Group formation using anonymous broadcast information

• US 8,359,643 B2
• Filed: 09/18/2008
• Issued: 01/22/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Low, Daryl Mun-Kid, Huang, Ronald Keryuan, Mishra, Puneet, Jain, Gaurav, Gosnell, Jason, Bush, Jeff
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman, Brandon
• Assistant Examiner(s): SONG, HEE K
• Application Number:
  US12/233,358
• Publication Number:
  US 20100070758A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,587 Days
• Field of Search: 370/328, 370/315, 370/254, 370/389, 455/456.3, 455/525, 726/9, 713/155, 705/1
• US Class Current: 726/9
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks

Abstract

A number of devices co-located at a geographic location can broadcast and receive tokens. Tokens can be exchanged using a communication link having limited communication range. Tokens that are received by a device can be stored locally on the device and/or transmitted to a trusted service operating remotely on a network. In some implementations, the tokens can be stored with corresponding timestamps to assist a trusted service in matching or otherwise correlating the tokens with other tokens provided by other devices. The trusted service can perform an analysis on the tokens and timestamps to identify devices that were co-located at the geographic location at or around a contact time which can be defined by the timestamps. A group can be created based on results of the analysis. Users can be identified as members of the group and invited to join the group.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a trusted service, a first plurality of tokens and corresponding timestamps from a first device, where the first plurality of tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner and where the first plurality of tokens were received by the first device from a first plurality of devices;

receiving, at the trusted service, a second plurality of tokens and corresponding timestamps from a second device, where the second plurality of tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner and where the second plurality of tokens were received from a second plurality of devices;

comparing, at the trusted service, the first plurality of tokens and timestamps to the second plurality of tokens and timestamps;

based on the comparison, determining, at the trusted service, that the first device and the second device have collected one or more matching tokens at a time, or in a time frame, determined by the timestamps;

identifying, at the trusted service, users associated with the first device and the second device; and

creating, at the trusted service, a group for the identified users.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the first and second devices; and

targeting users in the group with location based services based on the geographic location.

3. The method of claim 2, where targeting further comprises:

sending content to one or more users in the group.

4. The method of claim 1, where the tokens comprise cryptographic material.

5. The method of claim 1, where the tokens are periodically changed.

6. The method of claim 1, where the first and second devices include one or more of wireless devices and wired devices.

7. The method of claim 2, where the geographic location is provided by an access device or based on the location of an access device.

8. A method performed by a device, comprising:

receiving, at a first device, tokens from a number of devices, where the tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner;

generating, at the first device, a timestamp for each of the tokens corresponding to when the token was received;

sending, from the first device, the tokens and corresponding timestamps to a trusted service; and

receiving, from the trusted service, information describing a group of users associated with devices that received matching tokens having similar corresponding timestamps, where the trusted service compares tokens and timestamps received from a plurality of devices to generate the information describing the group of users.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving from the trusted service, an invitation to join the group of users;

receiving input accepting the invitation to join;

sending the input to the trusted service; and

receiving from the trusted service, information confirming that the user has joined the group.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

sending location information to the trusted service; and

receiving a location-based service or content based on the location information.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

broadcasting cryptographic tokens.

12. The method of claim 11, where the cryptographic tokens are periodically changed.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a trusted service, a first plurality of tokens and corresponding timestamps from a first device, where the first plurality of tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner and where the first plurality of tokens were received by the first device from a first plurality of devices;

receiving, at the trusted service, a second plurality of tokens and corresponding timestamps from a second device, where the second plurality of tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner and where the second plurality of tokens were received from a second plurality of devices;

comparing, at the trusted service, the first plurality of tokens and timestamps to the second plurality of tokens and timestamps;

based on the comparison, determining, at the trusted service, that the first device and the second device have collected one or more matching tokens at a time, or in a time frame, determined by the timestamps;

identifying, at the trusted service, users associated with the first device and the second device; and

creating, at the trusted service, a group for the identified users.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, further comprising:

determining a geographic location of the first and second devices; and

targeting users in the group with location based services based on the geographic location.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, where targeting further comprises:

sending content to one or more users in the group.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the tokens comprise cryptographic material.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 13, where the tokens are periodically changed.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 14, where the geographic location is provided by an access device or based on the location of an access device.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving, at a first device, tokens from a number of devices, where the tokens do not identify a particular device or its user or owner;

sending, from the first device, the tokens and corresponding timestamps to a trusted service; and

receiving, from the trusted service, information describing a group of users associated with devices that received matching tokens having similar corresponding timestamps, where the trusted service compares tokens and timestamps received from a plurality of devices to generate the information describing the group of users.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving from the trusted service, an invitation to join the group of users;

receiving input accepting the invitation to join;

sending the input to the trusted service; and

receiving from the trusted service, information confirming that the user has joined the group.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium method of claim 19, further comprising:

sending location information to the trusted service; and

receiving a location-based service or content based on the location information.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable medium method of claim 19, further comprising:

broadcasting cryptographic tokens.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 22, where the cryptographic tokens are periodically changed.