APPROACHES FOR A LOCATION AWARE CLIENT

• US 20130291131A1
• Filed: 07/01/2013
• Published: 10/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/08/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Original Assignee: Absolute Software Corporation
• Inventors: Lemieux, Jacques, Gupta, Ravi
• Granted Patent: US 9,117,092 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/34
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/305 by remotely controlling device operation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/57 Certifying or maintaining trusted computer platforms, e.g. secure boots or power-downs, version controls, system software checks, secure updates or assessing vulnerabilities
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/88 Detecting or preventing theft or loss
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2101 Auditing as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2105 Dual mode as a secondary aspect
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2111 Location-sensitive, e.g. geographical location, GPS
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2151 Time stamp
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/082 using revocation of authorisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/126 Anti-theft arrangements, e.g. protection against subscriber identity module [SIM] cloning
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/64 using geofenced areas
• 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

Techniques for securing a client. Two or more varieties of location information for a client may be received. The present location of the client is determined using the two or more varieties of location information. A determination is made as to whether any of the varieties of location information were received during an immediately preceding bounded interval of time having a predefined length. A weight associated with each variety of location information that was received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time is determined. The present location of the client is calculated using a weighted arithmetic mean for the varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums that store one or more sequences of instructions for securing a client, which when executed, cause:

receiving two or more varieties of location information for the client; and

determining a present location of the client by;

determining whether any of the two or more varieties of location information were received during an immediately preceding bounded interval of time having a predefined length,

determining a weight associated with each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time, and

calculating the present location of the client using a weighted arithmetic mean for the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time.

2. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the predefined length is configurable.

3. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums are present in the client.

4. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein calculating the present location of the client further comprises:

assessing an accuracy of each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time; and

updating the weight associated with at least one of the two or more varieties of information to reflect the accuracy associated therewith.

5. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein calculating the present location of the client further comprises:

assessing whether a variety of location information that was received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time is suggestive of being incorrect; and

reducing the weight associated with such suggestively incorrect variety of location information.

6. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed, further cause the client to perform an action based on the present location of the client, wherein the action is specified by a security policy stored on the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums.

7. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of Claim of claim 6, wherein the action is one or more of:

disabling the client;

degrading the client;

requiring authentication from an operator of the client;

making a persistent connection to a remote server;

executing a command received from the remote server;

logging out of an operating system;

capturing a webcam picture;

capturing a video; and

entering an alert mode.

8. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 6, wherein the action is based on the present location of the client being more than a specified distance from a known location.

9. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 6, wherein the action is based on the present location of the client being in an unknown area.

10. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 6, wherein the action is based on the present location of the client being in an unauthorized area.

11. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed, further cause the client to perform an action based on the client not detecting a known network access point.

12. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed, further cause the client to perform an action based on the present location of the client being beyond a specified distance from a wireless device of an authorized user of the client.

13. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed, further cause the client to send details of the present location of the client to a remote server according to a schedule specified by a security policy stored on the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums.

14. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed, further cause extending the predefined length such that the bounded interval of time encompasses receipt of a more accurate variety of location information than was received during the bounded interval of time prior to the extending thereof.

15. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the two or more varieties of location information include GPS, Wi-Fi triangulation and IP address.

16. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 1, wherein the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums are present in a server that is remote from the client.

17. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 16, wherein the sequence of instructions, when executed, further cause the server to perform an action based on the present location of the client, wherein the action specified by a security policy stored on the one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums.

18. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 17, wherein the action is sending a command to the client.

19. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 16, wherein execution of the one or more sequences of instructions further cause:

generating display data which, when rendered, depicts the present location of the client on a map.

20. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 19, wherein the display data, when rendered, depicts each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the interval of time.

21. The one or more non-transitory machine-readable storage mediums of claim 19, wherein the display data, when rendered, depicts a picture or a video taken by the client.

22. A method for determining a location of a client, comprising:

executing one or more sequences of computer readable instructions to cause;

receiving two or more varieties of location information for the client; and

determining a present location of the client by;

determining whether any of the two or more varieties of location information were received during an immediately preceding bounded interval of time having a predefined length,

determining a weight associated with each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time, and

calculating the present location of the client using a weighted arithmetic mean for each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time.

23. An electronic device configured to determine its own location, comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more non-transitory computer readable storage mediums storing one or more sequences of instructions, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause;

receiving two or more varieties of location information for the device; and

determining a present location of the device by;

determining whether any of the two or more varieties of location information were received during an immediately preceding bounded interval of time having a predefined length,

determining a weight associated with each of the two or more varieties of location information that was received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time, and

calculating the present location of the device using a weighted arithmetic mean for each of the two or more varieties of location information that were received during the immediately preceding bounded interval of time.