System and method for determining network users' physical locations

• US 7,100,204 B1
• Filed: 04/05/2002
• Issued: 08/29/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Myllymaki, Jussi Petri, Ruvolo, Joann
• Primary Examiner(s): Smithers, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US10/118,491
• Time in Patent Office: 1,607 Days
• Field of Search: 726/22, 726/26, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 726/22
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/00 Network arrangements, protocols or services for addressing or naming
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/16 selectively restricting mobility data tracking

Abstract

A computer program product is provided as a system for use with the Internet to determine the physical location of IP addresses. The system of the invention includes a locator broker and various databases. The locator broker is the intermediary between the locator sources that estimate the physical location of an IP address and the online sites requesting the physical location of the IP address. The locator broker aggregates and validates the results from its location queries of the locator sources then returns to the online site the most likely location for a given IP address. The locator broker also tracks the reliability of each locator source and thus targets its location queries to those services most likely to provide an accurate result. The locator broker digests location data from multiple geolocation services and presents a coherent view of the location data to the online site. The locator broker also provides value-added localization data to the online site based on the resulting location of the IP address including useful suggestions to the online site for tailoring data to the online user based on the user'"'"'s physical location. The locator broker acts on a contract from the online site, which specifies the IP address for which a location is desired. The contract allows the online site to dictate the type of location desired (e.g., city, state), the accuracy desired, and the time frame in which the request must be satisfied. The locator broker bills the online site only when it satisfies the contract for time and accuracy.

Claims

1. A processor-implemented method for managing an interface between a site wishing to discover a physical location of a network user and a locator broker that maintains a user'"'"'s privacy preference, comprising:

the locator broker acquiring the user'"'"'s physical location from at least one locator source;

determining if the user is registered with the locator broker;

if the user is registered, checking the user'"'"'s privacy preference;

selectively releasing the user'"'"'s physical location to the site based on the user'"'"'s privacy preference;

wherein if the user is not registered with the locator broker, automatically releasing the user'"'"'s physical location to the site;

wherein if the user is registered with the locator broker, automatically withholding the user'"'"'s physical location from the site; and

the locator broker mapping addresses in a hierarchical network to hierarchical physical addresses.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the locator broker acts as an intermediary between a plurality of locator sources and a plurality of sites wishing to discover the physical location of the network user.

3. The method of claim 2, further including the locator broker querying the plurality of locator sources about the user'"'"'s physical location;

and

the locator broker aggregating and validating query results about the user'"'"'s physical location from the plurality of locator sources.

4. The method of claim 3, further including the locator broker selectively returning to the site a most likely physical location of the user.

5. The method of claim 3, further including the locator broker tracking a reliability of each locator source.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping addresses includes mapping to a desired level of granularity.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping addresses includes mapping any of internet addresses or telephone numbers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein mapping addresses includes mapping hierarchical physical addresses to a desired granular level.

9. A processor-implemented system for managing an interface between a site wishing to discover a physical location of a network user and a locator broker that maintains a user'"'"'s privacy preference, comprising:

the locator broker that acquires the user'"'"'s physical location from at least one locator source and that includes a privacy component;

the privacy component determines if the user is registered with the locator broker;

a response builder that prepares a location response to the site in response to a query from the site for the user'"'"'s physical address, and that selectively releases the user'"'"'s physical location to the site based on the user'"'"'s privacy preference;

wherein if the user is not registered with the locator broker, the response builder automatically releases the user'"'"'s physical location to the site;

wherein if the user is registered with the locator broker, the response builder automatically withholds the user'"'"'s physical location from the site; and

wherein the locator broker maps addresses in a hierarchical network to hierarchical physical addresses.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the locator broker acts as an intermediary between a plurality of locator sources and a plurality of sites wishing to discover the physical location of the network user.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the locator broker includes a locator sources manager that queries the plurality of locator sources about the user'"'"'s physical location to discover the physical location associated with a user'"'"'s network address.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the locator broker further includes a geolocation aggregation component that aggregates and validates query results about the user'"'"'s physical location from the plurality of locator sources.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the locator broker further includes a localization component that accesses a localization database to obtain information related to the user'"'"'s physical location found for the user'"'"'s network address.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the locator broker further includes a billing component that bills the site for a satisfied query.

15. The system of claim 9, wherein the addresses in the hierarchical network include any of internet addresses or telephone numbers.

16. The system of claim 9, wherein the information related to the user'"'"'s physical location includes information about physical addresses and network addresses of other users with substantially matching network addresses to the user'"'"'s network address.

17. A computer program product having a plurality of executable program codes stored on a computer-useable medium for managing an interface between a site wishing to discover a physical location of a network user and a locator broker that maintains a user'"'"'s privacy preference, comprising:

the locator broker acquiring the user'"'"'s physical location from at least one locator source;

a privacy program code for determining if the user is registered with the locator broker;

a response program code for preparing a location response to the site in response to a query from the site for the user'"'"'s physical address, and for selectively releasing the user'"'"'s physical location to the site based on the user'"'"'s privacy preference;

wherein if the user is not registered with the locator broker program code, the response means automatically releases the user'"'"'s physical location to the site; and

wherein if the user is registered with the locator broker, the response means automatically withholds the user'"'"'s physical location from the site; and

wherein the locator broker maps addresses in a hierarchical network to hierarchical physical addresses.

18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the locator broker program code acts as an intermediary between a plurality of locator sources and a plurality of sites wishing to discover the physical location of the network user.

19. The computer program product of claim 18, wherein the locator broker program code includes a locator sources manager that queries the plurality of locator sources about the user'"'"'s physical location to discover the physical location associated with a user'"'"'s network address.

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the locator broker program code further includes a geolocation aggregation means that aggregates and validates query results about the user'"'"'s physical location from the plurality of locator sources.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein the locator broker program code further includes a localization means that accesses a localization database to obtain information related to the user'"'"'s physical location found for the user'"'"'s network address.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the locator broker program code further includes a billing means that bills the site for a satisfied query.

23. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein the addresses in the hierarchical network include any of internet addresses or telephone numbers.

24. The computer program product of claim 21, wherein the information related to the user'"'"'s physical location includes information about physical addresses and network addresses of other users with substantially matching network addresses to the user'"'"'s network address.