RELIABILITY FOR LOCATION SERVICES

• US 20130337827A1
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Grobman, Steven L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,635,557 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/08 providing integrity information, e.g. health of satellites or quality of ephemeris data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system for determining reliability for location resources. A device may be configured to determine device location based on location information received from a location information source, the device including secure systems configured to provide a reliability rating of the location information source. The secure systems may be configured to compare a device location based on the location information to a secondary device location based on secondary information to determine the reliability rating. For example, location information based on location signals received by the device may be compared to sensor information in the device to determine whether the movement described by location information and sensor information agrees. In the same or a different embodiment, a refined reliability rating may be requested from a secure resource in the device or accessible via a network. The secure resource may refine the reliability rating using tertiary information available to the secure resource.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a location information source configured to provide location information; and

a device configured to receive the location information from the location information source, to determine a device location based on the location information and to determine a reliability rating of the location information source based at least on the location information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein being configured to determine the reliability rating comprises being configured to compare the device location to a secondary device location determined based on secondary location information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the location information comprises at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) signal received in the device and the secondary location information comprises sensor information from at least one sensor in the device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein being configured to determine the reliability rating comprises comparing signal strength for at least one GPS signal received from at least one GPS satellite over a period of time to at least one of device orientation, motion or acceleration sensed over the period of time and determining if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal correlates to changes in the at least one of sensed orientation, motion or acceleration.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a secure resource configured to receive a request for a refined reliability rating from the device, to determine the refined reliability rating and to provide the refined reliability rating to the device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the secure resource comprises at least a server accessible to the device via a network, the server being configured to determine a refined reliability rating based on tertiary location information available to the server.

7. A device, comprising:

a host configured to at least control operation of the device;

a communication module configured to transmit and receive information via wired or wireless communication;

a location services module configured to receive location information from a location information source and determine a device location based on the location information; and

a secure operating core module configured to receive a request for a reliability rating of the location information source, to receive location information from at least the location services module and to determine at least the reliability rating.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the request for the reliability rating is received from at least one of the host or a remote entity accessible via the communication module.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the secure operating core module is further configured to determine the device location based on the location information.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein being configured to determine at least the reliability rating comprises being configured to compare the device location to a secondary device location determined based on secondary location information.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the location information comprises at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and the secondary location information comprises sensor information from a sensor in the location services module.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein being configured to determine at least the reliability rating comprises comparing signal strength for at least one GPS signal received from at least one GPS satellite over a period of time to at least one of device orientation, motion or acceleration sensed over the period of time and determining if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal correlates to changes in the at least one of sensed orientation, motion or acceleration.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein the secure operating core module is further configured to send a request for a refined reliability rating including a secure information package to a secure resource, and to receive the refined reliability rating from the secure resource.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the host or a remote entity accessible via the communication module causes the secure operating core module to request the refined reliability rating.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving a request to determine a reliability rating;

requesting location information via a secure interface;

receiving location information via the secure interface;

determining at least the reliability rating based on the location information; and

providing at least the reliability rating in response to the request.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining a device location based on the location information, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing the device location to a secondary device location based on secondary location information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the location information comprises at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and the secondary location information comprises sensor information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing signal strength of at least one GPS signal received from at least one GPS satellite over a period of time to at least one of device orientation, motion or acceleration sensed over the period of time and determining if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal correlates to changes in the at least one of sensed orientation, motion or acceleration.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving a request for a refined reliability rating;

transmitting a secure information package to a secure resource; and

receiving a refined reliability rating from the secure resource.

20. A system comprising at least one machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

receiving a request to determine a reliability rating;

requesting location information via a secure interface;

receiving location information via the secure interface;

determining at least the reliability rating based on the location information; and

providing at least the reliability rating in response to the request.

21. The system of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

determining a device location based on the location information, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing the device location to a secondary device location based on secondary location information.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the location information comprises at least one Global Positioning System (GPS) signal and the secondary location information comprises sensor information.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing signal strength of at least one GPS signal received from at least one GPS satellite over a period of time to at least one of device orientation, motion or acceleration sensed over the period of time and determining if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal correlates to changes in the at least one of sensed orientation, motion or acceleration.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

receiving a request for a refined reliability rating;

transmitting a secure information package to a secure resource; and

receiving a refined reliability rating from the secure resource.