Patent ID: 8639920

Claim:
A system for anonymously sharing user profile data among a plurality of entities, comprising: a server having one or more hardware computer processors and configured to: receive, from each of a plurality of data appliances, a respective plurality of encrypted identifiers for a respective plurality of users, wherein the plurality of data appliances are located at the plurality of entities and each data appliance comprises one or more computing devices; periodically distribute market segment data to each of the plurality of data appliances, wherein the market segment data comprises at least supplemental user profile data associated with each of the respective plurality of encrypted user identifiers for the respective plurality of users; wherein the plurality of data appliances comprises: a first data appliance that is configured to: receive, from a first entity, first user profile data for a first group of users associated with the first entity, the first user profile data including names and addresses of the first group of users; encrypt the first user profile data for each of the first group of users into a respective plurality of first encrypted identifiers using an encryption technique; and send the plurality of first encrypted identifiers to the server; and a second data appliance that is configured to: receive, from a second entity, second user profile data for a second group of users associated with the second entity, the second user profile data including names and addresses of the second group of users; encrypt the second user profile data for each of the second group of users into a respective plurality of second encrypted identifiers using the same encryption technique used by the first data appliance, so that common user profile data between the first and second user profile data are converted into identical encrypted identifiers; receive, from the server, the market segment data; and use the plurality of second encrypted identifiers to retrieve, from the market segment data, supplemental user profile data associated with users in both the first and second groups of users, based on matching of at least one of the second encrypted identifiers to at least one of the first encrypted identifiers.