# US 12,762,272 B2 · Synthetic training datasets for personally identifiable information classifiers > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,762,272 B2 - Document ID: US12762272B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/589,610 - Filed: 2022-01-31 - Published: 2023-08-03 - Granted: 2026-10-13 - Earliest claimed: 2022-01-31 - Assignees: Box, Inc. - Applicants: Box, Inc. - Inventors: Victor De Vansa Vikramaratne; Kave Eshghi; Thuy Nguyen; Alok Ojha - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12762272B2 ## CPC - G06F 21/6245: {Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes} - G06F 16/93: Document management systems - G06F 21/6272: {by registering files or documents with a third party} - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract Handling user-demanded privacy controls over data of an electronic document collaboration system. A storage facility is configured to store content objects and associated metadata that pertains to the content objects. A user raises a privacy action request that comprises a demand to change how certain content objects that contain personally identifiable information (PII) of the user are handled. A plurality of content objects are classified using a PII classifier that is trained using synthetically-generated training set entries where, rather than reading actual contents from electronic documents of the collaboration system to generate training set entries, instead, the training set entries are generated using words that are randomly selected from a repository of natural language words. When PII corresponding to the user who raised the privacy action request is discovered in content objects, then the content management system modifies those content objects and/or its metadata in accordance with the demand. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for implementing privacy controls over certain data of an electronic document collaboration system, the method comprising: identifying a storage facility that stores content objects and associated metadata, wherein the associated metadata comprises one or more of, first metadata pertaining to storage of the content objects onto electronic storage media of the storage facility, or second metadata pertaining to access characteristics of the content objects on the electronic storage media of the storage facility; identifying one or more content objects in the storage facility, wherein the one or more content objects are analyzed to determine modifications to individual ones of the one or more content object or the associated metadata; analyzing the one or more content objects to identify personally identifiable information (PII) within the individual ones of the one or more content objects, wherein identification of the PII is based at least in part on outputs of a PII classifier, and wherein training set entries used for training the PII classifier are generated by (i) providing a hintword in association with a corresponding label, (ii) providing an n-gram, wherein constituent words of the n-gram are randomly selected from a repository of natural language words, and (iii) injecting the hintword into the n-gram; and modifying the one or more content objects or the associated metadata based at least in part upon the identification of the PII in the one or more content objects, wherein the one or more content objects or the associated metadata is modified to change at least one of a content object itself, first metadata of the content object pertaining to storage characteristics of the object, or second metadata of the content object to change access characteristics of the content object. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising combining an aspect of the outputs of the PII classifier with one or more events of the electronic document collaboration system to determine a downstream operation. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a downstream operation to modify the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to limit sharing or dissemination of the electronic document based at least in part upon the PII. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, setting a retention period of one or more of the one or more content objects, or modifying the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to set a sharing boundary. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, redacting portions of one or more of the one or more content objects that contain PII, or preparing a listing of electronic documents that contain PII. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the PII classifier is used to detect first PII in a first further electronic document of a first tenant, and wherein the same PII classifier is used to detect second PII in a second further electronic document of a second tenant. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more content object or the associated metadata are modified to delete the content object itself. ### Claim 8 A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform a set of acts for implementing privacy controls over certain data of an electronic document collaboration system, the set of acts comprising: identifying a storage facility that stores content objects and associated metadata, wherein the associated metadata comprises one or more of, first metadata pertaining to storage of the content objects onto electronic storage media of the storage facility, or second metadata pertaining to access characteristics of the content objects on the electronic storage media of the storage facility; identifying one or more content objects in the storage facility, wherein the one or more content objects are analyzed to determine modifications to individual ones of the one or more content objects or the associated metadata; analyzing the one or more content objects to identify personally identifiable information (PII) within the individual ones of the one or more content objects, wherein identification of the PII is based at least in part on outputs of a PII classifier, and wherein training set entries used for training the PII classifier are generated by (i) providing a hintword in association with a corresponding label, (ii) providing an n-gram, wherein constituent words of the n-gram are randomly selected from a repository of natural language words, and (iii) injecting the hintword into the n-gram; and modifying the one or more content objects or the associated metadata based at least in part upon the identification of the PII in the one or more content objects, wherein the one or more content objects or the associated metadata is modified to change at least one of a content object itself, first metadata of the content object pertaining to storage characteristics of the object, or second metadata of the content object to change to access characteristics of the content object. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform acts of combining an aspect of the outputs of the PII classifier with one or more events of the electronic document collaboration system to determine a downstream operation. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform acts of initiating a downstream operation to modify the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to limit sharing or dissemination of the electronic document based at least in part upon the PII. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform acts of initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, setting a retention period of one or more of the one or more content objects, or modifying the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to set a sharing boundary. ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, further comprising instructions which, when stored in memory and executed by the one or more processors causes the one or more processors to perform acts of initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, redacting portions of one or more of the one or more content objects that contain PII, or preparing a listing of electronic documents that contain PII. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the PII classifier is used to detect first PII in a first further electronic document of a first tenant, and wherein the same PII classifier is used to detect second PII in a second further electronic document of a second tenant. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the one or more content object or the associated metadata are modified to delete the content object itself. ### Claim 15 A system for implementing privacy controls over certain data of an electronic document collaboration system, the system comprising: a storage medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions; and one or more processors that execute the sequence of instructions to cause the one or more processors to perform a set of acts, the set of acts comprising, identifying a storage facility that stores content objects and associated metadata, wherein the associated metadata comprises one or more of, first metadata pertaining to storage of the content objects onto electronic storage media of the storage facility, or second metadata pertaining to access characteristics of the content objects on the electronic storage media of the storage facility; identifying one or more content objects in the storage facility, wherein the one or more content objects are analyzed to determine modifications to individual ones of the one or more content object or the associated metadata; analyzing the one or more content objects to identify personally identifiable information (PII) within the individual ones of the one or more content objects, wherein identification of the PII is based at least in part on outputs of a PII classifier, and wherein training set entries used for training the PII classifier are generated by (i) providing a hintword in association with a corresponding label, (ii) providing an n-gram, wherein constituent words of the n-gram are randomly selected from a repository of natural language words, and (iii) injecting the hintword into the n-gram; and modifying the one or more content objects or the associated metadata based at least in part upon the identification of the PII in the one or more content objects, wherein the one or more content objects or the associated metadata is modified to change at least one of a content object itself, first metadata of the content object pertaining to storage characteristics of the object, or second metadata of the content object to change access characteristics of the content object. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising combining an aspect of the outputs of the PII classifier with one or more events of the electronic document collaboration system to determine a downstream operation. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising initiating a downstream operation to modify the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to limit sharing or dissemination of the electronic document based at least in part upon the PII. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, setting a retention period of one or more of the one or more content objects, or modifying the associated metadata of one or more of the one or more content objects to set a sharing boundary. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, further comprising initiating a downstream operation, wherein the downstream operation is one of, redacting portions of one or more of the one or more content objects that contain PII, or preparing a listing of electronic documents that contain PII. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The system of claim 15, wherein the PII classifier is used to detect first PII in a first further electronic document of a first tenant, and wherein the same PII classifier is used to detect second PII in a second further electronic document of a second tenant.