Location dependent encryption and/or decryption

• US 20030108202A1
• Filed: 04/12/2002
• Published: 06/12/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/12/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Clapper, Edward O.
• Application Number:
  US10/122,093
• Publication Number:
  US 20030108202A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 380/258
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2209/80 Wireless
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0872 using geo-location information, e.g. location data, time, relative position or proximity to other entities

Abstract

Encryption and decryption may be tied to physical location information, e.g., GPS or other position data. Decryption keys may be defined with respect to a location at which decryption is to occur. A clock may be used to ensure decryption is occurring at a desired decryption location. For security, names may be associated with GPS position data, where encrypted data and a name associated with position data may be provided to a recipient, and the recipient is required to know or have access to the position data associated with the name in order to compute a decryption key. For additional security, encryption may also be performed with respect to position data for an encryption location, where an identifier associated with the encryption location is provided to the recipient, and the recipient is required to know or have access to the position data associated with the second name. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method for encrypting data, comprising:

identifying a first spatial location for a current location;

selecting a known location having a second spatial location;

determining an encryption key based at least in part on the first spatial location and the second spatial location; and

encrypting data with respect to the encryption key.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the first spatial location with a global positioning system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the encryption key comprises:

determining a vector between the first spatial location and the second spatial location.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the vector comprises a direction component and a magnitude component.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the direction and magnitude components are determined with respect to the first spatial location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second spatial location corresponds to a landmark.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending to a receiver the first spatial location and an identifier associated with the known location that does not identify the second spatial location;

wherein the receiver is configured to lookup the second spatial location associated with the known location.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the receiver is further configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the sent first spatial location and the looked up second spatial location.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending to a receiver a first identifier associated with the first location that does not identify the first spatial location; and

sending to the receiver a second identifier associated with the known location that does not identify the second spatial location;

wherein the receiver is configured to lookup the first spatial location associated with the first identifier, and to lookup the second spatial location associated with second identifier.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the receiver is further configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the sent first spatial location and the looked up second spatial location.

25. The article of claim 9, wherein the receiver is further configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the sent first spatial location and the looked up second spatial location.

11. A method for encrypting data, comprising:

determining a first spatial location for an encryption location;

determining an encryption key based at least in part on the first spatial location; and

encrypting data with respect to the encryption key so that encrypted data may be decrypted by a decryption device having an input for receiving a current spatial location and configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the current spatial location.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at least one signal comprising data with which to perform the determining the first spatial location.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving at least three positioning signals; and

determining the first spatial location by triangulating with respect to the at least three positioning signals.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first spatial location is determined with a global positioning system (GPS) device.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the decryption device must be near the encryption location when decrypting data that was encrypted with respect to the encryption location.

16. An article, comprising a machine-accessible media having associated instructions for performing encryption, wherein the instructions, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

identifying a first spatial location for a current location;

selecting a known location having a second spatial location;

determining an encryption key based at least in part on the first spatial location and the second spatial location; and

encrypting data with respect to the encryption key.

17. The article of claim 16 wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

identifying the first spatial location with a global positioning system.

18. The article of claim 16, wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

determining a vector between the first spatial location and the second spatial location.

19. The article of claim 18, wherein the vector comprises a direction component and a magnitude component.

20. The article of claim 19, wherein the direction and magnitude components are determined with respect to the first spatial location.

21. The article of claim 16, wherein the second spatial location corresponds to a landmark.

22. The article of claim 16, wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

sending to a receiver the first spatial location and an identifier associated with the known location that does not identify the second spatial location;

wherein the receiver is configured to lookup the second spatial location associated with the known location.

23. The article of claim 22, wherein the receiver is further configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the sent first spatial location and the looked up second spatial location.

24. The article of claim 16, wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

sending to a receiver a first identifier associated with the current location that does not identify the first spatial location; and

sending to the receiver a second identifier associated with the known location that does not identify the second spatial location;

wherein the receiver is configured to lookup the first spatial location associated with the first identifier, and to lookup the second spatial location associated with second identifier.

26. An article, comprising a machine-accessible media having associated instructions for performing encryption, wherein the instructions, when accessed, results in a machine performing:

determining a spatial location for an encryption location;

determining an encryption key based at least in part on the spatial location; and

encrypting data with respect to the encryption key so that encrypted data may be decrypted by a decryption device having an input for receiving a first spatial location and configured to determine a decryption key based at least in part on the first spatial location.

27. The article of claim 26 wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

receiving at least one signal comprising data with which to perform the determining the spatial location.

28. The article of claim 26 wherein the machine-accessible media further includes instructions, when accessed by the machine, results in the machine performing:

receiving at least three positioning signals; and

determining the spatial location by triangulating with respect to the at least three positioning signals.

29. The article of claim 26, wherein the spatial location is determined with a global positioning system (GPS) device.

30. The article of claim 26, wherein the decryption device must be near the encryption location when decrypting data that was encrypted with respect to the encryption location.