Secure Processing of Secure Information in a Non-Secure Environment

Abstract

A secured process sourcing and work management system for processing secure information in a non-secure environment is disclosed. The system permits a user, referred to herein as a customer or requestor, to submit a project, involving a human intelligence task (“HIT”), referred to as a task or task specification, to be performed with respect to secure, confidential or sensitive information, referred to herein as secure information, and have that project completed in a non-secure environment without compromising the security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the secure information. The system may be incorporated into the requestor's workflow, receiving projects therefrom and providing the results thereto. Further, a system is disclosed for implementing a processing workflow for such tasks, the system permitting, based on projects submitted by requestors, the “posting” or distribution of jobs, and subsequent management thereof, to be performed by a workforce operating in or via a non-secure-environment, while protecting the underlying security, confidentiality or sensitivity of the overall project.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method of completing a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a processor, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;   dividing, by the processor, the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;   further dividing, by the processor, the secure sub-objects such that each data of the two or more secure sub-objects is disassociated from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects;   arranging, by the processor, for the performance of the one or more sub-tasks with a selected subset of a set of available participants of a workforce, each of the available participants being associated with one or more attributes which characterize the associated available participant, the selection of the subset being based thereon; and   distributing, by the processor, to the subset at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one of the one or more attributes characterizes the associated available participant as one of an employee of an entity from the secure object is received, an employee of an entity which receives the secure object, an independent contractor, an ad hoc employee, a volunteer, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the one of the one or more attributes that characterizes the associated available participant as one of availability, cost, quality of work product, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 generating, by the processor, at least one duplicate of the disassociated data; and 
 wherein distributing further comprises distributing the at least one duplicate of the associated data to a different subset of the set of available participants. 
 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  wherein the at least one duplicate of the associated data is distributed based on participant attributes. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 receiving, by the processor, results of the performance of each sub-task; and 
 compiling, by the processor, the results, the compilation being substantially similar to a result of the completion of the task on the secure object. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the subset is in a non-secure environment, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the data in the non-secure environment is substantially reduced. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein at least one of the one or more contexts comprises an attribute of the associated data. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the disassociating further comprises separating, by the processor, the attribute from the data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the attribute comprises a number of alphanumeric digits in the data. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  wherein the disassociating further comprises dividing, by the processor, the data into at least two disassociated data, each of the at least two disassociated data comprising a sub-set of the number of alphanumeric digits such that the number of alphanumeric digits in the data cannot be discerned from each sub-set of digits alone. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the secure object comprises a representation of a handwriting, a picture, an image, a facsimile, a document, an audio recording, a video recording, or combinations thereof. 
     
     
         13 . A system for facilitating completion of a task in a non-secure environment with respect to a secure object, the system comprising:
 at least one processor configured to operate as:
 a project receiver operative to receive, in a secure environment, the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed; 
 an object separator coupled with the project receiver and operative to divide the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure; 
 an object disassociator coupled with the object separator and operative to further separate the two or more secure sub-objects so as to disassociate each data of the two or more secure sub-objects from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects; and 
 a distributor coupled with the object disassociator and the task divider and operative to distribute to a selected subset of participants of a workforce comprising a plurality of subsets, each of the participants being associated with one or more attributes which characterize the associated participant, the selection of the subset being based thereon, at least one of the disassociated data such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto, and wherein the ability to discern the secure characterization of the is substantially reduced. 
   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the one of the one or more attributes characterizes the associated available participant as one of an employee of an entity from the secure object is received, an employee of an entity which receives the secure object, an independent contractor, an ad hoc employee, a volunteer, or a combination thereof. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 13  wherein the distributor is further operative to distribute at least one duplicate of the disassociated data to a different subset of the one or more participants. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the at least one duplicate of the associated data is distributed based on participant attributes. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 13  further comprising:
 a result receiver operative to receive results of the performance of each sub-task; and 
 a result compiler operative to compile the results, the compilation being substantially similar to a result of the completion of the task on the secure object. 
 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 13  wherein distributor is further operative to distribute the disassociated data based on participant attributes indicating the participants of the subset are in a non-secure environment. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the at least one of the one or more contexts comprises an attribute of the associated data, and wherein the object disassociator is further operative to separate the attribute from the data. 
     
     
         20 . A non-transitory computer readable medium including instructions that when executed by a processor are operable to cause a system to facilitate completion of a task, the instructions operative to:
 receive the secure object with respect to which the task is to be performed;   divide the secure object into at least two or more secure sub-objects each comprising data and one or more contexts associated therewith, the one or more contexts each characterizing the data as secure;   further divide the secure sub-objects so as to disassociate each data of the two or more secure sub-objects from each of the associated one or more contexts such that none of the secure characterization of the data is distributed with the disassociated data, the task comprising one or more sub-tasks to be performed with respect to the disassociated data of each of the two or more secure sub-objects; and   distribute at least one of the disassociated data and a copy of the disassociated data to at least one selected subset of available participants of a workforce, each of the available participants being associated with one or more attributes which characterize the associated available participant, the selection of the subset being based thereon such that the respective sub-task may be performed with respect thereto.