# US 2019/0377900 A1 · Protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) Using Tagging and Persistence of PII > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2019/0377900 A1 - Document ID: US20190377900A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/003,739 - Filed: 2018-06-08 - Published: 2019-12-12 - Earliest claimed: 2018-06-08 - Assignees: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Applicants: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC - Inventors: Andreas Balzer; David Mowatt; Muiris Woulfe - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20190377900A1 ## CPC - G06F 21/6245: {Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes} - G06F 21/6254: {by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification} - G06F 40/205: Parsing - H04L 9/0894: {Escrow, recovery or storing of secret information, e.g. secret key escrow or cryptographic key storage} - G06F 16/93: Document management systems - G06F 2221/2113: Multi-level security, e.g. mandatory access control - H04L 67/10: in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network (software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46) - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) - H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M) ## Abstract A system includes an electronic processor configured to store records in a client database. The records included personally identifiable information associated with entities and a client identifier reference associated with each of the individuals, the personally identifiable information is accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user. The electronic processor is also configured to receive a document containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information, parse the document to determine the presence personally identifiable information in the document, verify the access rights of the reader of the document, match the personally identifiable information included in the document with records stored in the client database, substitute the personally identifiable information included in the document with the corresponding client identifier reference referring to the client database, and generate a human-legible view of the document containing the corresponding client identifier reference. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A computer system for protecting information associated with entities, the computer system comprising: an electronic processor configured to store records in a client database, the records including personally identifiable information associated with entities and a client identifier reference associated with each of the entities, the personally identifiable information accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user; receive a document containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information; parse the document to determine the presence of personally identifiable information in the document; match the personally identifiable information included in the document with records stored in the client database; substitute the personally identifiable information included in the document with the corresponding client identifier reference stored in the client database; and generate a human-legible view of the document containing the corresponding client identifier reference. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the entity is an item selected from the group consisting of an individual, a group, an organization and a content. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to store a cryptographic key associated with the user having access to personally identifiable information within the document. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to generate the human-legible view of the document having portions of the document redacted based on the access rights to the personally identifiable information of entities included in the document. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the client identifier reference includes information associated with the client database. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to: in response to a first personally identifiable information matching only one record in the client database, remove the first personally identifiable information from the document and replace the first personally identifiable information with a first client identifier reference. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to in response to a first personally identifiable information matching more than one record in the client database, provide a selection of matched records from the client database. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to in response to a first personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, update the client database with a new record and generate a new client identifier reference associated with the first personally identifiable information. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to determine that a first personally identifiable information is associated with an entity that does not have a record in the client database; and add a record associated with the personally identifiable information. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the personally identifiable information includes an item selected from the group consisting of name, date of birth, place of birth, email address, phone number, fax number, particular content, social networking credential, biometric information, financial account number, organization issued identification, and government issued identification. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the client database is accessible based on an authorization level associated with the user. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the client identifier reference includes a plurality of segments, the plurality of segments having a first segment associated with an individual and a second segment associated with an organization. ### Claim 13 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to retrieve a plurality of documents including personally identifiable information associated with an entity. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The computer system of claim 13, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to allow only the plurality of documents to retrieve information associated with the entity. ### Claim 15 (depends on 1) The computer system of claim 1, wherein the electronic processor is further configured to delete all documents containing personally identifiable information associated with an individual. ### Claim 16 A method for protecting personally identifiable information of entities, the method comprising: storing records in a client database, the records including personally identifiable information associated with entities and a client identifier reference associated with each of the entities, the personally identifiable information accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user; receiving a document containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information of one or more entities; parsing the document to determine the presence of personally identifiable information included in the document; matching the personally identifiable information included in the document with records stored in the client database; substituting the personally identifiable information included in the document with the corresponding client identifier reference stored in the client database; generating a human-legible view of the document containing the corresponding client identifier reference; in response to a first personally identifiable information matching only one record in the client database, removing the first personally identifiable information from the document and replacing the first personally identifiable information with a first client identifier reference; in response to the first personally identifiable information matching more than one record in the client database, provide a selection of matched records from the client database; and in response to the first personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, updating the client database with a new record and generating a new client identifier reference associated with the first personally identifiable information. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: determining that a first personally identifiable information is associated with an entity that does not have a record in the client database; and adding a record associated with the personally identifiable information. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: retrieving all documents containing personally identifiable information associated with an individual; and deleting all documents containing personally identifiable information associated with the individual. ### Claim 19 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16, further comprising: storing a cryptographic key associated with the user having access to personally identifiable information within the document. ### Claim 20 A computer system for protecting personally identifiable information (PII), the computer system comprising: an electronic processor configured to store a cryptographic key associated with a user having access to personally identifiable information within the document; receive the document containing unencrypted non-personally identifiable information and encrypted personally identifiable information; parse the document to determine the presence of personally identifiable information and detect an encrypted portion in the document; retrieve the personally identifiable information based on decrypting the encrypted portion using the cryptographic key; and display a human-legible view of the document.