Patent Document ID: 20120322458
Application ID: 13163396
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. One or more computer-readable media comprising computer-executable instructions for removing personally identifiable information from user trails, the computer-executable instructions directed to steps comprising: receiving a first user trail comprising a first set of discrete locations of a first computing device, the first user trail having personally identifiable information; modifying the first user trail to generate a new first user trail without the personally identifiable information by removing the personally identifiable information by performing at least one of: replacing a turn in the first user trail with a sequence of equivalent turns, each of which differs from the identified turn; replacing at least one segment of the first user trail with one or more segments differing from the replaced at least one segment, the one or more segments having a same starting point as the replaced at least one segment and a same ending point as the replaced at least one segment; dividing the first user trail into two or more sub-trails by identifying segments of the first user trail that are to be part of one of the two or more sub-trails as having been generated by a different computing device; and exchanging a portion of the first user trail with a portion of a second user trail intersecting with the first user trail, the exchanged portions of the first and second user trails having the intersection as an endpoint.