GEOLOCATION MAPPING OF NETWORK DEVICES

• US 20100153540A1
• Filed: 12/16/2008
• Published: 06/17/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Liu, Yunxin, Zhang, Yongguang, Guo, Chuanxiong, Li, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,887 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A geographic location of a network device is determined using response delay times from internet servers used as landmarks. A coordination server provides to a client a list of area landmark servers (ALS) with known geographic locations. The client probes ALSs, measures response delays, and provides results to the coordination server. The coordination server then provides to the client a list of additional city landmark servers (CLS) within the area. The client probes the CLSs and provides results to the coordination server which then determines the geographic location of the client.

Claims

1. A method of determining at a coordination server a geographic location of a network client, the method comprising:

receiving at a coordination server a request from a network client; and

determining a geographic location of the network client, wherein the determining further comprises;

determining a region in which the network client is located;

providing the network client with a first set of landmark servers in geographic areas present within the region, the landmark servers having known geographic locations;

receiving first results from a probing of the first set of landmark servers, the first results comprising a relative magnitude of communication delay between the network client and each of the landmark servers of first set of landmark servers;

determining a geographic area in which the network client is located by ranking the first results based on the relative magnitude of communication delay between the network client and each of the landmark servers of the first set of landmark servers;

providing the network client with a second set of landmark servers within the determined geographic area, the landmark servers having known geographic locations;

receiving second results from a probing of the second set of landmark servers, the second results comprising a relative magnitude of communication delay between the network client and each of the landmark servers of the second set of landmark servers;

determining a city in which the network client is located by ranking the second results based on the relative magnitude of communication delay between the network client and each of the landmark servers of the second set of landmark servers.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a region comprises comparing the network client network address with a database of known network address ranges, each address range having a corresponding country or region.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first set of landmark servers is randomly selected from a list of available landmark servers located in the determined region, and the second set of landmark servers is randomly selected from a list of available landmark servers located within the determined geographic area.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the geographic area of the network client and determining the city of the network further comprises using the location of the landmark server having the shortest magnitude of communication delay.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request from the network client is generated by a script executing within an internet browser of the network client.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the probing comprises a Hypertext transfer protocol/Get (HTTP/Get) request or Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) request.

7. A method of determining a geographic location of a network client, the method comprising:

receiving a request from a network client at a coordination server; and

determining at the coordination server a geographic location of the network client using probe information gathered by the network client.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the probe information comprises delay data for traffic between the network client and a landmark server.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein a script executing within an internet browser initiates probes to gather the probe information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the probe information is gathered using a Hypertext transfer protocol/Get (HTTP/Get) request or Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) request initiated by the network client.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining further comprises ranking probe information from a plurality of probes by a magnitude of delay of traffic between the network client and the landmark server.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the determining the geographic location comprises:

determining a region based on the network address of the network client;

probing a first set of landmark servers to determine a geographic area within the region; and

probing a second set of landmark servers located within the geographic area to determine a city.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first set of landmark servers located in the determined region is randomly selected from a list of available landmark servers located in the determined region and the second set of landmark servers is randomly selected from a list of available landmark servers located within the determined geographic area.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the landmark servers are passive.

15. A system for determining a geographic location of a network client, the system comprising:

an application server connected to a network and configured to deliver a probing module to a client on the network, the probing module configured to execute on the client and interrogate one or more landmark servers and collect delay data; and

a coordination server connected to a network and configured to determine a geographic location of the client using the delay data received from the probing module.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the probing module comprises a script configured to execute within an internet browser.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the delay data is gathered using a Hypertext transfer protocol/Get (HTTP/Get) request or Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) request initiated by the probing module.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein determining the geographic location comprises ranking the delay data from a plurality of interrogations by the magnitude of delay between the network client and the landmark servers.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the coordination server is configured to determine a geographic location of the network client by:

determining a region in which the client is located based on the network address of the network client;

configuring the probing module to probe a first set of landmark servers in the region to determine a geographic area in which the network client is located; and

configuring the probing module to probe a second set of landmark servers located within the geographic area to determine a city in which the network client is located.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein determining a region comprises comparing the network client network address with a database of known network address ranges, the database including one or more regions corresponding to each address range.