METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR ENSURING USER AND/OR DEVICE ANONYMITY FOR LOCATION BASED SERVICES (LBS)

• US 20110201305A1
• Filed: 03/26/2010
• Published: 08/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Abraham, Charles, Garrett, David, Murray, David, Karaoguz, Jeyhan, Buer, Mark, Lundgren, David
• Granted Patent: US 9,065,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/410
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42008 Systems for anonymous communication between parties, e.g. by use of disposal contact identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42357 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• 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 mobile device may communicate with a location server during location based services (LBS) operations using a secure identifier. The secure identifier abstracts identification information of the mobile device and/or identification information of a user of the mobile device in instances that the mobile device and/or user identification information are deemed protectable from the location server. The location server may be operable to store location data corresponding to the mobile device and/or the user in a location reference database based on the secure identifier. The secure identifier may comprise a unique value, which may be randomly generated. The secure identifier may also be generated based on the mobile device and/or user identification information, by applying, for example, encryption algorithms to the mobile device and/or user identification information. Service providers for the mobile device may retrieve the abstracted mobile device and/or user identification information from the secure identifier.

Claims

1. A method for communication, the method comprising:

in a mobile device;

communicating with a location server during location based services (LBS) using a secure identifier, wherein;

said secure identifier serves to abstract identification information of said mobile device and/or identification information of a user of said mobile device; and

said identification information of said mobile device and/or said identification information of said user of said mobile device is stored by said location server based on said secure identifier.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said identification information of said mobile device comprise an international mobile equipment identifier (IMEI).

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein said secure identifier comprises randomly generated unique value.

4. The method according to claim 1, comprising generating said secure identifier based on said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

5. The method according to claim 4, comprising generating said secure identifier based on said mobile device and/or said user identification information by encrypting said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

6. The method according to claim 5, comprising encrypting said mobile device and/or said user identification information utilizing a ciphering algorithm that hashes at least a portion of said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein said ciphering algorithm comprises a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) based algorithm.

8. The method according to claim 4, comprising generating said secure identifier based on portions of said mobile device and/or said user identification information that do not uniquely identify said mobile device and/or said user.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein said portions of said mobile device and/or said user identification information comprise a Type Allocation Code (TAC) field when said identification information of said mobile device comprise an international mobile equipment identifier (IMEI) parameter.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein said mobile device and/or said user identification information are retrievable from said secure identifier by service providers of said mobile device.

11. A system for communication, the system comprising:

one or more circuits and/or processors for use in a mobile device, wherein;

said one or more circuits and/or processors are operable to communicate with a location server during location based services (LBS) using a secure identifier, wherein;

said secure identifier serves to abstract identification information of said mobile device and/or identification information of a user of said mobile device; and

said identification information of said mobile device and/or said identification information of said user of said mobile device is stored by said location server based on said secure identifier.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein said identification information of said mobile device comprise an international mobile equipment identifier (IMEI).

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein said secure identifier comprises randomly generated unique value.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein said one or more circuits and/or processors are operable to generate said secure identifier based on said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein said one or more circuits and/or processors are operable to generate said secure identifier based on said mobile device and/or said user identification information by encrypting said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein said one or more circuits and/or processors are operable to encrypt said mobile device and/or said user identification information utilizing a ciphering algorithm that hashes at least a portion of said mobile device and/or said user identification information.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein said ciphering algorithm comprises a Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA) based algorithm.

18. The system according to claim 14, wherein said one or more circuits and/or processors are operable to generate said secure identifier based on portions of said mobile device and/or said user identification information that do not uniquely identify said mobile device and/or said user.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein said portions of said mobile device and/or said user identification information comprise a Type Allocation Code (TAC) field when said identification information of said mobile device comprise an international mobile equipment identifier (IMEI) parameter.

20. The system according to claim 11, wherein said mobile device and/or said user identification information are retrievable from said secure identifier by service providers of said mobile device.