Proximity detection

• US 9,380,411 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2012
• Issued: 06/28/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/21/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fuller, Richard
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shih, Albert
• Application Number:
  US13/529,266
• Publication Number:
  US 20130343364A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,468 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 455/436, 455/437, 455/434, 455/435.1, 455/440
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/622 Layer-2 addresses, e.g. medium access control [MAC] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/69 using geographic information, e.g. room number
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4588 containing mobile subscriber information, e.g. home subscriber server [HSS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/1466 Active attacks involving interception, injection, modification, spoofing of data unit addresses, e.g. hijacking, packet injection or TCP sequence number attacks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Disclosed are various embodiments of a wireless access point. An 802.11 probe request frame is obtained from a wireless device in a wireless access point. Identifying information about the wireless device is extracted from the 802.11 probe request frame. The identifying information and an access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point to at least one server via a network, from which location and/or proximity to the wireless access point can be determined.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a wireless access point comprising at least one circuit or processor configured to;

obtain a probe request from a wireless device, the probe request received from the wireless device for information about available wireless networks and not including an access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point;

extract identifying information corresponding to the wireless device from the request;

originate a message, which is not a probe response and not a message received from the wireless device and includes the access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point and the identifying information; and

transmit the message including the identifying information and the access point identifier to at least one server, which is configured to determine a location of the wireless device based on a stored location corresponding to the access point identifier.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the probe request from the wireless device comprises an 802.11 probe request frame including the identifying information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the identifying information comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the wireless device that is embedded in a frame header of the probe request frame.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the access point identifier comprises at least one of a MAC address associated with the wireless access point or a location of the wireless access point.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the identifying information further comprises a timestamp.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server comprises:

at least one server circuit or server processor configured to;

store an entry in a data store corresponding to the identifying information, the entry comprising the identifying information and the location of the wireless access point.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one server circuit or server processor is further configured to associate the entry in the data store with a user account.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one server circuit or server processor is further configured to:

obtain a request to access a resource associated with the user account;

determine whether the location associated with the entry corresponds to a location associated with the resource; and

generate an alert when the location associated with the entry and the location associated with the resource fail to correspond.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one server circuit or server processor is further configured to:

generate at least one informational message relevant to the user account and the location; and

transmit the at least one informational message to the wireless device via the network and the wireless network associated with the wireless access point.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one server circuit or server processor is further configured to:

generate at least one promotional message relevant to the user account and the location; and

transmit the at least one promotional message to the wireless access point via the network, wherein the at least one circuit or processor is configured to cause the at least one promotional message to be displayed on a display device associated with the location.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the at least one server circuit or server processor is further configured to:

determine whether a second entry associating the identifying information with a second access point identifier has been stored in the data store within a predetermined threshold amount of time;

identify a potential MAC address spoofing attempt when the location is outside a predetermined radius of a second location associated with the second access point identifier; and

refine the location associated with the entry when the second location is within the predetermined radius.

12. A method, comprising:

obtaining a probe request from a wireless device in a wireless access point, the probe request comprising an 802.11 probe request frame and not including an access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point;

extracting, in the wireless access point, identifying information corresponding to the wireless device from the 802.11 probe request frame;

originating a message, which is not a probe response and not a message received from the wireless device and includes the access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point and the identifying information; and

transmitting, from the wireless access point, the message including the identifying information and the access point identifier to at least one server, which is configured to determine a location of the wireless device based on a stored location corresponding to the access point identifier.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying information comprises a media access control (MAC) address associated with the wireless device, and the access point identifier comprises at least one of a MAC address associated with the wireless access point or a location of the wireless access point.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the identifying information further comprises a timestamp.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

storing, in the at least one server, an entry corresponding to the identifying information, the entry comprising the identifying information and the location of the wireless access point.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

associating the entry with a user account.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

obtaining, in the at least one server, a request to access a resource associated with the user account;

determining, in the at least one server, whether the location associated with the entry corresponds to a location associated with the resource; and

generating, in the at least one server, an alert when the location associated with the entry and the location associated with the resource fail to correspond within a predetermined threshold amount of time from a timestamp.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising transmitting, from the at least one server, at least one promotional message relevant to the user account and the location to the wireless device via the network and the wireless network associated with the wireless access point.

19. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

determining, in the at least one server, whether a second entry associating the identifying information with a second access point identifier has been stored within a predetermined threshold amount of time;

identifying, in the at least one server, a potential MAC address spoofing attempt when a location is outside a predetermined radius of a second location associated with the second access point identifier; and

refining, in the at least one server, the location associated with an entry when the second location is within the predetermined radius.

20. A system, comprising:

means for obtaining a probe request from a wireless device in a wireless access point, the request comprising an 802.11 probe request frame and not including an access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point;

means for extracting a MAC address associated with the wireless device from the 802.11 probe request frame;

means for originating a message, which is not a probe response and not a message received from the wireless device and includes the access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point and the identifying information; and

means for transmitting the message including the MAC address associated with the wireless device and the access point identifier corresponding to the wireless access point to at least one server, which is configured to determine a location of the wireless device based on a stored location corresponding to the access point identifier.