SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCATION OF WIRELESS COMMUNICATION TERMINALS USING APPLICATION-LEVEL LOCATION DATA

• US 20130184011A1
• Filed: 07/17/2012
• Published: 07/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 07/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cognyte Technologies Israel Ltd. (Cognyte Software Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Verint Systems Limited (Verint Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Kaushansky, Amir
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,412 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods and systems for tracking the locations of wireless communication terminals such as mobile phones. A location system monitors communication conducted between a wireless communication terminal and a wireless communication network. The monitoring system may monitor the communication by intercepting one or more of the interfaces or links between network elements. The location system decodes the monitored communication, and identifies an interaction between the terminal and a server that provides the terminal with a location-based service. The identification may be performed, for example, by detecting a data pattern that is indicative of the Application Programming Interface (API) of the location-based service. The monitoring system then finds location data in the decoded communication between the terminal and the server. The monitoring system extracts this location data and uses it to track the location of the terminal.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

monitoring communication of a wireless communication terminal over a wireless communication network;

identifying, based on the monitored communication, an interaction between the terminal and a server that provides a location-based service to the terminal;

extracting location data, which is indicative of a geographical location of the terminal, from the monitored communication between the terminal and the server; and

tracking a location of the wireless communication terminal based on the extracted location data.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the communication carries Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, and wherein monitoring the communication comprises decoding the IP traffic.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein decoding the IP traffic comprises extracting an IP address associated with the terminal, and wherein tracking the location comprises finding a correlation between the extracted IP address and an identifier that identifies the terminal in the wireless communication network, and tracking the location using the identifier.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the IP traffic is encrypted in accordance with a secure communication protocol, and wherein monitoring the communication comprises decrypting the encrypted IP traffic.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein identifying the interaction comprises detecting in the monitored communication a data pattern indicative of an Application Programming Interface (API) of the location-based service.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein extracting the location data comprises identifying the API based on the data pattern, and finding the location data in the monitored communication based on the API.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal progressively refines an accuracy of the location data exchanged with the server, and wherein tracking the location comprises refining the accuracy of tracking the location based on the refined-accuracy location data.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is predefined as a target terminal whose location is to be tracked.

9. The method according to claim 1, and comprising indiscriminately monitoring the communication of multiple wireless communication terminals, identifying interactions between at least a subset of the terminals with one or more servers that provide location-based services, and extracting the location data of the terminals in the subset so as to track the locations of the terminals in the subset.

10. Apparatus, comprising:

an interface for communicating with a wireless communication network; and

a processor, which is configured to monitor via the interface communication of a wireless communication terminal over the wireless communication network, to identify, based on the monitored communication, an interaction between the terminal and a server that provides a location-based service to the terminal, to extract location data, which is indicative of a geographical location of the terminal, from the monitored communication between the terminal and the server, and to track a location of the wireless communication terminal based on the extracted location data.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the communication carries Internet Protocol (IP) traffic, and wherein the processor is configured to decode the IP traffic.

12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the processor is configured to extract an IP address associated with the terminal, to find a correlation between the extracted IP address and an identifier that identifies the terminal in the wireless communication network, and to track the location using the identifier.

13. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the IP traffic is encrypted in accordance with a secure communication protocol, and wherein the processor is configured to decode the IP traffic by decrypting the encrypted IP traffic.

14. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to identify the interaction by detecting in the monitored communication a data pattern indicative of an Application Programming Interface (API) of the location-based service.

15. The apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the processor is configured to identify the API based on the data pattern, and to find the location data in the monitored communication based on the API.

16. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the terminal progressively refines an accuracy of the location data exchanged with the server, and wherein the processor is configured to refine the accuracy of tracking the location based on the refined-accuracy location data.

17. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the terminal is predefined as a target terminal whose location is to be tracked.

18. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to indiscriminately monitor the communication of multiple wireless communication terminals, to identify interactions between at least a subset of the terminals with one or more servers that provide location-based services, and to extract the location data of the terminals in the subset so as to track the locations of the terminals in the subset.