EVENT DRIVEN ANONYMOUS DEVICE IDENTIFIER GENERATION

• US 20150103776A1
• Filed: 09/12/2014
• Published: 04/16/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2013
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Nearbuy Systems, Inc (RetailNext, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Nearbuy Systems, Inc (RetailNext, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mueller, Nathan, Luther, Jason
• Application Number:
  US14/485,110
• Publication Number:
  US 20150103776A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5038 for local use, e.g. in LAN or USB networks, or in a controller area network [CAN]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5046 Resolving address allocation conflicts; Testing of addresses testing when self-assigning an address H04L61/5092
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5092 by self-assignment, e.g. picking addresses at random and testing if they are already in use
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/71 Hardware identity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

In some implementations, a user can enable random device identifier generation on a mobile device. When random device identifier generation is enabled, the mobile device will generate random device identifiers in response to detecting a triggering event. The random device identifiers will be used to communicate with a network instead of the actual identifier of the mobile device. In some implementations, a data collection server can collect information about mobile devices, including actual mobile device identifiers. The data collection server can receive a request for the information collected about the mobile devices. In response to the request, the data collection server can generate a response to the requests that includes the mobile device information. In some implementations, when generating the response to the request, the data collection server can replace the actual device identifiers in the response with a random device identifier.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining, by a mobile device having an actual device identifier, that anonymous networking has been enabled on the mobile device;

detecting a trigger for generating a random device identifier for the mobile device;

in response to detecting the trigger, generating a random device identifier for the mobile device; and

transmitting the random device identifier to a network device instead of the actual device identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the actual device identifier is the media access control address of the mobile device and wherein the random device identifier is a randomly generated media access control address generated by the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger is a change in location of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger is a change in network connected to by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the trigger is an elapsed period of time.

6. A system comprising:

a processor-based application, which when executed on a computer, will cause the processor to;

determine, by a mobile device having an actual device identifier, that anonymous networking has been enabled on the mobile device;

detect a trigger for generating a random device identifier for the mobile device;

in response to detecting the trigger, generating a random device identifier for the mobile device; and

transmit the random device identifier to a network device instead of the actual device identifier.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the actual device identifier is the media access control address of the mobile device and wherein the random device identifier is a randomly generated media access control address generated by the mobile device.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the trigger is a change in location of the mobile device.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the trigger is a change in network connected to by the mobile device.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the trigger is an elapsed period of time.

11. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions to:

determine, by a mobile device having an actual device identifier, that anonymous networking has been enabled on the mobile device;

detect a trigger for generating a random device identifier for the mobile device;

in response to detecting the trigger, generating a random device identifier for the mobile device; and

transmit the random device identifier to a network device instead of the actual device identifier.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the actual device identifier is the media access control address of the mobile device and wherein the random device identifier is a randomly generated media access control address generated by the mobile device.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the trigger is a change in location of the mobile device.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the trigger is an elapsed period of time.

14. The computer program product 11, wherein the trigger is a change in network connected to by the mobile device.

16. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first computing device, metrics associated with a mobile device, the metrics including an actual device identifier of the mobile device;

storing the metrics;

receiving, at the first computing device from a second computing device, a request for the metrics;

generating a response to the request, including the metrics;

replacing the actual device identifier in the response with a random device identifier; and

transmitting the response to the second computing device.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the actual device identifier is a media access control address of the mobile device and wherein the random device identifier is a randomly generated media access control address generated by the first computing device.

18. A computer program product comprising computer-readable program code to be executed by one or more processors when retrieved from a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program code including instructions to:

receive, at a first computing device, metrics associated with a mobile device, the metrics including an actual device identifier of the mobile device;

store the metrics;

receive, at the first computing device from a second computing device, a request for the metrics;

generate a response to the request, including the metrics;

replace the actual device identifier in the response with a random device identifier; and

transmit the response to the second computing device.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the actual device identifier is a media access control address of the mobile device and wherein the random device identifier is a randomly generated media access control address generated by the first computing device.