Reliability for location services

• US 9,635,557 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 04/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Grobman, Steven L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Patel, Ajit
• Assistant Examiner(s): PEREZ, JULIO R
• Application Number:
  US13/523,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20130337827A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,776 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561, 4554565, 4554566, 34235728
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/08 providing integrity information, e.g. health of satellites or quality of ephemeris data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/12 Detection or prevention of fraud
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A system for determining reliability for location resources. A device may be configured to determine device location based on location information received from a location information source, the device including secure systems configured to provide a reliability rating of the location information source. The secure systems may be configured to compare a device location based on the location information to a secondary device location based on secondary information to determine the reliability rating. For example, location information based on location signals received by the device may be compared to sensor information in the device to determine whether the movement described by location information and sensor information agrees. In the same or a different embodiment, a refined reliability rating may be requested from a secure resource in the device or accessible via a network. The secure resource may refine the reliability rating using tertiary information available to the secure resource.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a location information source including a transmitter to transmit at least one global positioning (GPS) signal including location information; and

a device including a host including processor circuitry to control operation of the device, a receiver to receive said at least one GPS signal from said location information source, and secure operating core circuitry to;

determine, independently of said host, a device location based on said location information;

determine an expected signal strength for said least one GPS signal at least in part by comparing the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal to at least one of device orientation, device motion or device acceleration sensed over a period of time;

compare said expected signal strength to a signal strength of said at least one GPS signal; and

determine, independently of said host, a reliability rating based on said comparison, wherein said reliability rating is indicative of a trustworthiness of said location information source.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the secure operating core circuitry to determine the reliability rating is to compare the device location to a secondary device location determined based on secondary location information.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the secondary location information comprises sensor information from at least one sensor in the device.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the secure operating core circuitry to determine the reliability rating is further configured to determine if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal over said period of time correlate to changes in the at least one of sensed device orientation, device motion or device acceleration over said period of time.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising a secure resource to receive a request for a refined reliability rating from the device, to determine the refined reliability rating and to provide the refined reliability rating to the device.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the secure resource comprises at least a server accessible to the device via a network, the server to determine a refined reliability rating based on tertiary location information available to the server.

7. A device, comprising:

a host including at least one processor circuitry to at least control operation of the device;

communication circuitry to transmit and receive information via wired or wireless communication;

location services circuitry to receive location information from allocation information source and determine a device location based on the location information, said location information comprising at least one global positioning (GPS) signal;

and secure operating core circuitry to;

receive a request for a reliability rating of the location information source, receive, independently of said host, location information from at least the location services circuitry;

determine an expected signal strength for said GPS signal at least in part by comparing the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal to at least one of device orientation, device motion or device acceleration sensed over a period of time;

compare said expected signal strength to a signal strength of said at least one GPS signal;

and determine, independently of said host, at least the reliability rating based at least on said comparison, wherein said reliability rating is indicative of a trustworthiness of said location information source.

8. The device of claim 7, wherein the request for the reliability rating is received from at least one of the host or a remote entity accessible via the communication module.

9. The device of claim 7, wherein the secure operating core circuitry is to further determine the device location based on the location information.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the secure operating core circuitry to determine at least the reliability rating comprises comparing the device location to a secondary device location determined based on secondary location information.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the secondary location information comprises sensor information from a sensor in the location services module.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the secure operating core circuitry is configured determine if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal over said period of time correlate to changes in the at least one of sensed device orientation, device motion or device acceleration over said period of time.

13. The device of claim 7, wherein the secure operating core circuitry is to send a request for a refined reliability rating including a secure information package to a secure resource, and to receive the refined reliability rating from the secure resource.

14. The device of claim 13, wherein the host or a remote entity accessible via the communication module causes the secure operating core circuitry to request the refined reliability rating.

15. A method, comprising:

receiving, with location services circuitry of a device, a global positioning (GPS) signal from a location information source, the GPS signal including location information;

determining, with secure operating core circuitry of said device, an expected signal strength for said GPS signal at least in part by comparing the signal strength of the GPS signal to at least one of device orientation, device motion or device acceleration sensed over a period of time;

comparing, with said secure operating core circuitry, said expected signal strength to a signal strength of said GPS signal;

and determining, independently of host processor circuitry of said device and with said secure operating core circuitry, a reliability rating based on said comparison, wherein said reliability rating is indicative of a trustworthiness of the location information source.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing the device location to a secondary device location based on secondary location information.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the secondary location information comprises sensor information.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing, with said secure operating core circuitry, the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal over said period of time to changes in at least one of a sensed device orientation, device motion or device acceleration sensed over the period of time, and determining if changes in the signal strength of the at least one GPS signal over said period of time correlate to changes in at least one of the sensed device orientation, device motion or device acceleration over said period of time.

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving, with said secure operating core circuitry, a request for a refined reliability rating;

transmitting a secure information package to a secure resource; and

receiving a refined reliability rating from the secure resource.

20. A system comprising at least one non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by one or more processors of a device result in the following operations comprising:

receiving, with location services circuitry of said device, a global positioning (GPS) signal from a location information source, the GPS signal including location information;

determining, with secure operating core circuitry of said device, an expected signal strength of said GPS signal at least in part by comparing the signal strength of the GPS signal to at least one of device orientation, device motion, or device acceleration sensed over a period of time;

comparing, with said secure operating core circuitry, said expected signal strength to a signal strength of said GPS signal;

and determining, independently of host processor circuitry of said device and with said secure operating core circuitry, a reliability rating of said location information source based at least on said comparison wherein the reliability rating is indicative of the trustworthiness of the location information source.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing the device location to a secondary device location based on secondary location information.

22. The system of claim 21, the secondary location information comprises sensor information.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein determining at least the reliability rating comprises comparing, with said secure operating core circuitry, the signal strength of the GPS signal over said period of time to at least one of a sensed device orientation, sensed device motion or sensed device acceleration sensed over the period of time, and determining if changes in the signal strength of the GPS signal over said period of time correlate to changes in at least one of the sensed device orientation, sensed device motion or sensed device acceleration over said period of time.

24. The system of claim 20, further comprising instructions that when executed by one or more processors result in the following operations comprising:

Receiving, with said secure operating core circuitry, a request for a refined reliability rating;

transmitting a secure information package to a secure resource; and

receiving a refined reliability rating, from the secure resource.