System, method and recording medium for location verification

• US 9,854,398 B1
• Filed: 08/03/2016
• Issued: 12/26/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Arunkumar, Saritha, Lethif, Nizar, Srivatsa, Mudhakar, Vijil, Enara C.
• Primary Examiner(s): Mitchell, Nathan
• Application Number:
  US15/227,868
• Time in Patent Office: 510 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• 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 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• 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]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

A computer-implemented information verification method, system, and non-transitory computer readable medium, include measuring a first signal strength from a user device to a second device, where the first signal strength is measured from the perspective of the user device, measuring a second signal strength from the second device to the user device, where the second signal strength is measured from the perspective of the second device, comparing the first signal strength with the second signal strength, and verifying the information, based on a result of said comparing.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented information verification method, the method comprising:

measuring a first signal strength from a user device to a second device, where the first signal strength is measured from the perspective of the user device;

measuring a second signal strength from the second device to the user device, where the second signal strength is measured from the perspective of the second device;

measuring a third signal strength between a third device and the user device, where the third signal strength is measured from the perspective of the third device;

comparing the first signal strength with the second signal strength and the first signal strength with the third signal strength; and

verifying the information, based on a result of said comparing.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is a location of the user device, and wherein the result of said comparing is based on a predetermined threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first device is selected from a group consisting of a mobile phone, a laptop, and a PDA.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the second device is selected from a group consisting of an access point, a Wi-Fi hotspot, a network router, and a Bluetooth enabled device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising measuring a plurality of third signal strengths from a plurality of third devices to the user device,

wherein the comparing compares the first signal strength with at least some of the third signal strengths to verify a location of the user device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the third devices are within a predetermined distance from the location of the user device.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the location of the user device is verified based on a difference between the first signal strength and at least one of the third signals strengths being less than a predetermined threshold value.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the location of the user device is verified based on a difference between the first signal strength and an average of all of the third signals strengths being less than a predetermined threshold value.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is practiced in a cloud-computing environment.

10. A computer program product for verifying information, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, readable/executable by a computer, to cause the computer to perform a method comprising:

measuring a first signal strength from a user device to a second device, from the perspective of the user device;

measuring a second signal strength from the second device to the user device, from the perspective of the second device;

measuring a third signal strength between a third device and the user device, where the third signal strength is measured from the perspective of the third device;

comparing the first signal strength with the second signal strength and the first signal strength with the third signal strength; and

verifying the information based on a result of the comparing.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the information is a location of the user device, wherein said verifying is based on a difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength being less than a predetermined threshold value.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the first device is selected from a group consisting of a mobile phone, a laptop, and a PDA.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the second device is selected from a group consisting of a WiFi hotspot, an access point, a network router, and a Bluetooth enabled device.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising measuring a plurality of third signal strengths from a plurality of third devices to the user device,

wherein the comparing compares the first signal strength with at least some of the third signal strengths to verify a location of the user device.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the third devices are within a predetermined distance from the location of the user device.

16. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the location of the user device is verified based on a difference between the first signal strength and at least one of the third signals strengths being less than a predetermined threshold value.

17. A location verification system, said system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, the memory storing instructions to cause the processor to;

measure a first signal strength from a user device to a second device, where the first signal strength is measured from the perspective of the user device;

measure a second signal strength from the second device to the user device, where the second signal strength is measured from the perspective of the second device;

measuring a third signal strength between a third device and the user device, where the third signal strength is measured from the perspective of the third device;

comparing the first signal strength with the second signal strength and the first signal strength with the third signal strength; and

verifying the information, based on a result of said comparing.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the system is practiced in a cloud-computing environment.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the information is a location of the user device, wherein said verifying is based on a difference between the first signal strength and the second signal strength being less than a predetermined threshold value.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the second device is selected from a group consisting of a WiFi hotspot, an access point, a network router, and a Bluetooth enabled device.