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GoogleGranted patentSecurity & privacyInterest 6/10

Google patents system that blocks data uploads if you haven't agreed to rules

This patent describes a network check that runs before your device sends data to the cloud. It looks at the type of data being sent and checks if you have previously agreed to the specific privacy rules for that data. If you haven't accepted the rules, the system stops the upload.

Why it mattersIt adds an automatic safety net to ensure apps only send your data when you have explicitly agreed to how it will be used.

In the filing’s own words

This document discloses aspects of enforcing compliance of data use policies. In aspects, a network function receives, from an application, a message that includes data to upload from a device. In response, the network function executes a compliance function associated with a type of the data in the message. The compliance function can assert a data use policy based on a state (e.g., populated) of a field of the data and determine whether a user of the device has accepted the data use policy asserted for the data in the message. The compliance function can allow the upload of the data from the device based on compliance with the data use policy or blocks the upload of the data based on a lack of compliance with the data use policy. By so doing, the compliance function can ensure that data uploaded from the device complies with user-accepted data use policies.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: receiving, from an application, a message that includes data to upload from a device; executing, in response to receiving the message, a compliance function associated with a type of the data of the message, the type comprising a data structure or a container of the data, the compliance function configured to enforce compliance of the data of the message with data use policies associated with the type of the data, the compliance function comprising executable code generated based on compliance descriptors defined in a data configuration file associated with the data structure, the compliance descriptors being selected through the parsing of metadata of the data configuration file to determine compliance descriptors for the data fields of the message and removal of a redundant compliance descriptor for one of the data fields of the message to provide a pruned set of compliance descriptors; identifying, by the compliance function, a field of the data to which the data use policies apply based on the compliance descriptors; asserting, by the compliance function, one of the data use policies associated with the type of the data based on a state of the field of the data of the message; determining, by the compliance function, whether a user of the device has accepted the data use policy asserted for the data in the message, the acceptance of the data use policy indicating compliance of the data with the data use policy; and allowing the upload of the data from the device based on the compliance with the data use policy accepted by the user; or blocking the upload of the data from the device based on a lack of compliance with the data use policy.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Enforcing compliance with data use policies
Patent number
US12743535B2
Application number
18421641
Filed
Jan 24, 2024
Granted
Sep 22, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 21/6218 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.