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GooglePatent applicationSecurity & privacyInterest 6/10

Google patents method to create user IDs from encrypted data

Google describes a system that creates unique user identifiers without storing raw personal data. It uses a secure computing area to unlock encrypted information with a key built from multiple sources, then transforms that data into a new, separate ID.

Why it mattersThis approach could help companies track users across services while keeping their actual personal details hidden from the systems handling the data.

In the filing’s own words

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating surrogate user identifiers. In one aspect, a method includes receiving, by a surrogate identifier (ID) system, encrypted user data for a requesting entity. A surrogate ID generator running in a first trusted execution environment (TEE) of the surrogate ID system obtains, from multiple key coordinators, respective parts of a first key and respective parts of a second key. The first key is generated using the respective parts of the first key received from the multiple key coordinators. The second key is generated using the respective parts of the second key received from the multiple key coordinators. The surrogate ID generator decrypts the encrypted user data using the first key to obtain user data in cleartext. The surrogate ID generator generates a surrogate ID using the user data and the second key.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: receiving, by a surrogate identifier (ID) system, encrypted user data for a requesting entity; obtaining, by a surrogate ID generator running in a first trusted execution environment (TEE) of the surrogate ID system and from multiple key coordinators respective parts of a first key and respective parts of a second key; generating the first key using the respective parts of the first key received from the multiple key coordinators; generating the second key using the respective parts of the second key received from the multiple key coordinators; decrypting, by the surrogate ID generator, the encrypted user data using the first key to obtain user data in cleartext; generating, by the surrogate ID generator, a surrogate ID using the user data and the second key; and sending the surrogate ID to the requesting entity.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
GENERATING SURROGATE IDENTIFIERS USING ENCRYPTED DATA
Publication number
US20260270058A1
Application number
19338070
Filed
Sep 24, 2025
Published
Sep 10, 2026
Inventors
5
Claims
20

Classified under

H04L 9/0877 Electricity & electronics
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.