System and method of providing unique personal identifiers for use in the anonymous and secure exchange of data

Abstract

A universal anonymous data collection and exchange service is provided where individuals and entities initially register with the service utilizing “legally authentic” identity documentation to obtain a “universal ID” (UXID). The UXID consists of a sting of alphanumeric digits selected from a hash function that is performed on a string of personally identifying information. Once registered, the individual and entity UXIDs are used as a means by the service to engage in a pre-defined confidential data collection and exchange protocol between participating, registered UXID holders. The service is designed for use across many applications, individuals and entities, and may support one-time or recurring collection of data.

1 . A method of creating a universal, individual identifier (UXID) for controlling data access, collection and exchange between a plurality of registered users and registered entities, the method performed by a UXID service provider and comprising the steps of: 
 a) receiving legally-recognized documentation of an individual from an individual desiring registration, the legally-recognized documentation including a plurality of fields of personal information;    b) creating a string of selected information as a subset of the personal information within the legally-recognized documentation;    c) supplementing the string created in step b) with a pad string of information known only to the UXID service provider to form a standard string;    d) generating a hash of the standard string created in step c) to form a hexadecimal string of digits;    e) defining a predetermined subset of digits from the string formed in step d) as the individual UXID;    f) creating an initial password for use in association with the individual's UXID;    g) storing the (UXID, password) pair in a database of registered users; and    h) delivering the UXID, password and legally-recognized documentation to the registered individual.    
   
   
       2 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein in performing step d), the MD5 one-way hash is used.  
   
   
       3 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein in performing step d), the SHA-1 one-way hash is used.  
   
   
       4 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein in performing step d), a proprietary one-way hash is used.  
   
   
       5 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein in performing step e), at least seven digits from the hash are used to define the UXID.  
   
   
       6 . The method as defined in  claim 5 , wherein in performing step e), at least nine digits from the hash are used to define the UXID.  
   
   
       7 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein prior to performing step f), the UXID created in step e) is first checked against all previously-supplied UXIDs and, if a duplicate is found, modifying the UXID of step e) to eliminate the duplication.  
   
   
       8 . The method as defined in  claim 7  wherein the checking is performing for the modified UXID in a continuing manner to ensure that the modified UXID is not a duplicate.  
   
   
       9 . The method as defined in  claim 7  wherein the created UXID is modified by incrementing the least significant digit.  
   
   
       10 . The method as defined in  claim 9  wherein the created UXID is incremented in value using arithmetic base  16 .  
   
   
       11 . The method as defined in  claim 9  wherein the created UXID is decremented in value.  
   
   
       12 . The method as defined in  claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises the creation of a specific entity-application UXID (EA-UXID) for linking the individual's stored data with a predetermined, pre-registered entity desiring the collection of data for a specific purpose, the method further comprising the steps of: 
 i) receiving, at the UXID service provider, additional legally-recognized documentation defining a relationship between the individual and the pre-registered entity;    j) creating a string of selected information from both the original and additional legally-recognized documentation;    k) supplementing the created string with a pad string of information known only to the UXID service provider to form an entity-application standard string;    l) generating a hash of the entity-application standard string created in step k);    m) defining a predetermined subset of digits from the generated hash of step l) as the individual's EA-UXID;    n) creating an initial password for use in association with the individual's EA-UXID;    n) storing the (EA-UXID, EA-password) pair in a database of registered entity-associated users; and    o) delivering the EA-UXID, EA-password and additional documentation to the registered subscriber.    
   
   
       13 . A unique universal ID (UXID) platform for storing individual and entity data and providing processing, anonymizing and reporting of the stored data, the UXID platform comprising 
 a processor for utilizing a selected hash algorithm to translate a string of user information into UXIDs and EA-UXIDs, as desired;    an individual storage partition including individual UXIDs and EA-UXIDs;    an entity storage partition including entity UXIDs, EA-UXIDs and predetermined protocols utilized for collecting and reporting individual data; and    a UXID service partition for maintaining linkages between UXIDs, EA-UXIDs and the parameters used for their formation.