Obfuscating the locations of access points and femtocells

• US 10,121,014 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2017
• Issued: 11/06/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Edge, Stephen William, Aldana, Carlos Horacio
• Primary Examiner(s): Perez, Julio
• Application Number:
  US15/808,709
• Publication Number:
  US 20180089448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 362 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses are presented for obfuscating the locations of terrestrial wireless transceivers, including wireless access points and femtocells. According to some embodiments, a method may receive, by a mobile device, data for a terrestrial wireless transceiver, wherein the data includes location coordinates of the terrestrial wireless transceiver, and wherein the location coordinates include an error term. Additionally, the method may include determining the error term based on the data. Furthermore, the method may include determining a corrected location of the terrestrial wireless transceiver by removing the error term from the location coordinates. In some instances, the data can further include a unique identifier associated with the terrestrial wireless transceiver, and wherein the error term is further determined based on the unique identifier.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving modified location coordinates of a first terrestrial transceiver at a mobile device, wherein;

location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver are modified with a predetermined obfuscation term to generate the modified location coordinates,

the predetermined obfuscation term causes the modified location coordinates to be less accurate than the location coordinates, and

the modified location coordinates can be used to determine a less precise position of the mobile device than if the location coordinates are used to determine the position of the mobile device;

determining, by the mobile device, the predetermined obfuscation term based, at least in part, on a unique identifier, a location associated with a second terrestrial transceiver, or a known transformation code;

removing, by the mobile device, the predetermined obfuscation term from the modified location coordinates to determine the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver;

calculating, by the mobile device, a location of the mobile device based at least in part on the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver; and

providing, by the mobile device, the location of the mobile device to an application on the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on transforming bits in the modified location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver based on the known transformation code.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the known transformation code is a ciphering key.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises:

storing, by the mobile device, the known ciphering key; and

wherein removing the predetermined obfuscation term from the modified location coordinates to determine the location coordinates of the terrestrial transceiver comprises;

altering bits of the modified location coordinates based on the known ciphering key.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein altering bits of the modified location coordinates based on the known ciphering key comprises:

altering high order bits of the modified location coordinates to determine a longitude of the location coordinates; and

altering low order bits of the modified location coordinates to determine a latitude of the location coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver; and

wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises;

determining, by the mobile device, a mapping table, wherein the mapping table includes association information about the first terrestrial transceiver and the second terrestrial transceiver; and

calculating, by the mobile device, the predetermined obfuscation term based on the mapping table and the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver comprises the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver based on the mapping table.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on the unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier comprises a MAC address, and wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises:

determining one or more binary values using the MAC address; and

multiplying the one or more binary values by a known scaling factor to calculate the predetermined obfuscation term.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on the unique identifier, wherein the unique identifier comprises a cell ID, and wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises:

determining one or more binary values using the cell ID; and

multiplying the one or more binary values by a known scaling factor to calculate the predetermined obfuscation term.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises:

receiving information from a location server associated with the mobile device and a first server; and

determining the predetermined obfuscation term based on the information from the location server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term further comprises:

receiving broadcast information from the first terrestrial transceiver; and

determining the predetermined obfuscation term based on the broadcast information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term is further based on a serving network identifier or a provider identifier.

13. A mobile device, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive modified location coordinates of a first terrestrial transceiver, wherein;

location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver are modified with a predetermined obfuscation term to generate the modified location coordinates,

the predetermined obfuscation term causes the modified location coordinates to be less accurate than the location coordinates, and

the modified location coordinates can be used to determine a less precise position of the mobile device than if the location coordinates are used to determine the position of the mobile device;

determine the predetermined obfuscation term based, at least in part, on a unique identifier, a location associated with a second terrestrial transceiver, or a known transformation code;

remove the predetermined obfuscation term from the modified location coordinates to determine the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver;

calculate a location of the mobile device based at least in part on the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver; and

provide the location of the mobile device to an application on the mobile device.

14. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on the known transformation code, wherein the known transformation code is a ciphering key, and wherein the instructions to determine the predetermined obfuscation term further comprise instruction that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

store the known ciphering key; and

alter bits of the modified location coordinates based on the known ciphering key.

15. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the predetermined obfuscation term is determined based on the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver, and wherein the instructions comprise further instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver; and

wherein the instructions to determine the predetermined obfuscation term further comprise instruction that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

determine a mapping table, wherein the mapping table includes association information about the first terrestrial transceiver and the second terrestrial transceiver; and

calculate the predetermined obfuscation term based on the mapping table and the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver.

16. The mobile device of claim 15, wherein the location associated with the second terrestrial transceiver comprises the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver based on the mapping table.

17. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the instructions to determine the predetermined obfuscation term further comprise instruction that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive information from a location server associated with the mobile device and a first server; and

determine the predetermined obfuscation term based on the information from the location server.

18. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein the instructions to determine the predetermined obfuscation term further comprise instruction that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

receive broadcast information from the first terrestrial transceiver; and

determine the predetermined obfuscation term based on the broadcast information.

19. The mobile device of claim 13, wherein determining the predetermined obfuscation term is further based on a serving network identifier or a provider identifier.

20. An apparatus comprising:

means for receiving modified location coordinates of a first terrestrial transceiver, wherein;

location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver are modified with a predetermined obfuscation term to generate the modified location coordinates,

the predetermined obfuscation term causes the modified location coordinates to be less accurate than the location coordinates, and

the modified location coordinates can be used to determine a less precise position of the apparatus than if the location coordinates are used to determine the position of the apparatus;

means for determining the predetermined obfuscation term based, at least in part, on a unique identifier, a location associated with a second terrestrial transceiver, or a known transformation code;

means for removing the predetermined obfuscation term from the modified location coordinates to determine the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver;

means for calculating a location of a mobile device based at least in part on the location coordinates of the first terrestrial transceiver; and

means for providing the location of the mobile device to an application on the mobile device.