System and method for sharing anonymous user profiles with a third party

Abstract

The invention provides a system and method for sharing anonymous user profiles with a third party. In one aspect of the invention, the system shares user profiles with content servers on a mobile data network so that they may select content responsive to the user's profile. The system provides a store of user profiles for associating profile information with either a source IP address or mobile phone number, where the profile includes information on the user and the user's network usage. The system detects a user's transaction request and inspects it for either an IP address or phone number, which it uses to retrieve the appropriate profile. The system subsequently applies predetermined opt-out policies to determine how much of the user profile may be provided in response to the profile request. The system then returns the profile information such that the user's identity is masked.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . In a mobile data network, a method for sharing user profiles with content servers so they may select content responsive to a user profile, said method comprising:
 providing a store of user profiles, each profile associating profile information with at least one of a source IP address and a phone number for a mobile device associated with a user, said profile information being indicative of at least said user and said user's usage of said mobile data network;   detecting on the mobile data network a user request for a transaction with a content provider;   inspecting the user request to retrieve at least one of a source IP address or a phone number for a mobile device issuing the transaction request;   using the retrieved source IP address or phone number to retrieve a corresponding profile from the store;   in response to a profile request, applying predetermined opt-out rules to determine whether at least a subset of said retrieved profile may be provided in response to the request; and   in response to said profile request, providing at least a subset of said corresponding profile information with masked user identity information.