Privacy and security enhanced internet geolocation
First Claim
1. A method of determining a geographical location of a user network device communicating with a network site on a network having a master server and multiple slave servers, including a first slave server and a second slave server, the method comprising:
- receiving, at the master server via the network, (i) messages sent from the user network device, each message including a user input character padded with k−
1 characters, where k equals a predefined message size, and (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the master server;
stamping, at the master server, each of the received messages with a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the master server;
receiving, at the master server from the first slave server via the network, (i) the same messages, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the first slave server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the first slave server;
receiving, at the master server from the second slave server via the network, (i) the same messages, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the second slave server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the second slave server;
computing, at the master server based on the time stamps, the time taken to communicate the messages (i) from the user network device to the master server, (ii) from the user network device to the first slave server, and (iii) from the user network device to the second slave server; and
determining, at the master server, a geographic location of the user network device as a function of the computed times.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a security and privacy enhanced method for geolocation. The system works by creating a space called the N−4Tk space on top of the Internet by locating N geographically dispersed servers in the Internet and computing as the coordinate for any computing device on the Internet, its distance to the N servers. The distance is computed as the 4Tk distance which is the time taken by a message of size k to travel between two points at a particular time of day. The system can also be used iteratively where each iteration uses a different set of Slaves in order to close in on the user with finer granularity. Interesting benefits of the system include the difficulty for an attacker to misrepresent the location, and also while the system can hone in on a locale for the user it does not violate the user'"'"'s privacy.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method of determining a geographical location of a user network device communicating with a network site on a network having a master server and multiple slave servers, including a first slave server and a second slave server, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the master server via the network, (i) messages sent from the user network device, each message including a user input character padded with k−
1 characters, where k equals a predefined message size, and (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the master server;stamping, at the master server, each of the received messages with a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the master server; receiving, at the master server from the first slave server via the network, (i) the same messages, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the first slave server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the first slave server; receiving, at the master server from the second slave server via the network, (i) the same messages, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the second slave server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the second slave server; computing, at the master server based on the time stamps, the time taken to communicate the messages (i) from the user network device to the master server, (ii) from the user network device to the first slave server, and (iii) from the user network device to the second slave server; and determining, at the master server, a geographic location of the user network device as a function of the computed times. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of determining a geographical location of a user network device communicating with a network site on a network having a master server and multiple slave servers, including a first slave server and a second slave server, the method comprising:
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receiving, at the master server via the network, (i) messages sent from first slave server via the user network device, each message including k characters, where k equals a predefined message size, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the first slave server to the master server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the user network device; receiving, at the master server via the network, (i) the same messages sent from second slave server via the user network device, (ii) a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the second slave server to the master server, and (iii) a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the user network device; stamping, at the master server, each of the received messages with a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the master server; computing, at the master server based on the time stamps, the time taken to communicate the messages (i) from the first slave server to the user network device, (ii) from the first slave server to the master server, (iii) from the second slave server to the user network device, and (iii) from the second slave server to the master server; and determining, at the master server, a geographic location of the user network device as a function of the computed times. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A server for determining a geographical location of a user network device communicating with a network site on a network having multiple other servers, including a first server and a second server, the server comprising:
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a port operable to receive, via the network, (A) messages sent from the user network device, each message including a user input character padded with k−
1 characters, where k equals a predefined message size, and a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the master server, (B) the same messages sent from the first slave server, a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the first slave server, and a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the first slave server, and (C) the same messages from the second slave server, a time stamp associated with each message and corresponding to the time that message was sent by the user network device to the second slave server, and a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message at the second slave server; anda processor, including memory with executable logic, operable to (A) stamp each of the received messages with a time stamp corresponding to the time of receipt of that message, (B) compute, based on the time stamps, the time taken to communicate the messages (i) from the user network device to the master server, (ii) from the user network device to the first slave server, and (iii) from the user network device to the second slave server, and (C) determine a geographic location of the user network device as a function of the computed times. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification