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GooglePatent applicationSecurity & privacyInterest 6/10

Google patents ad system that hides user details from advertisers

Google describes a method for serving digital ads while keeping user data private. It uses multi-party computation to split data processing across different systems and k-anonymity to ensure that only groups of users, not individuals, are identified to ad platforms.

Why it mattersThis approach could make online advertising more private by preventing ad servers from seeing specific user identities, which is a growing concern for tech users.

In the filing’s own words

This disclosure relates to protecting the confidential information of multiple entities using secure multi-party computation (MPC) and k-anonymity techniques. In some aspects, a method includes receiving, by a first MPC computing system from a client device, a content request including encrypted user group identifiers. Each encrypted user group identifier is encrypted using a first encryption key of a second MPC computing system. For each encrypted user group identifier, a request is transmitted to the second MPC computing system. The request includes the encrypted user group identifier. For each user group identifier that satisfies a k-anonymity, the first MPC computing system receives, from the second MPC computing system, a plaintext value of the user group identifier. The first MPC computing system transmits a selection parameter request to one or more platforms. The selection parameter request includes the plaintext value of the user group identifier.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method comprising: receiving, by a first computing system and from a client device, a content request comprising contextual signals indicating a context in which one or more digital components will be presented at the client device; determining that one or more of the contextual signals satisfy k-anonymity, wherein determining that a contextual signal satisfies k-anonymity comprises determining that at least a threshold number of content requests that include the contextual signal have been received; and in response to determining that the one or more contextual signals satisfy k-anonymity, sending, by the first computing system and to one or more content platforms, a selection parameter request comprising the one or more contextual signals that satisfy k-anonymity, and receiving, by the first computing system, selection parameter elements for candidate digital components, the selection parameter element comprising a selection parameter identifier for the candidate digital component; selecting, by the first computing system and from a set of candidate digital components including the candidate digital component received from each of the one or more content platforms, a given digital component; and sending, by the first computing system and to the client device, data referencing the given digital component.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
USING MULTI-PARTY COMPUTATION AND K-ANONYMITY TECHNIQUES TO PROTECT CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION
Publication number
US20260278169A1
Application number
19677277
Filed
May 14, 2026
Published
Sep 17, 2026
Inventors
2
Claims
20

Classified under

G06F 21/6254 Physics & computingH04L 9/0825 Electricity & electronicsH04L 2209/46 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.