PRIVACY PRESERVATION PLATFORM

• US 20120282945A1
• Filed: 05/08/2011
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 05/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Guha, Saikat, Padmanabhan, Venkata N., Jain, Mudit
• Granted Patent: US 9,894,479 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/16 selectively restricting mobility data tracking

Abstract

A platform that facilities preservation of user privacy with respect to location-based applications executing on mobile computing devices is described. The platform registers triggers that are set forth by location-based applications, where a trigger specifies one or more rules and includes a location constraint. The platform causes a sensor on the mobile computing device to output location data, and the platform determines if the trigger has been satisfied by comparing the location constraint with the location data. If the trigger is satisfied, the platform transmits a callback to the application. Accordingly, the application does not receive location data from the sensor.

Claims

1. A computer-executable method, comprising:

receiving a trigger that includes a location constraint pertaining to a first instance of a location-based application executing on a mobile computing device;

causing the mobile computing device to output location data that is indicative of a location of the mobile computing device;

comparing the location constraint of the trigger with the location data;

determining that the location data satisfies the location constraint of the trigger based at least in part upon the comparing of the location constraint of the trigger with the location data; and

issuing a callback to the first instance of the location-based application executing on the mobile computing device that indicates that the trigger has been satisfied based at least in part upon the determining that the location data satisfies the location constraint of the trigger.

2. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the trigger that includes the location constraint is received from the first instance of the location-based application.

3. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the trigger that includes the location constraint is received from a second instance of the location-based application that is executing on another mobile computing device.

4. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the acts of receiving, causing, comparing, determining, and transmitting are undertaken on the mobile computing device.

5. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the acts of receiving, causing, comparing, determining, and transmitting are undertaken on a server that is in communication with the mobile computing device.

6. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the location trigger comprises at least one other attribute in addition to the location constraint, and further comprising issuing the callback to the first instance of the application based at least in part upon the at least one attribute being satisfied.

7. The computer-executable method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving triggers that include location constraints from a plurality of different instances of different applications executing on the mobile computing device;

comparing the location constraints with the location data that is indicative of the location of the mobile computing device; and

selectively issuing callbacks to a subset of the plurality of different instances of the different applications executing on the mobile computing device based at least in part upon the comparing of the location constraints with the location data that is indicative of the location of the mobile computing device.

8. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the location constraint is in a first format and the location data that is indicative of the location of the mobile computing device is in a second format, and further comprising:

prior to comparing the location constraint of the trigger with the location data, transforming the location constraint from the first format to the second format or transforming the location constraint and the location data to a third format.

9. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the location constraint is in a first format and the location data that is indicative of the current location of the mobile computing device is in a second format;

and

prior to comparing the location constraint of the trigger with the location data, transforming the location data from the second format to the first format.

10. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the location-based application is one of a location-based social networking application, a location-based content tagging application, a location-based search application, a location-based recommender application, a location-based advertising application, or a navigation application.

11. The computer-executable method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the trigger, exposing an application programming interface to the first instance of the application, wherein the application programming interface supports calls by the application to specify the trigger.

12. The computer-executable method of claim 1, wherein the location data that is indicative of the location of the mobile computing device is not provided to the first instance of the location-based application.

13. A system, comprising:

a data repository that comprises a plurality of application triggers that indicate geographic constraints that have been predefined by a plurality of location-based applications installed on a mobile computing device;

a receiver component that receives location data output by the mobile computing device that is indicative of a location of the mobile computing device;

a matcher component that;

compares the location data with the application triggers;

ascertains that at least one application trigger is triggered based at least in part upon the comparison of the location data with the application triggers; and

issues a callback to an application that corresponds to the at least one application trigger responsive to ascertaining that the at least one application trigger is triggered.

14. The system of claim 13 comprised by the mobile computing device.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein the data repository and the matcher component are comprised by a server that is in communication with the mobile computing device.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the mobile computing device is one of a mobile telephone, a mobile gaming device, a portable media player, a portable gaming console, or a laptop computer.

17. The system of claim 13, further comprising a location requester component that requests the location data from the mobile computing device at time intervals that are dependent upon estimated remaining charge of a battery that provides electric power to the mobile computing device.

18. The system of claim 13, further comprising a registration component that receives the application triggers from the plurality of applications and causes the application triggers to be retained in the data repository.

19. The system of claim 13, wherein the matcher component receives second location data from a second mobile computing device, compares the second location data with the plurality of application triggers, ascertains that a second application trigger is triggered based at least in part upon the second location data, and transmits a callback to a second application that corresponds to the second application trigger responsive to ascertaining that the second application trigger is triggered.

20. A computer-readable data store comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform acts comprising:

receiving, from a first instance of an application executing on a first mobile computing device, a trigger that has a location constraint;

receiving, from an operating system executing on a second mobile computing device, location data that is indicative of a geographic location of the second mobile computing device;

based at least in part upon a comparison between the location constraint and the location data, determining that the trigger has been satisfied; and

transmitting a callback to the first mobile computing device responsive to determining that the trigger has been satisfied.