Certified location for mobile devices

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9817101-B2
Application number	US-201514629987-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 24, 2015
Priority date	Feb 24, 2014
Publication date	Nov 14, 2017
Grant date	Nov 14, 2017

Abstract

In one example embodiment, a Wi-Fi based location determination technique both determines one or more locations of a mobile device, and calculates a confidence score for each determined location. A request is received at a certified location service executing on a server for one or more locations of the mobile device and a data package. The data package may include an indication of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device. The certified location service determines one or more locations of the mobile device based on a calculated location of at least some of the plurality of beacons. The certified location service also determines a confidence score for each beacon used in determining each location. An overall confidence score for each determined location may be calculated based on a combination of the confidence scores for each of the beacons used in the determination of the location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising,
receiving, at a server, a request for one or more locations of a mobile device and a data package, the data package including an identifier of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device and at least one indicia of potential falsification of information, the plurality of beacons including at least an observed Wi-Fi access point (AP), an observed cell tower, or an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the mobile device;
determining, at the server, one or more locations of the mobile device based on a calculated location of one or more of the plurality of beacons;
determining an individual confidence score for each beacon used in determining each location, the individual confidence score being an indication of a likelihood that the beacon is located at the calculated location;
calculating an overall confidence score for each determined location based on a combination of the individual confidence scores for each of the beacons used in determining the location and evaluation of the at least one indicia of potential falsification of information, the overall confidence score being an indication of likelihood that the mobile device is located at the determined location; and
returning an indication of the one or more determined locations of the mobile device and the overall confidence score for each determined location.

2. A method comprising,
receiving, at a server, a request for one or more locations of a mobile device and a data package, the data package including an identifier of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device, the plurality of beacons including at least an observed Wi-Fi access point (AP), an observed cell tower, or an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the mobile device;
determining, at the server, one or more locations of the mobile device based on a calculated location of one or more of the plurality of beacons;
determining an individual confidence score for each beacon used in determining each location, wherein the individual confidence score is based at least in part on a number of observations of the beacon by devices and a size of an area in which the devices have observed the beacon;
calculating an overall confidence score for each determined location based on a combination of the individual confidence scores for each of the beacons used in determining the location; and
returning an indication of the one or more determined locations of the mobile device and the overall confidence score for each determined location.

3. A method comprising,
receiving, at a server, a request for one or more locations of a mobile device and a data package, the data package including an identifier of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device, the plurality of beacons including at least an observed Wi-Fi access point (AP), an observed cell tower, or an Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the mobile device;
determining, at the server, one or more locations of the mobile device based on a calculated location of one or more of the plurality of beacons;
determining an individual confidence score for each beacon used in determining each location, the individual confidence score being an indication of a likelihood that the beacon is located at the calculated location;
calculating an overall confidence score for each determined location based on a combination of the individual confidence scores for each of the beacons used in determining the location; and
encrypting an indication of the one or more determined locations of the mobile device and the overall confidence score for each determined location to produce one or more encrypted locations and overall confidence scores; and
returning the one or more encrypted locations and overall confidence scores to the mobile device and withholding from the mobile device a key for decrypting the one or more encrypted locations and overall confidence scores.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indication of the one or more determined locations of the mobile device and the overall confidence score for each determined location comprises a unique digital claim check that may be exchanged for one or more determined locations and overall confidence scores.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
maintaining a history of previously determined locations of the mobile device,
wherein the overall confidence score for each determined location is further based on a comparison of the determined location and the history of previously determined locations of the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising:
in response to a particular determined location exceeding a threshold distance from the at least one previously determined location from the history of previously determined locations, reducing the overall confidence score for the particular determined location.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia of potential falsification of information includes indications of any remote control applications active on the mobile device, and the evaluation of the at least one indicia of potential falsification of information includes detection of any remote control applications being active on the mobile device.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indications of any remote control applications active includes a list of running processes, and the method further comprises:
comparing the list of running processes with a list of processes known to be used by remote control applications; and
reducing the overall confidence score for each determined location when a running process matches a process known to be used by a remote control application.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the indications of any remote control applications active includes an indication of one or more network connections, and the method further comprises:
comparing the one or more network connections to types of network connections known to be used by remote control services; and
reducing the overall confidence score for each determined location when a network connection matches a type known to be used by a remote control service.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia of potential falsification of information includes indications of any malicious code present on the mobile device, and the evaluation of the at least one indicia of potential falsification of information includes detection of malicious code.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the method further comprises:
reducing the overall confidence score for each determined location when malicious code is detected.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the indicia of potential falsification of information includes a list of global positioning system (GPS) satellites observed by the mobile device, and the evaluation of the at least one indicia of potential falsification of information includes determination of consistency of the list of GPS satellites and those GPS satellites possibly in view of the determined location.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the method further comprises:
comparing the list of GPS satellites observed by the mobile device with a list of satellites that are possibly in view of the determined location based on GPS ephemeris; and
reducing an overall confidence score when a satellite is present in the list of GPS satellites observed by the mobile device that is not possibly in view of the respective determined location based on the GPS ephemeris.

14. A method comprising:
assembling, on a mobile device, a data package including an indication of a plurality of beacons observed by the mobile device and at least one indicia of

Assignees

• Skyhook Wireless Inc

Inventors

• Jones Russel K
• Steger Christopher
• Brachet Nicolas
• Alizadeh-Shabdiz Farshid
• Broadstone Andrew
• Morrin Joel

Classifications

• G01S5/0295

  Proximity-based methods, e.g. position inferred from reception of particular signals · CPC title

• G01S5/02

  using radio waves (using satellite radio beacon systems for determining position G01S19/00) · CPC title

• G01S5/0244 Primary

  Accuracy or reliability of position solution or of measurements contributing thereto · CPC title

• G01S5/0231 Primary

  Emergency, distress or locator beacons · CPC title

• G01S5/0205

  Details · CPC title