sharing to vendor  65  which must be accomplished in a vendor card level to be described below. 
         [0075]    When the consumer  64  changes the status of any data element from shared to revoke, a warning message may be presented to the consumer  64  to the extent that the revoked data element may be part of an existing vendor card  68  as required data. This warning will indicate that revoking the sharing of this data element on a global basis will effectively cancel that vendor card  68 . Similarly, if the data element whose sharing is being revoked is preferred data on any vendor cards, this warning will indicate that revoking sharing of this data will eliminate the privileges associated with the sharing of that data as discussed below. 
         [0076]    Although in one embodiment pressing of the share button  130  may permit an unconditional sharing (as moderated by vendor cards be described below) it will be recognized that pressing the share button  130  may provide for an additional set of options to the consumer  64  providing gradations in the sharing permission. For example, the sharing may be limited to a duration such as a number of days or years, the sharing may provide limitations on whether the data can be used together with other data for the purposes of aggregation to develop, for example, propensity scores and the like, whether the data can be used if anonymized, whether the data can be redistributed (under the conditions of revocation), whether the data can be used to target advertising or promotions, for the improvement of products or services, and how and to what extent the consumer may be contacted based on the data. These conditions on the use of data will be generally considered conditions of sharing in the present application. In one embodiment a revoke-all button  129  will be provided allowing the user to revoke all sharing of his or her information. 
         [0077]    Following the permission buttons  128  and  130  may be a list of vendors sharing that information through vendor data cards  68 , for example, represented by icons  134  to provide a visual indication of the vendor cards that will be affected. 
         [0078]    Selecting any of these icons  134  will take the user to a view of the data visible by the particular vendor  65  alone or to this data and a vendor card sharing schedule  136  also providing sorting buttons  122  and all of the other features of the global data screen  121  but limited to data elements that are shared with a particular vendor  65  whose name is indicated, for example, in a caption  138 . 
         [0079]    The vendor card sharing schedule  136  may also include a sharing schedule  141  for data elements that are specific to a particular vendor  65  per preferred data  72 . Generally, the preferred data  72  for particular vendor  65  will be personal data of particular value to that particular vendor  65 , for example, household income, representing data that the consumer may not want to share broadly, or data that has unique value to a particular vendor, for example, the consumer&#39;s preferred vendor product or product configuration, such as hat size. As discussed above, often this preferred data will be associated with particular benefits that are obtained by the consumer  64  to encourage and incentivize such sharing. In these cases these preferred data elements may be labeled (for example with a link or caption  143 ) with the particular benefit obtained so that the consumer  64  may make the necessary decision about sharing. In one embodiment, pressing of the revoke button  128  associated with these preferred elements will bring up a reminder text box  141  indicating what benefits will be lost if this sharing is revoked. After review of this reminder text box  141 , the user may continue the revoking process or may reconsider. The invention therefore provides for a form of brokerage between the consumer  64  and the vendors  65  allowing the consumer to receive value for providing personal information. This value may be in the form of rewards by a particular vendor or may be in the form of a common currency implemented by the data vault, for example, “badges” which may be redeemed by different vendors or non-vendors. 
         [0080]    The vendor card sharing schedule  136  may further provide for contact permissions  140  indicating permissions for the vendor  65  to communicate with the consumer  64  through various means, for example, e-mail, texting, in-store notifications through an application, or the like and may place limits on automatic data collection for example consumer location as will be described below. An option may be provided with respect to the sharing screen  120  to allow any data element to be selected to display a list of all vendors using that data element (and allowing vendor specific adjustment of the sharing permissions) in order to provide ready access to sharing information about the data element. 
         [0081]    Referring now to  FIGS. 2 ,  3  and  7 , the control of shared information may be extended to sharing with a group of unspecified or anonymous vendors, for example, to allow the consumer  64  to share information for the purpose of receiving competing offers for a product the consumer  64  wishes to buy. This is part of process block  88  and may be invoked through intent casting screen  142  presented to the consumer on the mobile consumer device  12  or computer  38 . The intent casting screen  142  allows the user to describe a product or service for which they would like to receive sales offers, for example, by entry into a text box  144  a description of the product or service or selection of the product or service through a pulldown menu system (not shown) that defines general categories of products augmented by text key terms. This process may allow for later editing of the previous search for edit button  147  which allows changes in this requested service or product. 
         [0082]    In order to obtain bids for this product or service, consumer  64  may be required to reveal some personal data and may optionally reveal other personal data. As before, this information may be subject to the global permissions of permission screen  120  and a special vendor card permission screen related particularly to intent casting to a set of vendors. 
         [0083]    In this case, the permissions for sharing, for example, are accessible through a view sharing button  150  in the intent casting screen  142 . The intent casting screen  142  may further provide options to the consumer  64  to enforce an information sunset option that may be set through button  152  and which allows a scheduled revocation of shared information, for example, in  60  days or other selectable time limit. This time limit may be, for example, a subjective “current” time or specific time categories such as “today”, “this week”, “this month”, “this year”, or “forever until revoked”. At the conclusion of this time limit, the shared information may be fully revoked as described above for all vendors receiving this information. The intent casting screen  142  may further allow other limits to be placed on the sharing of personal data in this context including limits of using the personal data solely for the intent casting and geographic limitations on vendors who may view the personal data. 
         [0084]    It will be appreciated that the intent casting screen  142  may also be used for “indirect” intent casting in which the consumer  64  may enter into text box  144  a generic category, for example, including: clothing, home furnishings, free offers, local offers, etc. that are not focused to a specific product but a category of products. As before the particular information being provided in this indirect intent casting may be fully controlled through buttons  150  and  152 . 
