Methods and Systems for Authenticating a Reported Geolocation of a Mobile Device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020036727-A1
Application number	US-201816048221-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 27, 2018
Priority date	Jul 27, 2018
Publication date	Jan 30, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

An exemplary geolocation authentication system receives user input representative of customized authentication settings that designate a location corroboration factor from a plurality of location corroboration factors that correspond to independent ways of determining geolocations of mobile devices. The system receives, from a mobile device located at a true geolocation, a reported geolocation of the mobile device. Then, in response to the receiving of the reported geolocation, the system accesses a datapoint that characterizes a correlation between the reported geolocation of the mobile device and the true geolocation of the mobile device. The datapoint characterizes the correlation based on the location corroboration factor designated by the customized authentication settings. The system further determines, based on the datapoint, a custom confidence metric representative of a likelihood that the reported geolocation is the true geolocation. Corresponding methods and systems are also disclosed.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving, by a geolocation authentication system, user input representative of customized authentication settings that designate a location corroboration factor from a plurality of location corroboration factors that correspond to independent ways of determining geolocations of mobile devices; receiving, by the geolocation authentication system from a mobile device located at a true geolocation, a reported geolocation of the mobile device; accessing, by the geolocation authentication system in response to the receiving of the reported geolocation, a datapoint that characterizes, based on the location corroboration factor designated by the customized authentication settings, a correlation between the reported geolocation of the mobile device and the true geolocation of the mobile device; and determining, by the geolocation authentication system based on the datapoint, a custom confidence metric representative of a likelihood that the reported geolocation is the true geolocation.

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising presenting, by the geolocation authentication system to a client of a geolocation authentication service provided by the geolocation authentication system, a user interface configured to facilitate the client in providing, to the geolocation authentication system, the user input representative of the customized authentication settings;
wherein the receiving of the user input representative of the customized authentication settings is performed by receiving the user input from the client by way of the user interface.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the customized authentication settings represented by the received user input further designate an additional location corroboration factor from the plurality of location corroboration factors; the customized authentication settings represented by the received user input include a weight value corresponding to the location corroboration factor and an additional weight value corresponding to the additional location corroboration factor; the accessing of the datapoint further comprises accessing an additional datapoint that further characterizes, based on the additional location corroboration factor, the correlation between the reported geolocation of the mobile device and the true geolocation of the mobile device; and the determining of the custom confidence metric is further based on the additional datapoint and is performed in accordance with the weight value and the additional weight value.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the customized authentication settings represented by the received user input further designate threshold settings defining a plurality of access levels to be granted to the mobile devices based on confidence metrics associated with determined geolocations of the mobile devices; and the method further comprises assigning, by the geolocation authentication system based on the custom confidence metric and the threshold settings, an access level from the plurality of access levels to the mobile device, the access level defining access privileges granted to the mobile device with respect to an access server associated with the geolocation authentication system.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the location corroboration factor designated by the customized authentication settings is a signal strength corroboration factor that corresponds to determining the geolocations of the mobile devices based on whether the mobile devices report detecting wireless signals at expected signal strengths; the accessed datapoint includes data reported by the mobile device to indicate that the mobile device detects a particular wireless signal at a particular signal strength; and the determining of the custom confidence metric includes
identifying an expected signal strength at which the mobile device is expected to detect the particular wireless signal,
comparing the 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.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the location corroboration factor designated by the customized authentication settings is a signal detection corroboration factor that corresponds to determining the geolocations of the mobile devices based on whether the mobile devices report detecting expected wireless signals; the accessed datapoint includes data reported by the mobile device to indicate that the mobile device detects a set of particular wireless signals; and the determining of the custom confidence metric includes
identifying a set of expected wireless signals that the mobile device is expected to detect if the reported geolocation is the true geolocation,
comparing the set of particular wireless signal detected by the mobile device with the set of expected wireless signals, and
computing the custom confidence metric based on the comparing of the set of particular wireless signals detected with the set of expected wireless signals.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the location corroboration factor designated by the customized authentication settings is a movement feasibility corroboration factor that corresponds to determining the geolocations of the mobile devices based on whether the mobile devices report feasible movements; the accessed datapoint includes movement data reported by the mobile device, the movement data representative of a first reported geolocation of the mobile device associated with a first time and a second reported geolocation of the mobile device associated with a second time; and the determining of the custom confidence metric includes
determining a feasibility metric based on the movement data, the feasibility metric indicative of a likelihood that the mobile device moved from the first reported geolocation at the first time to the second reported geolocation at the second time, and
computing the custom confidence metric based on the feasibility metric.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving, by the geolocation authentication system from the mobile device, 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 in response to the receiving of the reported user, expected authentication data associated with the reported user; and determining, by the geolocation authentication system based on the authentication data provided by the true user and the expected authentication data, an additional confidence metric representative of a likelihood that the reported user is the true user.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the user input representative of the customized authentication settings is performed prior to the accessing of the datapoint, and the accessing of the datapoint is performed based on the location corroboration factor designated from the plurality of location corroboration factors.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving of the user input representative of the customized authentication settings is performed subsequent to the accessing of the datapoint, and the accessing of the datapoint further includes accessing an additional datapoint that characterizes the correlation between the reported geolocation and the true geolocation based on an undesignated location corroboration factor from the plurality of location corroboration factors.

11 . Th

Assignees

• Mapquest Inc

Inventors

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

Classifications

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W4/021

  Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences · CPC title

• 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

• H04L63/08

  for authentication of entities (cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32) · CPC title

• G06F16/29

  Geographical information databases · CPC title