Controlling an amount of information disclosed by a position-determining system

• US 8,380,219 B1
• Filed: 03/24/2009
• Issued: 02/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile Innovations LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Wick, Ryan Alan, Reeves, Raymond Emilio, Jones, John Marvin III, McMullen, Michael P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): MUMMALANENI, MRUNALINI YERNENI
• Application Number:
  US12/409,614
• Time in Patent Office: 1,428 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/457, 4554141-4144
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/15 Information service where the information is dependent on the location of the subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/084 using delegated authorisation, e.g. open authorisation [OAuth] protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/088 using filters or firewalls
• 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 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel

Abstract

A method, system, and medium are provided for determining whether to allow a position-determining system to provide location information that describes a location of a mobile device. A series of steps are carried out in which information is exchanged between networked components. In an embodiment, a request for location information (e.g., map coordinates) is received together with contextual information (e.g., identification of a mobile device and identification of a requesting party). A set of rules, such as approved contextual information, is referenced to determine if the contextual information is permissible. Upon determining that the contextual information is permissible, the position-determining system is allowed to provide location information.

Claims

1. Non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method of determining whether to allow a position-determining system to provide location information that describes a location of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving by a network location-request filter a request, which is transmitted from the mobile device, to receive location-based information that describes a surrounding environment of the mobile device and that is generated using the location information,

wherein the request includes an indicia identifying an application that is running on the mobile device and that generates the request, and

wherein the request is received by the network location-request filter at an instant in time;

comparing the indicia to a list of approved indicia to determine whether the application running on the mobile device is approved to request the location information from the position-determining system;

comparing the instant in time to a network-approved time frame to determine whether the instant in time is included within the network-approved time frame;

communicating the request to the position-determining system when the indicia matches an approved indicia and the instant in time is included within the network-approved time frame, thereby allowing the position-determining system to provide the location information, wherein the request is denied if either the indicia does not match any approved indicia or the instant in time is not included within any network-approved time frame; and

based on the location information provided by the position-determining system, deriving location-based information to be communicated to the mobile device.

2. The media of claim 1,

wherein the request includes identifying indicia of the mobile device,

wherein the identifying indicia is compared to a list of approved mobile devices, each of which has been approved to be a subject of a request for location information, and

wherein the request is denied when the identifying indicia does not match any approved mobile device.

3. The media of claim 1, wherein the method further comprises comparing the instant in time to a network-unapproved time frame, and denying the request when the instant in time is included within the network-unapproved time frame.

4. Non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method of determining whether to allow a position-determining system to respond to a request to receive location information that describes a location of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving by a network location-request filter a request, which is received from a location-based services provider, to receive the location information describing a location of the mobile device,

wherein the request includes an indicia identifying an application used by the location-based services provider to generate the request, and

wherein the request is received by the network location-request filter at an instant in time;

comparing the indicia to a list of approved indicia to determine whether the application running on the mobile device is approved to request the location information from the position-determining system;

comparing the instant in time to a network-approved time frame to determine whether the instant in time is included within the network-approved time frame; and

communicating the request to the position-determining system when the indicia matches an approved indicia and the instant in time is included within the network-approved time frame, thereby allowing the position-determining system to provide the location information to the location-based service provider, wherein the request is denied when either the instant in time is not included within any network-approved time frame or the indicia does not match any approved indicia.

5. The media of claim 4,

wherein the request includes identifying indicia of the mobile device,

wherein the identifying indicia are compared to a list of approved mobile devices, each of which has been approved to be a subject of a request for location information, and

wherein the request is denied when the identifying indicia does not match any approved mobile device.

6. The media of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises comparing the instant in time to a network-unapproved time frame, and denying the request when the instant in time is included within the network-unapproved time frame.

7. The media of claim 4 further comprising,

requesting by the network location-request filter an approximate location of the mobile device, wherein the network location-request filter uses the approximate location to determine whether the request is allowable.

8. The media of claim 7, wherein the network location-request filter compares the approximate-location information to a set of nonapproved mobile-device locations.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the set of nonapproved mobile-device locations are established by a user of the mobile device and the network-approved time frame is established by the network, such that the network location-request filter references settings established by both the network and the user.

10. Non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-useable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method of determining whether to allow a position-determining system to respond to a request to receive location information that describes a location of a mobile device, the method comprising:

receiving, by a network location-request filter, a request to send location information, wherein the request is received from a location-based-service provider, and wherein the request is received at an instant in time and includes indicia that identifies an application used by the location-based-service provider to generate the request;

comparing the indicia to a list of approved indicia and the instant in time to a network-approved time frame to determine that the request is allowable, wherein the request is denied when either the instant in time is not included within any network-approved time frame or the indicia does not match any approved indicia;

sending a request to the mobile device to send approximate-location information, which describes geographical boundaries in which the mobile device is located;

receiving, by the network location-request filter, the approximate-location information, which is received from the mobile device, wherein the network location-request filter compares the approximate-location information to a list of unapproved mobile-device locations; and

communicating the request to the position-determining system when the approximate-location information is not included among the list of unapproved mobile-device locations, thereby allowing the position-determining system to provide the location information to the location-based-service provider, wherein the network-approved time frame is established by a network entity, and wherein the list of unapproved mobile-device locations are established by a user of the mobile device, such that the network location-request filter references settings established by both the network entity and the user.