Network geo-location system

• US 20050021738A1
• Filed: 11/06/2003
• Published: 01/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 11/12/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blockbuster LLC (Dish Network Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Movielink LLC (BB Liquidating, Inc.)
• Inventors: Anderson, Bruce, Godwin, John P., Goeller, Kenneth, Le-Chau, Luan, Spaulding, Bryan Gentry
• Granted Patent: US 7,200,658 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/35 involving non-standard use of addresses for implementing network functionalities, e.g. coding subscription information within the address or functional addressing, i.e. assigning an address to a function
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method for accurately determining the geographic location of a PC or other networked device on the Internet. Client software furnished by a service provider performs trace-route or other network analysis commands to known servers (e.g., eBay, Yahoo, Amazon) or even servers at random locations. The client collects an array of IP address and other network information as a result of the trace-routes, and the trace-route IP information is then transmitted to the service provider that is trying to identify the geographic location of the client. Using the array of IP addresses thus generated, the Internet server software can analyze location information of each Internet hop within each trace-route. For example, the server might look at the first five hops from the client to the server. If four of the five routers have addresses within the geographic area of interest, the server can conclude that the client is probably within the geographic area.

Claims

1. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region comprising the steps of:

(a) tracing at least one addressable path through the network from the client machine to a destination server,

(b) collecting an array of network information that includes at least network addresses along said at least one addressable path,

(c) providing said array of network information to said application server that is to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region,

(d) controlling said application server to look up data for each network address along said at least one addressable path to determine the geographic locations of the network addresses along said path, and

(e) analyzing the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least one addressable path to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

2. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one addressable path includes at least five hops.

3. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein an array of network information is collected for at least two addressable paths, and the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least two addressable paths are correlated with each other to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

4. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein analysis of a geographic location along an addressable path is a function of whether said geographic location is within or without said particular geographic region.

5. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the determination of whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of how close said geographic location is to said client machine.

6. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 5 wherein how close a geographic location is to said client machine is measured by the number of hops along an addressable path between said client machine and said geographic location.

7. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein said particular geographic location is the United States.

8. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein said destination server is different from said application server.

9. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein initial hops from said client machine that have private addresses that are not routable on the network are not included in the collected array of network information.

10. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 2 wherein the client machine generates its own data packets in tracing an addressable path through the network rather than using any proxy address that would otherwise normally be used.

11. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein an array of network information is collected for at least two addressable paths, and the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least two addressable paths are correlated with each other to determine whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

12. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein analysis of a geographic location along an addressable path is a function of whether said geographic location is within or without said particular geographic region.

13. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the determination of whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of how close said geographic location is to said client machine.

14. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the determination of whether said client machine is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of the number of hops along said addressable path between said client machine and said geographic location.

15. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein said particular geographic location is the United States.

16. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein said destination server is different from said application server.

17. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein initial hops from said client machine that have private addresses that are not routable on the network are not included in the collected array of network information.

18. A method by which an application server on a packet-switched network can determine whether a client machine on the network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein the client machine generates its own data packets in tracing an addressable path through the network rather than using any proxy address that would otherwise normally be used.

20. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 1 wherein said at least one addressable path includes at least five hops.

21. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein network addresses along at least two addressable paths are ascertained, and the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least two addressable paths are correlated with each other in deciding whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

22. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein analysis of a geographic location along an addressable path is a function of whether said geographic location is within or without said particular geographic region.

23. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the decision of whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of how close said geographic location is to said computing device.

24. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 23 wherein how close a geographic location is to said computing device is measured by the number of hops along an addressable path between said computing device and said geographic location.

25. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein said particular geographic location is the United States.

26. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein the method is controlled by an application server that is different from said destination server.

27. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein addresses of initial hops from said computing device that have private addresses that are not routable on the network are not used in deciding whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

28. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 20 wherein the computing device generates its own data packets in ascertaining network addresses along at least one addressable path through the network rather than using any proxy address that would otherwise normally be used.

19. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region comprising the steps of:

(a) ascertaining network addresses along at least one addressable path through the network between the computing device and a destination server,

(b) determining the geographic locations of at least two network addresses along said at least one addressable path, and

(c) analyzing the determined geographic locations to decide whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

29. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein network addresses along at least two addressable paths are ascertained, and the geographic locations of the network addresses along said at least two addressable paths are correlated with each other in deciding whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

30. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein analysis of a geographic location along an addressable path is a function of whether said geographic location is within or without said particular geographic region.

31. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the decision of whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of how close said geographic location is to said computing device.

32. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein the effect of the geographic location of each address along an addressable path on the decision of whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region is a function of the number of hops along an addressable path between said computing device and said geographic location.

33. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein said particular geographic location is the United States.

34. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein the method is controlled by an application server that is different from said destination server.

35. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein addresses of initial hops from said computing device that have private addresses that are not routable on the network are not used in deciding whether said computing device is likely to be located in said particular geographic region.

36. A method by which it can be decided whether a computing device on a packet-switched network is likely to be located in a particular geographic region in accordance with claim 19 wherein the computing device generates its own data packets in ascertaining network addresses along at least one addressable path through the network rather than using any proxy address that would otherwise normally be used.