Methods, apparatuses and computer program products for providing a private and efficient geolocation system

• US 8,594,680 B2
• Filed: 02/16/2011
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 02/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Ledlie, Jonathan, Park, Jun-geun
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US13/028,742
• Publication Number:
  US 20120208500A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,014 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.6, 455/456.5, 455/456.2, 455/435.1, 455/456.3, 370/216, 370/338, 370/332, 370/335, 707/770
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/67 by electronic means
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• 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

An apparatus for preserving privacy of a determined location(s) of a device may include a processor and memory storing executable computer code causing the apparatus to at least perform operations including receiving a request for determining a location of a device based on received fingerprint data corresponding to a summary of radio information identifying a physical place, location, area, or region. The summary based on information received from radio frequency (RF) devices. The computer program code may further cause the apparatus to determine whether fingerprint data associated with a geographical location of the RF devices is stored locally for determining whether to request a network device to determine the location of the device based on providing the network device with fingerprint data and false fingerprint data relating to a location(s) that does not correspond to a current location of the device. Corresponding methods and computer program products are also provided.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request to determine a location of a device based in part on fingerprint data received from the device, the fingerprint data corresponding to a generated summary of radio information identifying at least one of a physical place, a location, an area, or a region, the summary is based in part on information received from one or more radio frequency devices; and

evaluating, via a processor, the received fingerprint data and determining whether corresponding fingerprint data associated with at least one geographical location of the radio frequency devices is stored locally in order to determine whether to request a network device to determine the location of the device based on providing the network device with the received fingerprint data and false fingerprint data that relates to one or more locations that are predefined not to correspond to a current location of the device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

enabling sending of a generated request to the network device requesting the network device to determine the location of the device in response to determining that the corresponding fingerprint data is not stored locally, the generated request comprises the received fingerprint data and the false fingerprint data.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving the determined location of the device and the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device;

discarding the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device; and

providing the determined location to the device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining the location of the device in response to determining that the corresponding fingerprint data associated with the at least one geographical location is stored locally; and

providing the determined location to the device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the determined location relates to a geographical location associated with the corresponding fingerprint data that best matches the fingerprint data received from the device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the false fingerprint data corresponds to valid fingerprint data associated with a plurality of radio frequency devices of one or more areas related to the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device; and

the one or more radio frequency devices comprises one or more access points and cellular towers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to receiving, enabling provision of one or more location based services solely on behalf of the device and wherein the method further comprises:

obscuring the current location of the device to the network device based in part on sending the network device the false fingerprint data for evaluation.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

facilitating storage of new fingerprint data and corresponding location data received from the network device in response to determining that the new fingerprint data is not locally stored in an instance in which the device requests determination of a new location of the device based in part on the new fingerprint data; and

analyzing the newly stored fingerprint data to based on another request to determine another location of the device in response to a subsequent receipt of data from the device corresponding to the new fingerprint data.

9. The method claim 1, further comprising:

enabling sharing of designated fingerprint data between one or more users of one or more devices in response to receipt of a selection to share the designated fingerprint data,

wherein the designated fingerprint data relates to a generated summary of radio content identifying at least one of another physical place, another location, another area, or another region associated with detected data received from one or more different radio frequency devices.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein enabling sharing of the designated fingerprint data comprises determining that the users are friends within a social network or that at least one of the users is a contact in a contact list of the devices.

11. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor;

and

at least one memory including computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

receive a request to determine a location of a device based in part on fingerprint data received from the device, the fingerprint data corresponding to a generated summary of radio information identifying at least one of a physical place, a location, an area, or a region, the summary is based in part on information received from one or more radio frequency devices; and

evaluate the received fingerprint data and determine whether corresponding fingerprint data associated with at least one geographical location of the radio frequency devices is stored locally in order to determine whether to request a network device to determine the location of the device based on providing the network device with the received fingerprint data and false fingerprint data that relates to one or more locations that are predetermined not to correspond to a current location of the device.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

enable sending of a generated request to the network device requesting the network device to determine the location of the device in response to determining that the corresponding fingerprint data is not stored locally, the generated request comprises the received fingerprint data and the false fingerprint data.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

receive the determined location of the device and the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device;

discard the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device; and

provide the determined location to the device.

14. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

determine the location of the device in response to determining that the corresponding fingerprint data associated with the at least one geographical location is stored locally; and

provide the determined location to the device.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the determined location relates to a geographical location associated with the corresponding fingerprint data that best matches the fingerprint data received from the device.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein:

the false fingerprint data corresponds to valid fingerprint data associated with a plurality of radio frequency devices of one or more areas related to the locations that do not correspond to the current location of the device; and

the one or more radio frequency devices comprises one or more access points and cellular towers.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

enable provision of one or more location based services solely on behalf of the device prior to receiving the request; and

obscure the current location of the device to the network device based in part on sending the network device the false fingerprint data for evaluation.

18. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

facilitate storage of new fingerprint data and corresponding location data received from the network device in response to determining that the new fingerprint data is not locally stored in an instance in which the device requests determination of a new location of the device based in part on the new fingerprint data; and

analyze the newly stored fingerprint data based on another request to determine another location of the device in response to a subsequent receipt of data from the device corresponding to the new fingerprint data.

19. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to:

enable sharing of designated fingerprint data between one or more users of one or more devices in response to receipt of a selection to share the designated fingerprint data,

wherein the designated fingerprint data relates to a generated summary of radio content identifying at least one of another physical place, another location, another area, or another region associated with detected data received from one or more different radio frequency devices.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the memory and computer program code are configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to enable sharing of the designated fingerprint data by determining that the users are friends within a social network or that at least one of the users is a contact in a contact list of the devices.

21. A computer program product comprising at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code portions stored therein, the computer-readable program code portions comprising:

program code instructions configured to cause receipt of a request to determine a location of a device based in part on fingerprint data received from the device, the fingerprint data corresponding to a generated summary of radio information identifying at least one of a physical place, a location, an area, or a region, the summary is based in part on information received from one or more radio frequency devices; and

program code instructions configured to evaluate the received fingerprint data and determine whether corresponding fingerprint data associated with at least one geographical location of the radio frequency devices is stored locally in order to determine whether to request a network device to determine the location of the device based on providing the network device with the received fingerprint data and false fingerprint data that relates to one or more locations that are predefined not to correspond to a current location of the device.

22. The computer program product of claim 21, further comprising:

program code instructions configured to enable sending of a generated request to the network device requesting the network device to determine the location of the device in response to determining that the corresponding fingerprint data is not stored locally, the generated request comprises the received fingerprint data and the false fingerprint data.