Trusted location tracking

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11856409-B2
Application number	US-202117348756-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 15, 2021
Priority date	Jun 15, 2021
Publication date	Dec 26, 2023
Grant date	Dec 26, 2023

Abstract

In accordance with some embodiments, an apparatus that enables trusted location tracking includes a housing arranged to hold a user equipment, one or more devices, a local communication device, and a controller at least partially supported by the housing. The apparatus obtains, via the one or more devices, a first set of data characterizing a location of the user equipment. The apparatus further establishes, via the location communication device, a local communication channel with the user equipment. The apparatus also obtains through the local communication channel a second set of data characterizing the location of the user equipment. The apparatus also determines a trust score characterizing the second set of data based on the first set of data. The apparatus additionally triggers an alert in accordance with a determination that the trust score is below a threshold.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
a housing arranged to hold a user equipment;
one or more devices, at least partially supported by the housing, operable to obtain a first set of data characterizing a location of the user equipment;
a local communication device, at least partially supported by the housing, operable to establish a local communication channel with the user equipment;
a secure storage, at least partially supported by the housing, operable to store a hardware-based encryption key, wherein data for communication are encrypted using one or more encryption keys derived from the hardware-based encryption key, and one or more certificates derived from the hardware-based encryption key for one or more trusted applications are stored in the secure storage; and
a controller, coupled to the one or more devices, the local communication device, and the secure storage, operable to:
obtain from the user equipment, through the local communication channel, a second set of data obtained by the user equipment characterizing the location of the user equipment,
determine a trust score characterizing the second set of data obtained from the user equipment paired with the apparatus via the local communication channel based on the first set of data obtained by the one or more devices of the apparatus and a set of weights assigned to elements in the first set of data and the second set of data, and
trigger an alert in accordance with a determination that the trust score is below a threshold.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the one or more devices include at least one of a cellular module, a GPS module, a WiFi module, a BLE module, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a pedometer, a magnetometer, a barometer, light sensors, and acoustic sensors.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the first set of data characterizing the location of the user equipment includes at least one of cellular data, GPS data, WiFi data, BLE data, image data, audio data, or movement data.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining the trust score characterizing the second set of data based on the first set of data includes:
applying a filter to obtain a first subset of data from the first set of data and obtain a second subset of data from the second set of data; and
determining the trust score characterizing the second subset of data based on the first subset of data.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining the trust score characterizing the second set of data obtained by the user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the first set of data obtained by the one or more devices of the apparatus and the set of weights assigned to the elements in the first set of data and the second set of data includes:
comparing the first set of data and the second set of data; and
determining one or more of deviations and correlations of values in the second set of data from values in the first set of data; and
assigning the trust score as a function of the one or more of the deviations and correlations.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein determining the trust score characterizing the second set of data obtained by the user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the first set of data obtained by the one or more devices of the apparatus and the set of weights assigned to the elements in the first set of data and the second set of data includes:
adjusting the set of weights to elements in the first set of data and the second set of data; and
filtering out a subset of the elements for determining the trust score based on a ranking of the elements according to the set of weights.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a peripheral interface at least partially supported by the housing and connectable to a supplemental functional device, wherein determining the trust score characterizing the second set of data obtained by the user equipment paired with the apparatus based on the first set of data obtained by the one or more devices of the apparatus and the set of weights assigned to the elements in the first set of data and the second set of data includes:
sending to the supplemental functional device, via the peripheral interface, data associated with the first set of data and the second set of data;
causing the supplemental functional device to determine the trust score based on the data; and
receiving the trust score from the supplemental functional device via the peripheral interface.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further operable to, in accordance with a determination that the trust score is not below the threshold:
derive trusted location data from one or more of the first set of data and the second set of data; and
allow access to the trusted location data by one or more trusted applications.

9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the controller is further operable to:
sign the one or more trusted applications using one or more certificates derived from a hardware-based root key; and
validate the one or more certificates prior to executing the one or more trusted applications.

10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the trusted location data is derived based on a first subset of the one or more of the first set of data and the second set of data, and the trust score is calculated based on a second subset of the one or more of the first set of data and the second set of data, different from the first subset.

11. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a remote communication device operable to transmit the trust score to a secure server.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein triggering the alert in accordance with the determination that the trust score is below the threshold includes:
receiving, via the remote communication device, the alert from the secure server, wherein the alert is generated by the secure server based on the trust score and aggregated data received from a plurality of apparatuses; and
instructing locking of the user equipment via the local communication device in response to receiving the alert.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the controller is further operable to cause:
the remote communication device to transmit at least a portion of the first set of data and the second set of data to the secure server.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:
the secure server, in response to receiving the trust score and at least the portion of the first set of data and the second set of data, extracts features from the first set of data and the second set of data and determines an identifiability score of a user of the user equipment based on at least in part on the features and the trust score.

15. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:
the secure server, in response to receiving the trust score and at least the portion of the first set of data and the second set of data, triggers revocation of access to a system by a user of the user equipment.

16. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein:
the secure server, in response to receiving the trust score and at least the portion of the first set of data and the second set of data, generates and transmits alerts to a plurality of apparatuses within a threshold distance from the apparatus.

17. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the threshold is configurable by the secure server.

18. A method comprising:
at an apparatus including a housing arranged to hold a user equipment, one or more devices at least partially supported by the housing, a local communication device at least partially supported by the housing, a secure storage at

Assignees

• Ppip Llc

Inventors

• Fong Michael
• Fong Neric Hsin-Wu

Classifications

• H04W12/63 Primary

  Location-dependent; Proximity-dependent · CPC title

• H04W12/03 Primary

  Protecting confidentiality, e.g. by encryption · CPC title

• H04W12/041

  Key generation or derivation · CPC title

• H04W12/0471

  Key exchange · CPC title

• H04W12/069

  using certificates or pre-shared keys · CPC title