Obscuring true location for location-based services

• US 9,473,894 B2
• Filed: 10/02/2015
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• 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:
  US14/874,246
• Publication Number:
  US 20160029172A1
• Time in Patent Office: 382 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 location of a client device comprising:

receiving, at one or more data processors of a trusted server, a location from a client device;

generating, using the one or more data processors, a first random offset on a periodic basis;

generating, using the one or more data processors, a second random offset responsive to receiving the location from the client device;

generating, using the one or more data processors, a pseudo-location for the client device based on the received location, the first random offset, and the second random offset; and

transmitting the generated pseudo-location to the client device for a location-based service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received location of the client device is determined by one or more of a GPS module, a WiFi access point, or cellular triangulation.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service is one of a search query, a content item request, or a social media application.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received location of the client device comprises an encoded string of data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first random offset comprises a two dimensional vector of longitude and latitude coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

storing the first random offset for a predetermined period of time based on the periodic basis.

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

one or more data processors; and

a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving an intermediate pseudo-location from a client device, the intermediate pseudo-location generated based on a location of the client device and a first randomly generated offset generated on a periodic basis for the client device;

accessing a set of regions;

determining a region within the set of regions based on the intermediate pseudo-location being within the determined region;

determining a pseudo-location based on the determined region; and

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

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the location of the client device is determined by one or more of a GPS module, a WiFi access point, or cellular triangulation.

9. The system of claim 7, wherein the location-based service is one of a search query, a content item request, or a social media application.

10. The system of claim 7, wherein the intermediate pseudo-location from the client device comprises an encoded string of data.

11. The system of claim 7, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more data processors to perform operations further comprising:

generating the set of regions.

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

one or more data processors; and

a storage device storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations comprising;

receiving a location of a client device based on one or more of a GPS module, a WiFi access point, or cellular triangulation;

generating a first randomly generated offset;

determining an intermediate pseudo-location based on the received location and the first randomly generated offset;

transmitting the determined intermediate pseudo-location to a trusted server;

receiving a generated pseudo-location from the trusted server, the generated pseudo-location based on a determined region within a set of regions and the transmitted intermediate pseudo-location; and

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

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the location-based service is one of a search query, a content item request, or a social media application.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the transmitted intermediate pseudo-location comprises an encoded string of data.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the first randomly generated offset is generated on a periodic basis, the periodic basis based on a period of time of movement of the client device greater than a minimum distance.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the storage device stores instructions that, when executed by the one or more data processors, cause the one or more data processors to perform operations further comprising:

executing an application on the client device;

wherein receiving the location of the client device is responsive to a request from the executing application.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the application is a web browser.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the application is a social media application.

19. The system of claim 12, wherein the first randomly generated offset comprises a two dimensional vector of longitude and latitude coordinates.

20. The system of claim 12, wherein the first randomly generated offset is based on a randomly generated radius and a randomly generated angle.