Obscuring true location for location-based services

• US 8,909,250 B1
• Filed: 07/02/2013
• Issued: 12/09/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Wang, Gang, Mao, Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Application Number:
  US13/933,971
• Time in Patent Office: 525 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422.1, 455403-4042, 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A location of a client device may be obscured by using generated random offsets and/or a set of regions. In one implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a second random offset. A pseudo-location may be determined based on the location of the client device, the first random offset, and the second random offset. The pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service. In another implementation, the location of a client device may be obscured using a first random offset and a set of regions. An intermediate location may be determined based on the location of the client device and the first random offset. A region of the set of regions may be determined based on the intermediate location. A pseudo-location may be transmitted to a third-party for a location-based service based on the determined region.

Claims

1. A method for obscuring a true location of a client device comprising:

generating, using a processing module of a client device, a first random two dimensional offset;

generating, using the processing module of the client device, a second random two dimensional offset;

receiving, at the processing module of the client device, a location of the client device;

determining, using the processing module of the client device, a pseudo-location for the client device based on the received location, the first random two dimensional offset, and the second random two dimensional offset; and

transmitting the determined pseudo-location for a location-based service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first random two dimensional offset has a first randomly generated value and a second randomly generated value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first random two dimensional offset is generated on a periodic basis.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the second random two dimensional offset is generated for each request to be sent to a third-party for the location-based service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service is associated with a third-party content item.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service is associated with a search.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service is associated with a social media application.

8. A system for obscuring a true location of a client device comprising:

a processing module; and

a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the processing module, cause the processing module to perform operations comprising;

receiving a location of a client device;

generating a first random two dimensional offset vector;

generating a second random two dimensional offset vector;

determining a pseudo-location based on the received location, the first random two dimensional offset vector, and the second random two dimensional offset vector; and

transmitting the determined pseudo-location to a third-party for a location-based service.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the first random two dimensional offset vector is generated on a periodic basis and wherein the second random two dimensional offset vector is generated for each request to be sent to the third-party for the location-based service.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein each value of the first random two dimensional offset vector and the second random two dimensional offset vector is randomly generated.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the first random two dimensional offset vector is based on a randomly generated radius and a randomly generated angle.

12. The system of claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processing module to perform operations comprising:

storing the first random two dimensional offset vector for a predetermined period of time.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein a norm of the first random two dimensional offset vector is representative of a value between 0, inclusive, and a second value that is greater than 0.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the location-based service is associated with a third-party content item.

15. The system of claim 8, wherein the location-based service is associated with a search.

16. A system for obscuring a true location of a client device comprising:

a processing module; and

a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the processing module, cause the processing module to perform operations comprising;

receiving a set of regions;

receiving a location of a client device;

generating a first random offset;

determining an intermediate location based on the received location and the first random offset;

determining a region within the set of regions based on the intermediate location, wherein the determination of the region within the set of regions includes determining that the intermediate location is within the determined region; and

transmitting a pseudo-location to a third-party for a location-based service based on the determined region.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein each region has an area defined by 1/100 of a degree of longitude and 1/100 of a degree of latitude.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the pseudo-location corresponds to a center of the determined region.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the pseudo-location corresponds to a fixed point of the determined region.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein the location-based service is associated with a third-party content item.