Patent ID: 8447695

Claim:
A method for processing feedback entries received from software, said software provided by a vendor to an end user machine, said end user machine comprising a processor, the software, a feedback module, and a database, wherein a concatenation operator ∥ is defined such that A∥B denotes a concatenation of strings A and B, wherein E(K,X) defines a symmetric key encryption of a parameter X using a key K, wherein Hash(Y) defines a one way hash function of a parameter Y, and wherein said method comprises: said processor, via execution of the feedback module, establishing a secret key k(0), said feedback module sending the key k(0) to the vendor, and communicating the key k(0) to a user of the software; said processor, via execution of the feedback module, establishing a secret key n(0), the feedback module sending the key n(0) to the vendor, and communicating the key n(0) to a user; said processor, via execution of the feedback module, generating an identification tag FE(0); said processor, via execution of the feedback module, generating a secret key s(0) and communicating the generated key s(0) to the user but not to the vendor; said processor, via execution of the feedback module, generating an encryption E k0 of an identification tag FE(0) using the secret key k(0) where E k0 =E(k(0),FE(0)); said processor, via execution of the feedback module, generating a parameter H n0 using the secret key n(0) where H n0 =Hash(n(0)∥Ek0); said processor, via execution of the feedback module, generating a parameter H s0 using the secret key s(0) where H s0 =Hash(s(0)∥Ek0); said processor, via execution of the feedback module, sending E k0 , H n0 , and H s0 to the database; and said processor, via execution of the feedback module, sending E k0 and H n0 to the vendor.