Telecommunications Topics

Telecommunications

Patent Issued for Finding Nearby Users without Revealing Own Location

2012 JUL 18 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Telecommunications Weekly -- Google Inc. (Mountain View, CA) has been issued patent number 8213617, according to news reporting originating out of Alexandria, Virginia, by VerticalNews editors.

The patent's inventor is Appleton, Benjamin C. (Summer Hill, AU).

This patent was filed on November 22, 2011 and was cleared and issued on July 3, 2012.

From the background information supplied by the inventors, news correspondents obtained the following quote: "The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.

"Many portable communication device sold today, such as a smartphones or tablet personal computers (PCs), are capable of determining their location. For example, a portable communication device can be equipped with a Global Positioning System (GPS) chip to determine the latitude, longitude, and elevation of the device based on signals from several GPS satellites. Some devices also can determine their location using signals from 'hotspots' such as Wi-Fi access points. Other positioning techniques available today include proximity sensing using radio-frequency identification (RFID), triangulation using radio signals from fixed cellular infrastructure elements, etc.

"Manufacturers of portable communication device devices, as well as various software developers, have created numerous software applications that utilize location data for navigation, searching, social networking, gaming, etc. For example, some applications allow users to automatically report their location to a network server and share their locations with friends and family. As the market for these and other location-based applications and services continues to grow, so does the concern with reliability, accuracy, and privacy of such applications and services."

Supplementing the background information on this patent, VerticalNews reporters also obtained the inventor's summary information for this patent: "A method according to one embodiment is in a portable device operating in a wireless communication network. The method is for securely reporting an indication of a current geographic location of the portable device to a server without revealing the current geographic location of the portable device to the server, where the server is communicatively coupled to the communication network. The method includes generating a pseudo-random value using a signal from an environment in which the portable device operates, generating a location descriptor based on the current geographic location of the portable device, applying a cryptographic function to a combination of the pseudo-random value and the location descriptor to generate a secure location indicator for the portable device, and causing the secure location indicator to be electronically transmitted to the server via the communication network.

"A method according to another embodiment is implemented in a portable device operating in a wireless communication network. The method is for securely reporting an indication of a current geographic location of the portable device to a server without revealing the current geographic location of the portable device to the server, where the server is communicatively coupled to the communication network. The method includes deriving a plurality of one-time pads (OTPs) from environmental entropy, determining the current geographic location of the portable device, generating a plurality of location descriptors based on the current geographic location of the portable device, where each of the plurality of location descriptors specifies a respective geographic area encompassing, or being proximate to, the current geographic location of the portable device, hashing every combination of one of the plurality of OTPs with one of the plurality of location descriptors to generate a plurality of secure location indicators, and providing the plurality of secure location indicators and an identifier of the portable device to the server via the communication network.

"In yet another embodiment, a portable device includes one or more processors, a communication module coupled to the one or more processors and configured to transmit and receive signals via a wireless communication network, and a computer-readable memory coupled to the one or more processors and storing instructions thereon. When executed by the one or more processors, the instructions cause the portable device to generate a plurality of one-time pads (OTPs) using a signal from an environment in which the portable device operates, where the signal is received via the communication module; generate a plurality of location descriptors based on a current geographic location of the portable device, where each of the plurality of location descriptors specifies a respective geographic area associated with the current geographic location of the portable device; generate a plurality of secure location indicators using a cryptographic function, the plurality of OTPs, and the plurality of location descriptors; and provide the plurality of secure location indicators via the communication module to a server operating on the wireless communication network for determining one or more devices physically proximate to the portable device using the plurality of secure location descriptors.

"A method of another embodiment is implemented in a server communicatively coupled to a wireless communication network, in which a first portable device and a second portable device operate. The method includes electronically receiving, at the server, a first secure location indicator from the first portable computing device, where the first secure location indicator was generated using a location of the first portable computing device, and where the first secure location indicator does not reveal the location of the first portable computing device to the server. The method also includes electronically receiving, at the server, a second secure location indicator from the second portable computing device, where the second secure location indicator was generated using a location of the second portable computing device, and where the second secure location indicator does not reveal the location of the second portable computing device to the server. Further, the method includes comparing the first secure location indicator to the second secure location indicator and, in response to determining that the first secure location indicator is identical to the second secure location indicator, causing an indication of physical proximity of the second portable computing device to be electronically transmitted to the first portable computing device."

For the URL and additional information on this patent, see: Appleton, Benjamin C.. Finding Nearby Users without Revealing Own Location. U.S. Patent Number 8213617, filed November 22, 2011, and issued July 3, 2012. Patent URL: http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=35&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1721&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=20120703.PD.&OS=ISD/20120703&RS=ISD/20120703

Keywords for this news article include: Networks, Software, Electronics, Google Inc., Wireless Technology, Information Technology, Wireless Communication, Information and Cryptography, Radio Frequency Identification.