Access point association and tracking of physical addresses

• US 10,512,058 B1
• Filed: 07/24/2018
• Issued: 12/17/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Hassan, Amer A., Cole, Richard James, Davis, Michael J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Wyche, Myron
• Application Number:
  US16/044,180
• Time in Patent Office: 511 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0876 based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Disclosed in various examples are methods, systems, devices, and machine-readable mediums used for identifying and tracking device and access point geographic locations of wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi) networks. In an example, operations performed by an infrastructure system for provisioning location information include: receiving access point identification information (e.g., a MAC address) that identifies an access point of a wireless network; validating the access point identification information in a list of known wireless networks (e.g., a whitelist); determining an assigned location corresponding to the access point; communicating an indication of the assigned location to the device; and facilitating a communication session with the device, using the wireless network, as the communication session uses the indication of the assigned location by the device. Further operations involving administrator involvement and approval of the location, and client use of the whitelist and the assigned location information, are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A system adapted for tracking device and access point geographic locations, the system comprising:

at least one hardware processor; and

at least one memory device, including instructions, which when executed, cause the hardware processor to perform operations comprising;

receiving, from a device, access point identification information, wherein the access point identification information identifies an access point of a wireless network that the device is connected to, and wherein the access point identification information is communicated to the system from the device via network connectivity provided by the wireless network;

validating, in a list of geographically associated wireless networks, the access point identification information;

generating an indication of an assigned geographic location corresponding to the access point;

communicating the indication of the assigned geographic location to the device; and

facilitating a communication session with the device using a communications service, based on use of the indication of the assigned geographic location by the device, to enable the communication session to become associated with the assigned geographic location in the communications service, wherein data for the communication session is transmitted between the communications service and the device using the wireless network and the network connectivity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the access point identification information includes a MAC address of the wireless network, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the validating of the access point identification information occurs in response to:

determining that the MAC address is included in a list of known access points, the list of known access points associating MAC addresses with geographic locations; and

obtaining a defined geographic location associated with the MAC address in the list of known access points.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the indication of the assigned geographic location includes a geographic identifier for the defined geographic location, wherein the geographic identifier includes at least one of:

global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, a street address, or a building identifier.

5. The system of claim 3, the operations further comprising:

communicating, to the device, a list of the known access points.

6. The system of claim 2, the operations further comprising:

determining that a geographic location is not known for the wireless network having the MAC address; and

querying a network administrator associated with the wireless network for the geographic location of the wireless network having the MAC address.

7. The system of claim 6, the operations further comprising:

associating the geographic location of the wireless network with information of the assigned geographic location that is obtained from an administrator associated with the wireless network;

wherein the indication of the assigned geographic location, includes geographic identification information of the assigned geographic location that is obtained from the administrator associated with the wireless network.

8. The system of claim 2, the operations further comprising:

determining that a geographic location is not known for the wireless network having the MAC address; and

receiving, from the device, geographic identification information of the access point.

9. The system of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

verifying the geographic identification information of the access point; and

associating the geographic location of the wireless network with the geographic identification information of the access point.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication session includes a voice over IP (VOIP) call between the device and another device, and wherein the communication session facilitated with the device includes a communication session established between the device and an emergency calling service.

11. The system of claim 10, the operations further comprising:

communicating, to the emergency calling service, the assigned geographic location corresponding to the access point.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the access point is a cellular network station operating according to a cellular network standard, and wherein the access point identification information comprises identifier information for the cellular network station.

13. A method for tracking device and access point geographic locations, the method comprising operations performed by a server device using one or more hardware processors, the operations comprising:

receiving, from a device, access point identification information of a wireless network, wherein the access point identification information identifies an access point of the wireless network to which the device is connected, and wherein the access point identification information is communicated to the server device from the device via network connectivity provided by the wireless network;

validating, in a list of geographically associated wireless networks, the access point identification information;

generating an indication of an assigned geographic location corresponding to the access point;

communicating the indication of the assigned geographic location to the device; and

facilitating a communication session that includes the device, via a communications service, based on use of the indication of the assigned geographic location by the device, wherein the communication session is associated with the assigned geographic location in the communications service, and wherein data for the communication session is transmitted between the communications service and the device using the wireless network and the network connectivity.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the access point identification information includes a MAC address of the wireless network, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard.

15. The method of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining that the MAC address is included in a list of known access points, the list of known access points associating MAC addresses with geographic locations; and

obtaining a defined geographic location associated with the MAC address in the list of known access points; and

wherein the indication of the assigned geographic location includes a geographic identifier, wherein the geographic identifier includes at least one of;

global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, a street address, or a building identifier.

16. The method of claim 14, the operations further comprising:

determining that a geographic location is not known for the wireless network having the MAC address;

wherein the geographic location is obtained from at least one of;

querying a network administrator associated with the wireless network for the geographic location of the wireless network having the MAC address;

or

receiving, from the device, geographic identification information of the access point.

17. A device for tracking device and access point geographic locations, the device comprising:

means for receiving, from a subject device, access point identification information of a wireless network, wherein the access point identification information identifies an access point of the wireless network to which the subject device is connected, and wherein the access point identification information is communicated to the device from the subject device via network connectivity provided by the wireless network;

means for validating, in a list of geographically associated wireless networks, the access point identification information;

means for generating an indication of an assigned geographic location corresponding to the access point;

means for communicating the indication of the assigned geographic location to the subject device; and

means for establishing a communication session that includes the subject device, via a communications service, based on use of the indication of the assigned geographic location by the subject device, wherein the communication session is associated with the assigned geographic location in the communications service, and wherein data for the communication session is transmitted between the communications service and the subject device using the wireless network and the network connectivity.

18. The device of claim 17, further comprising:

means for obtaining a MAC address of the wireless network from the access point identification information, wherein the wireless network operates in accordance with an IEEE 802.11 standard.

19. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

means for determining that the MAC address is included in a list of known access points, the list of known access points associating MAC addresses with geographic locations; and

means for obtaining a defined geographic location associated with the MAC address in the list of known access points; and

wherein the indication of the assigned geographic location includes a geographic identifier, wherein the geographic identifier includes at least one of;

global positioning system (GPS) coordinates, a street address, or a building identifier.

20. The device of claim 18, further comprising:

means for determining that a geographic location is not known for the wireless network having the MAC address;

wherein the geographic location is obtained from use of at least one of;

means for querying a network administrator associated with the wireless network for the geographic location of the wireless network having the MAC address;

or

means for receiving, from the subject device, geographic identification information of the access point.