Patent ID: 8745049

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for anonymously recommending public entities, the method comprising: receiving, at a client of a user from a server, a number of select server fingerprints selected from server fingerprints based on predetermined metrics, the server fingerprints corresponding to a plurality of public entities, wherein the predetermined metrics comprise at least one of user-defined criteria communicated to the server from the client and popularity of the plurality of public entities, each server fingerprint comprises encoded information about a corresponding public entity, the encoded information comprising information for identifying the corresponding public entity and information for determining whether to recommend the public entity to a user; generating, at the client, a user fingerprint based on user information associated with the user, the user fingerprint comprising encoded user information, wherein the user information comprises information representative of the user's interests and wherein the user fingerprint is not transmitted outside the client; comparing, at the client, the user fingerprint with the select server fingerprints to select at least one server fingerprint for recommendation; generating, at the client, at least one recommendation of a public entity corresponding to the at least one server fingerprint for recommendation; and displaying the at least one recommendation.