A handful of Adobe product managers and software developers have received a patent that collects data from one set of platforms, enforces any restrictions for use of the data collected, and then redirects the data to other platforms within the company’s systems.

The patent titled Data Export Controls, which Adobe will announce on Thursday, was granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in April 2018 but originally filed in September 2015.

The Data Export Control feature was created to work with a variety of platforms, including those outside of the Adobe Experience Cloud. The purpose was to ensure that Adobe Experience Cloud customers could enable data to flow across these systems, yet block it when the source of the data had contractual or policy restrictions.

Adobe Audience Manager is a data management platform that is intended to help brands such as the National Football League, Princess Cruises, and Conde Nast gain a complete view of their audience to personalize marketing and advertising campaigns. The Data Export Controls feature gives brands the ability to control their data to avoid data loss, focus on high-value audiences and improve workflow.

For example, a major online retailer adds new product categories daily, which creates an influx of additional data for the brand to manage and secure. The Data Explorer aims to help brands store these new attributes quickly, quickly adapt to the changes, and work to avoid data loss.

The patent is the next step in unstructured data collection for marketers because the need to govern data has become even more important as the European Union begins to enforce the General Data Protection Regulations on Friday, May 25.  It also has become increasingly relevant as data management provider (DMP) practices continue to mature and are used by more than one team in an organization.

Other regulations could also come into play, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act, modeled after Europe’s GDPR.

Dean Nicolls, vice president of marketing at Jumio, an identity verification platform, said in a separate interview that if the California Consumer Privacy Act passes in November 2018, it could turn the advertising industry on its head.

It applies to companies in access of $50,000 in annual revenue; annually sells personal information for at least 100,000 consumers or devices; or derives at least 50% of its revenue from selling consumer personal information.

“Personal information isn’t just a name or a phone number,” Nicolls said. “It includes browsing habits and interactions with a website and a bunch of other things that you might not consider being personal information.”