Multi-factor location verification

• US 9,715,003 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 07/25/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 03/15/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Meta Platforms, Inc. (f/k/a Facebook, Inc.)
• Inventors: Wong, Yoon Kean, Maguire, Yael, Tseng, Erick, Toksvig, Michael John McKenzie
• Primary Examiner(s): Hong, Dung
• Application Number:
  US13/842,767
• Publication Number:
  US 20140274122A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,593 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/14 specially adapted for specific applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/396 Determining accuracy or reliability of position or pseudorange measurements
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0244 Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0269 Inferred or constrained positioning, e.g. employing knowledge of the physical or electromagnetic environment, state of motion or other contextual information to infer or constrain a position
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3278 RFID or NFC payments by means of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/63 Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

In one embodiment, a method includes accessing at least two determinations of the location of a mobile computing device, with each determined location having been determined without reference to explicit location information manually input by a user of the mobile computing device. At least one first determined location is compared with at least one second determined location, with comparisons being made between location determinations made based on different location determination input. A functionality associated with the mobile computing device is allowed if the first determined location corresponds to at least one of the second determined locations.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

by one or more computing devices, accessing a plurality of determinations of the location of a user of a mobile computing device, each determined location having been determined without reference to explicit location information manually input by a user of the mobile computing device,

by one or more computing devices, comparing a first determined location with at least one second determined location, the first determined location having been determined based on first location determination input, each of the second determined locations having been determined without reference to the first location determination input; and

by one or more computing devices, allowing a functionality associated with the mobile computing device or the user of the mobile computing device when the first determined location corresponds to one or more of the second determined locations.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first determined location and at least one of the second determined locations were determined within a predetermined time of the comparison.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first location determination input comprises one or more of:

communication between the mobile computing device and a radio-frequency identification system;

communication between the mobile computing device and a near-field communication system;

communication between the mobile computing device and a wireless network device;

a GPS determination;

or

information associated with an economic transaction associated with the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

at least one of the first or second determined location is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first determined location corresponds to one of the one or more second determined locations when the correspondence is within a predetermined precision.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the precision is based on one or both of the method used to determine the first determined location and the method used to determine one of the one or more second determined locations.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the functionality comprises one or more of:

accessing one or more settings associated with mobile computing device;

accessing one or more accounts associated with the user;

accessing restricted or secure data;

accessing restricted or secure networks;

accessing an application on the mobile computing device;

communicating, using the mobile computing device, with another computing device;

providing information relating to the user to a third party;

providing information related to the third party to the user;

or

engaging in economic transactions.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein allowing the functionality further comprises:

by one or more computing devices, accessing a value of a first trust factor associated with the first determined location;

for each of the second determined locations;

by one or more computing devices, accessing a value of a second trust factor associated with the second determined location;

by one or more computing devices, determining a value of a third trust factor based on the first trust factor, second trust factor, and the comparison; and

by one or more computing devices, allowing the functionality when the value of one or more of the third trust factors exceed a value of a predetermined trust-factor threshold associated with the functionality.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

at least one of the first, second, or third trust factor is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

the value of the predetermined trust-factor threshold is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.

11. A method comprising:

by one or more computing devices, accessing a plurality of determinations of the location of a user of a mobile computing device, each determined location having been determined without reference to explicit location information manually input by a user of the mobile computing device,

by one or more computing devices, comparing a first determined location with at least one second determined location, the first determined location having been determined based on first location determination input, each of the second determined locations having been determined without reference to the first location determination input; and

by one or more computing devices, preventing a functionality associated with the mobile computing device or a user of the mobile computing device when the first determined location does not correspond to one or more of the second determined locations,

wherein the first determined location and at least one of the second determined locations were determined within a predetermined time of the comparison.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first location determination input comprises one or more of:

communication between the mobile computing device and a radio-frequency identification system;

communication between the mobile computing device and a near-field communication system;

communication between the mobile computing device and a wireless network device;

a GPS determination;

or

information associated with an economic transaction associated with the user.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

at least one of the first or second determined location is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the first determined location corresponds to one of the one or more second determined locations when the correspondence is within a predetermined precision.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the precision is based on one or both of the method used to determine the first determined location and the method used to determine one of the one or more second determined locations.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the functionality comprises one or more of:

accessing one or more settings associated with mobile computing device;

accessing one or more accounts associated with the user;

accessing restricted or secure data;

accessing restricted or secure networks;

accessing an application on the mobile computing device;

communicating, using the mobile computing device, with another computing device;

providing information relating to the user to a third party;

providing information related to the third party to the user;

or

engaging in economic transactions.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein prohibiting the functionality further comprises:

by one or more computing devices, accessing a value of a first trust factor associated with the first determined location;

for each of the second determined locations;

by one or more computing devices, accessing a value of a second trust factor associated with the second determined location;

by one or more computing devices, determining a value of a third trust factor based on the first trust factor, second trust factor, and the comparison; and

by one or more computing devices, prohibiting the functionality when the value of one or more of the third trust factors falls below a value of a predetermined trust-factor threshold associated with the functionality.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

at least one of the first, second, or third trust factor is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the user is a user of social network comprising a social graph that comprises a plurality of nodes and edges connecting the nodes, with at least one node in the social graph corresponding to the user;

and

the value of the predetermined trust-factor threshold is determined based on information associated with at least one of the plurality of nodes or edges in the social-networking system.