Determining the network location of a user device based on transmitter fingerprints
First Claim
1. A method of operating a user device for processing at least one signal received from at least one transmitter of at least one entity over a wireless transmission medium, the method comprising:
- (a) determining, at the user device, a transmitter fingerprint set from the at least one signal generated and transmitted by the at least one transmitter of the at least one entity, the transmitter fingerprint set being based on one or more non-data content, physical properties of a transient portion of the at least one signal which uniquely distinguish the at least one transmitter from other transmitters; and
(b) determining, at the user device, based at least in part on the transmitter fingerprint set, whether a current network location of the user device is a network location known by the user device, wherein the one or more non-data content, physical properties are of the transient portion of each of the at least one signals and wherein the one or more non-data content, physical properties comprise at least one of frequency, amplitude, phase, standard deviation of normalized amplitude, standard deviation of normalized phase, standard deviation of normalized frequency, variance of change in amplitude, standard deviation of normalized in-phase data, standard deviation of normalized quadrature data, power per section, standard deviation of phase, and average change in Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) co-efficient.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Reliably identifying an AP through which a user device is accessing one or more networks, and reliably determining the current network location of the user device. An AP and network location may be reliably identified using a set of transmitter fingerprints unique to the AP or network location, respectively. In response to a user device receiving at least one signal from at least one unknown entity, a transmitter fingerprint set of the at least one entity may be determined from the at least one signal. It then may be determined whether the at least one entity is an AP having an ID known to the user device, and/or whether the current network location is known by the user device. The user device may determine information that may be divulged with the at least one entity based on this determination.
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Citations
17 Claims
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1. A method of operating a user device for processing at least one signal received from at least one transmitter of at least one entity over a wireless transmission medium, the method comprising:
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(a) determining, at the user device, a transmitter fingerprint set from the at least one signal generated and transmitted by the at least one transmitter of the at least one entity, the transmitter fingerprint set being based on one or more non-data content, physical properties of a transient portion of the at least one signal which uniquely distinguish the at least one transmitter from other transmitters; and (b) determining, at the user device, based at least in part on the transmitter fingerprint set, whether a current network location of the user device is a network location known by the user device, wherein the one or more non-data content, physical properties are of the transient portion of each of the at least one signals and wherein the one or more non-data content, physical properties comprise at least one of frequency, amplitude, phase, standard deviation of normalized amplitude, standard deviation of normalized phase, standard deviation of normalized frequency, variance of change in amplitude, standard deviation of normalized in-phase data, standard deviation of normalized quadrature data, power per section, standard deviation of phase, and average change in Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) co-efficient. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with computer-executable instructions that, as a result of being executed by a computer, instruct the computer to perform a method of operating a user device for processing at least one signal transmitted on a wireless transmission medium from a transmitter of an entity, an identity of the entity being unknown to the user device at a time at which the at least one signal is received, the method comprising:
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(a) determining a transmitter fingerprint from the at least one signal generated and transmitted by the transmitter of the entity, the transmitter fingerprint being based on one or more physical properties of a transient portion of the at least one signal which uniquely distinguish the transmitter from other transmitters, wherein the one or more physical properties comprise at least one of frequency, amplitude, phase, standard deviation of normalized amplitude, standard deviation of normalized phase, standard deviation of normalized frequency, variance of change in amplitude, standard deviation of normalized in-phase data, standard deviation of normalized quadrature data, power per section, standard deviation of phase, and average change in Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) co-efficient; (b) determining, based at least in part on the transmitter fingerprint, whether the entity is a wireless access point having an identity known by the user device, wherein the act (b) comprises; (1) accessing an information source that includes one or more entries, each of the entries specifying an identity of a wireless access point and a transmitter fingerprint of the wireless access point; (2) comparing the determined transmitter fingerprint to the transmitter fingerprint of the one or more entries; and (3) determining the identity of the wireless access point based on a match between the determined transmitted fingerprint and an entry in the information source; and (c) determining information to divulge in one or more communications transmitted to the entity based, at least in part, on the determination of whether the entity that transmitted the signal is a wireless access point having an identity known by the user device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for processing, for a user device, at least one signal received from at least one transmitter of at least one entity over a wireless transmission medium, the system comprising:
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a processor configured to execute software modules, the software modules comprising; a fingerprint determination module to determine a transmitter fingerprint set from the at least one signal generated and transmitted by the at least one transmitter of the at least one entity, the transmitter fingerprint set being based on one or more non-data content, physical properties of a transient portion of the at least one signal which uniquely distinguish the at least one transmitter from other transmitters; and an identification module to determine, based at least in part on the transmitter fingerprint set, whether a current network location of the user device is a network location known by the user device, wherein the one or more non-data content, physical properties comprise at least one of frequency, amplitude, phase, standard deviation of normalized amplitude, standard deviation of normalized phase, standard deviation of normalized frequency, variance of change in amplitude, standard deviation of normalized in-phase data, standard deviation of normalized quadrature data, power per section, standard deviation of phase, and average change in Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) co-efficient. - View Dependent Claims (17)
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Specification