Mobile private assisted location tracking
View Patent ↗Systems and methods are disclosed for providing private location tracking. In general, a location-aware mobile device includes a location broker. Over time, as a location of the mobile device changes, the location broker generates a number of route fragments each defining the location of the mobile device over a corresponding period of time. The location broker obfuscates the route fragments and sends the obfuscated route fragments to a remote server for storage. At some point, the location broker receives a location tracking request from a requestor. In response, the location broker processes the location tracking request such that one or more obfuscated route fragments that are relevant to the location tracking request are obtained from the remote server and de-obfuscated to recover the corresponding route fragments. The recovered route fragments may then be utilized by the requestor.
1. A method of operation of a mobile device, comprising:
by the mobile device:
generating a plurality of route fragments, each route fragment of the plurality of route fragments defining a location of a user of the mobile device over a corresponding period of time;
obfuscating the plurality of route fragments to provide a plurality of obfuscated route fragments;
sending the plurality of obfuscated route fragments to a remote server for storage by the remote server;
receiving a location tracking request from a remote requestor via a network;
processing the location tracking request such that one or more obfuscated route fragments of the plurality of obfuscated route fragments that are relevant to the location tracking request are obtained from the remote server and de-obfuscated to recover one or more route fragments of the plurality of route fragments corresponding to the one or more obfuscated route fragments; and
sending the one or more recovered route fragments to the remote requestor.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the requestor is a requesting device, and receiving the location tracking request from the requestor comprises receiving the location tracking request from the requesting device.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the requestor is an application running on the mobile device, and receiving the location tracking request from the requestor comprises receiving the location tracking request from the application running on the mobile device.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein processing the location tracking request comprises:
obtaining the one or more obfuscated route fragments that are relevant to the location tracking request from the remote server;
de-obfuscating the one or more obfuscated route fragments at the mobile device to recover the one or more route fragments corresponding to the one or more obfuscated route fragments; and
providing the one or more route fragments to the application running on the mobile device.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein obfuscating the plurality of route fragments comprises, for each route fragment of the plurality of route fragments:
computing an obfuscation value based on a private unique identifier of the mobile device and a time associated with the route fragment; and
obfuscating the route fragment based on the obfuscation value.
6. The method of claim 5 wherein the time associated with the route fragment is a start time for the route fragment.
7. The method of claim 5 wherein the route fragment is defined by one or more locations, and obfuscating the route fragment based on the obfuscation value comprises applying the obfuscation value to one or more locations that define the route fragment.
8. The method of claim 7 wherein the one or more locations that define the route fragment comprise at least one start location and at least one stop location.
9. The method of claim 7 wherein the route fragment is defined by one or more sub-fragments each having a start location and a stop location, and wherein applying the obfuscation value to one or more locations that define the route fragment comprises applying the obfuscation value to the start location and stop location of each of the one or more sub-fragments for the route fragment.
10. The method of claim 7 wherein applying the obfuscation value to one or more locations that define the route fragment comprises applying the obfuscation value to the one or more locations that define the route fragment as a linear transform.
11. The method of claim 7 wherein applying the obfuscation value to one or more locations that define the route fragment comprises encrypting each of the one or more locations based on the obfuscation value.
12. The method of claim 5 wherein computing the obfuscation value comprises: computing a hash value for the private unique identifier of the mobile device and the time associated with the route fragment based on a secure hash algorithm; and
selecting at least a portion of the hash value as the obfuscation value.
13. The method of claim 1 wherein obfuscating the plurality of route fragments comprises obfuscating each of the plurality of route fragments using a different obfuscation value.
14. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the plurality of route fragments comprises generating a route fragment at each of a plurality of predetermined times to thereby provide the plurality of route fragments.
15. A mobile device comprising:
a communication interface communicatively coupling the mobile device to a remote server via a network; and
a controller associated with the communication interface and adapted to:
generate a plurality of route fragments, each route fragment of the plurality of route fragments defining a location of a user of the mobile device over a corresponding period of time;
obfuscate the plurality of route fragments to provide a plurality of obfuscated route fragments;
send the plurality of obfuscated route fragments to the remote server for storage by the remote server;
receiving a location tracking request from a remote requestor via a network;
processing the location tracking request such that one or more obfuscated route fragments of the plurality of obfuscated route fragments that are relevant to the location tracking request are obtained from the remote server and de-obfuscated to recover one or more route fragments of the plurality of route fragments corresponding to the one or more obfuscated route fragments; and
sending the one or more recovered route fragments to the remote requestor.
16. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing software for instructing a controller of a mobile device to:
generate a plurality of route fragments, each route fragment of the plurality of route fragments defining a location of a user of the mobile device over a corresponding period of time;
obfuscate the plurality of route fragments to provide a plurality of obfuscated route fragments;
send the plurality of obfuscated route fragments to a remote server for storage by the remote server;
receiving a location tracking request from a remote requestor via a network;
processing the location tracking request such that one or more obfuscated route fragments of the plurality of obfuscated route fragments that are relevant to the location tracking request are obtained from the remote server and de-obfuscated to recover one or more route fragments of the plurality of route fragments corresponding to the one or more obfuscated route fragments; and
sending the one or more recovered route fragments to the remote requestor.