Anonymous fingerprint generation for mobile communication device
A method for creating an electronic fingerprint for a mobile communication device, that includes receiving at a sensor, a first message from the mobile communication device, the first message comprising a mobile device identifier and a network identifier, sending to the server, a second message that comprises at least a part of the first message, and a sensor identifier, calculating a first fingerprint from the second message, and associating the first fingerprint with the a first unique identifier.
1 . A method for creating an electronic fingerprint for a mobile communication device, comprising:
receiving at a sensor, a first message from the mobile communication device, the first message comprising a mobile device identifier and a network identifier;
sending to the server, a second message that comprises at least a part of the first message, and a sensor identifier;
calculating a first fingerprint from the second message; and
associating the first fingerprint with a first unique identifier.
2 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
comparing similarity level of the first fingerprint and a second fingerprint, the second fingerprint having a second unique identifier stored in the server;
associating the first fingerprint with the second unique identifier if the similarity level of the first fingerprint and the second fingerprint is at least above a predetermined threshold level; and
associating the first fingerprint with the first unique identifier if the similarity level is below the predetermined threshold level.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the first and second unique identifiers are associated with a location of the mobile communication device.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first message includes an IEEE 802.11 based probe request.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor combines at least two first messages to form the second message.