Methods and systems for authenticating a reported geolocation of a mobile device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11777950-B2
Application number	US-202117500523-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 13, 2021
Priority date	Jul 27, 2018
Publication date	Oct 3, 2023
Grant date	Oct 3, 2023

Abstract

An illustrative geolocation authentication system designates a movement feasibility corroboration factor as a location corroboration factor for the geolocation authentication system to authenticate geolocations of mobile devices. Based on the designating of the movement feasibility corroboration factor, the geolocation authentication system determines a first reported geolocation of a mobile device associated with a first time and a second reported geolocation of the mobile device associated with a second time. Given that the mobile device is located at a true geolocation at the second time, the geolocation authentication system then determines, based on the first and second reported geolocations of the mobile device, a feasibility metric indicative of a likelihood that the second reported geolocation of the mobile device is the true geolocation at the second time. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
designating, by a geolocation authentication system and based on user input representative of customized authentication settings for the geolocation authentication system, a plurality of location corroboration factors including a movement feasibility corroboration factor and a signal detection corroboration factor for the geolocation authentication system to authenticate geolocations of mobile devices;
determining, by the geolocation authentication system and based on the designating of the movement feasibility corroboration factor, a first reported geolocation of a mobile device associated with a first time and a second reported geolocation of the mobile device associated with a second time, wherein the mobile device is located at a true geolocation at the second time;
determining, by the geolocation authentication system and based on the first and second reported geolocations of the mobile device, a feasibility metric indicative of a likelihood that the second reported geolocation of the mobile device is the true geolocation at the second time; and
determining, by the geolocation authentication system, a datapoint that characterizes, in accordance with the signal detection corroboration factor, a correlation between the second reported geolocation and the true geolocation of the mobile device at the second time, wherein the datapoint is further indicative of the likelihood that the second reported geolocation of the mobile device is the true geolocation at the second time and is based on:
data reported by the mobile device to indicate a first plurality of wireless signals that has been detected by the mobile device at the second reported geolocation of the mobile device, and
data accessed from a geolocation corroboration system separate and independent from the mobile device to indicate a second plurality of wireless signals that the mobile device is expected to detect if the second reported geolocation is the true geolocation of the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining of the feasibility metric includes performing a movement analysis in which a movement of the mobile device from the first reported geolocation at the first time to the second reported geolocation at the second time is compared to a threshold curve to determine the feasibility metric based on how close the movement is to the threshold curve.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
designating, by the geolocation authentication system and based on the user input representative of the customized authentication settings, threshold settings defining a plurality of access levels to be granted based on confidence metrics associated with the authenticated geolocations of the mobile devices;
determining, by the geolocation authentication system, a particular confidence metric representative of a confidence level for the feasibility metric; and
assigning, by the geolocation authentication system and based on the threshold settings and the particular confidence metric, a particular access level of the plurality of access levels to the mobile device, the particular access level defining access privileges granted to the mobile device with respect to an access server.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the plurality of location corroboration factors designated based on the user input further includes a signal strength corroboration factor;
the method further comprises determining, by the geolocation authentication system, an additional datapoint that characterizes, in accordance with the signal strength corroboration factor, the correlation between the second reported geolocation and the true geolocation of the mobile device at the second time; and
the additional datapoint is further indicative of the likelihood that the second reported geolocation of the mobile device is the true geolocation at the second time and is based on:
data reported by the mobile device to indicate that the mobile device detects a particular wireless signal at a particular signal strength, and
data accessed from the geolocation corroboration system separate and independent from the mobile device to corroborate the data reported by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
identifying, by the geolocation authentication system, a reported user of the mobile device and authentication data provided by a true user of the mobile device;
accessing, by the geolocation authentication system, expected authentication data associated with the reported user of the mobile device; and
determining, by the geolocation authentication system based on the authentication data provided by the true user and the expected authentication data, a user confidence metric indicative of a likelihood that the reported user is the true user.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
each of the plurality of location corroboration factors correspond to independent ways of authenticating the geolocations of the mobile devices; and
the method further comprises determining, by the geolocation authentication system and based on the feasibility metric and one or more additional metrics associated with the plurality of location corroboration factors, a custom confidence metric indicative of the likelihood that the second reported geolocation is the true geolocation at the second time.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein:
the customized authentication settings include respective weight values corresponding to each of the plurality of location corroboration factors including the movement feasibility corroboration factor; and
the determining of the custom confidence metric is further based on the respective weight values.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining of the custom confidence metric includes:
identifying an expected signal strength at which the mobile device is expected to detect a particular wireless signal;
comparing a particular signal strength at which the particular wireless signal is detected with the expected signal strength at which the mobile device is expected to detect the particular wireless signal; and
computing the custom confidence metric based on the comparing of the particular signal strength with the expected signal strength.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein the determining of the custom confidence metric includes:
comparing the first plurality of wireless signals with the second plurality of wireless signals; and
computing the custom confidence metric based on the comparing of the first and second pluralities of wireless signals.

10. A system comprising:
a memory storing instructions; and
a processor communicatively coupled to the memory and configured to execute the instructions to:
designate, based on user input representative of customized authentication settings for the system, a plurality of location corroboration factors including a movement feasibility corroboration factor and a signal detection corroboration factor for the system to authenticate geolocations of mobile devices;
determine, based on the designating of the movement feasibility corroboration factor, a first reported geolocation of a mobile device associated with a first time and a second reported geolocation of the mobile device associated with a second time, wherein the mobile device is located at a true geolocation at the second time;
determine, based on the first and second reported geolocations of the mobile device, a feasibility metric indicative of a likelihood that the second reported geolocation of the mobile device is the true geolocation at the second time; and
determine a datapoint that characterizes, in accordance with the signal detection corroboration factor, a correlatio

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Pegg Antony
• Mandle Daniel
• Wille Michael
• Wood Christopher Benton
• Medaugh Jeff
• Bernardini Marc

Classifications

• H04L63/107 Primary

  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 title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title

• H04L63/0876

  based on the identity of the terminal or configuration, e.g. MAC address, hardware or software configuration or device fingerprint · CPC title

• H04L63/105

  Multiple levels of security · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title