         [0085]    Referring now to  FIGS. 8 and 9 , an important source of personal data that may be managed by the data vault system  11  of the present invention is the location data automatically collected or collectible through many mobile devices. Generally it is understood that mobile consumer devices  12  such as cell phones may report GPS data or cell tower triangulation data indicating the location of the mobile consumer device  12 . Current wireless systems without GPS or even cell phone capabilities may also provide capability for determining fine-grained location, for example, in a store or retail environment through triangulation techniques with wireless routers, near field communication techniques, echolocation, optical techniques or the like. 
         [0086]    In this case, one or more wireless router transceivers  160  may be placed in separate locations about a retail floor area  162 . The router transceivers  160  may communicate with a router control system  161  together to determine a location  166  of a mobile user (for example through triangulation) and may map that location into one of various departments zones  164  (e.g. department zone 3, as shown). The zones  164  may be arbitrarily defined to conform approximately to floor area dedicated to distribution of particular types of retail merchandise on the retail floor area  162 . The zones  164  may be mapped to logical departments  168  (e.g. men&#39;s department) and this information used to determine information about the consumer  64  (for example, interests and shopping responsibilities) and/or to push promotional material such as coupons or notifications of sales to the consumer  64  in those departments  168 . Control of this tracking information while the consumer  64  is within the retail environment may be indicated by the presence of the icon  111  on the mobile consumer device  12  as was described above. 
         [0087]    The data vault system  11  allows control by the consumer  64  of the use of this location information, for example, through permission sub block  78  receiving permission data from the global data store  67  or vendor data cards  68 . The consumer  64 , in a manner analogous to that arrived above, may access a permission form  170  on a vendor data card  68  for the particular vendor  65  that may allow permissions to be set for sharing of all location data or no location data in that environment, for example, through radio boxes  172  or  174  for sharing in particular departments as indicated by radio boxes  176 . Alternatively the location may be limited to a particular building or floor. More generally, permission may be granted for tracking only outdoors or indoors or any combination of the two. In this way, not only can personal data be protected, but a fine-grained sharing of that data may be provided. These selections or similar selections may also be used to control permissions to contact the consumer  64  in a particular department  168 . As before, these permissions may include permissions for particular channels of communication to the consumer  64  so that the consumer may, for example, describe how coupons are to be transmitted to the consumer in the retail floor area  162  (e.g. through instant text message but not through e-mail). These contact permissions may be associated with particular departments  168 , so that the consumer  64  may block promotional information delivered by text or e-mail except when the consumer is in particular departments  168  and, of course, may be unique to a particular on the vendor  65 . 
         [0088]    Referring now to  FIG. 10 , the present invention may be used to safeguard purchase information collected during retail transactions using electronic wallet systems that manage payment through the user&#39;s portable device such as a cell phone, or conventional credit card transactions. In such systems, the consumer  64  in making a purchase with a vendor  65   a  will provide authorization, as indicated by arrow  180 , to a wallet system  182  that processes a payment back end communicating with a credit card account or debit card account  184 , for example, managed by a bank vendor  65   b . Any information related to the transaction, indicated by arrow  186 , including purchase amount, the identity of vendor  65   a , and the item being purchased, may be managed through the data vault server  40 . While generally this information must remain accessible to the bank vendor  65   b , such information is generally maintained at a higher level of privilege because of its financial implications. Vendor  65   a , however, participating in this data vault system  11  will need to abide by the consumer  64  permission authorizations in use of this data. 
         [0089]    Certain terminology is used herein for purposes of reference only, and thus is not intended to be limiting. For example, terms such as “upper”, “lower”, “above”, and “below” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made. Terms such as “front”, “back”, “rear”, “bottom” and “side”, describe the orientation of portions of the component within a consistent but arbitrary frame of reference which is made clear by reference to the text and the associated drawings describing the component under discussion. Such terminology may include the words specifically mentioned above, derivatives thereof, and words of similar import. Similarly, the terms “first”, “second” and other such numerical terms referring to structures do not imply a sequence or order unless clearly indicated by the context. 
         [0090]    When introducing elements or features of the present disclosure and the exemplary embodiments, the articles “a”, “an”, “the” and “said” are intended to mean that there are one or more of such elements or features. The terms “comprising”, “including” and “having” are intended to be inclusive and mean that there may be additional elements or features other than those specifically noted. It is further to be understood that the method steps, processes, and operations described herein are not to be construed as necessarily requiring their performance in the particular order discussed or illustrated, unless specifically identified as an order of performance. It is also to be understood that additional or alternative steps may be employed. 
         [0091]    References to “a microprocessor” and “a processor” or “the microprocessor” and “the processor,” can be understood to include one or more microprocessors that can communicate in a stand-alone and/or a distributed environment(s), and can thus be configured to communicate via wired or wireless communications with other processors, where such one or more processor can be configured to operate on one or more processor-controlled devices that can be similar or different devices. Furthermore, references to memory, unless otherwise specified, can include one or more processor-readable and accessible memory elements and/or components that can be internal to the processor-controlled device, external to the processor-controlled device, and can be accessed via a wired or wireless network. 
         [0092]    It is specifically intended that the present invention not be limited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein and the claims should be understood to include modified forms of those embodiments including portions of the embodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments as come within the scope of the following claims. All of the publications described herein, including patents and non-patent publications are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

Technology Classification (CPC): 6