Methods and systems for providing conditional access to indoor location information

1. Method of providing conditional access to indoor location information in a system comprising a mobile device, a positioning webservice and an authorization authority, the method comprising the positioning webservice performing the steps of:

receiving a request for indoor location information from the mobile device, the request comprising a request-location-estimate corresponding to a location estimate of the mobile device at the time of making the request,

receiving a secure proof verifiable by the positioning webservice, wherein the secure verifiable proof is issued by the authorization authority and indicates that the mobile device has provided license information authorizing access to indoor location information by the mobile device for an authorized region,

verifying whether the secure proof authorizes the transmission of indoor location information to the mobile device, by verifying, using the secure proof, that the request-location-estimate is within the authorized region; and

upon successful verification sending indoor location information for the request-location-estimate to the mobile device.

2. A positioning webservice for providing conditional access to indoor location information for use in a system further comprising a mobile device and an authorization authority, the positioning webservice implemented on one or more servers, the one or more servers being arranged to individually or in tandem:

receive a request for indoor location information from the mobile device, the request comprising a request-location-estimate corresponding to a location estimate of the mobile device at the time of making the request,

receive a secure proof verifiable by the positioning webservice wherein the secure verifiable proof is issued by the authorization authority and indicates that the mobile device has provided license information authorizing access to indoor location information by the mobile device for an authorized region,

verify whether the secure proof authorizes the transmission of indoor location information to the mobile device, by verifying, using the secure proof, that the request-location-estimate is within the authorized region; and

upon successful verification send indoor location information for the request-location-estimate to the mobile device.

3. Method of providing conditional access to indoor location information in a system comprising a mobile device a positioning webservice and an authorization authority, the method comprising:

the mobile device performing the steps of:

transmitting license information to the authorization authority and

transmitting a request for indoor location information to the positioning webservice, the request comprising a request-location-estimate corresponding to a location estimate of the mobile device at the time of making the request,

the authorization authority performing the steps of:

receiving the license information,

verifying whether the license information authorizes access to indoor location information by the mobile device,

issuing a secure proof, verifiable by the positioning webservice upon successful verification, the secure proof indicating that the license information authorizes access to indoor location information by the mobile device for an authorized region;

the positioning webservice performing the steps of:

receiving the request for indoor location information and the secure proof;

verifying whether the secure proof authorizes the transmission of indoor location information to the mobile device by verifying, using the secure proof, that the request-location-estimate is within the authorized region; and

upon successful verification sending indoor location information for the request-location-estimate to the mobile device.

4. Method of claim 3 , wherein

the mobile device transmits a location estimate together with the license information to the authorization authority, the location estimate corresponding to an estimate of the location of the mobile device at the time of sending the license information,

the verifying by the authorization authority further comprises verifying that license information authorizes access to indoor location information by the mobile device for the location corresponding to the location estimate, and

wherein the secure proof validates that the authorized region comprises the location estimate.

5. Method of claim 4 , further comprising the mobile device performing the steps of:

triggering an indoor location library to generate a position output at a predetermined output frequency, the position output comprising latitude and longitude data representative of the mobile device location.

6. Method of claim 5 , further comprising the mobile device performing the steps of:

receiving a location beacon identifier;

obtaining a location beacon position using the location beacon identifier from the location information transmitted upon successful verification; and

generating the position output based on the retrieved location beacon position.

7. Method of claim 6 , wherein generating the position output further comprises one or more of:

using mobile device orientation data from an inertial motion unit of the mobile device, and

using multiple location beacon identifiers and generating the position output based thereon.

8. Method of claim 5 , further comprising the mobile device performing the steps of:

receiving the indoor location information from the positioning web service; and

storing the indoor location information locally,

blocking access to the locally stored indoor location information when a time period exceeds a predetermined threshold, wherein the time period is defined as one of:

the period between the current time and the time that the mobile device ( 15 , 320 ) last had contact with the positioning webservice and

the period between the current time and the last time the mobile device ( 15 , 320 ) connected to a wide area network providing access to the positioning webservice.

9. Method of claim 3 , wherein the license information further comprises a secure-development-proof, the secure-development-proof authorizing access to select indoor location information by the mobile device or development phase testing.

10. Method of claim 4 , wherein the secure proof comprises information identifying a location for which receipt of indoor location information is authorized and optionally a mobile device identifier.

11. Method of claim 4 , wherein the secure proof comprises an authorization level and the positioning webservice only provides indoor location information to the mobile device when it holds a secure proof indicating it is compliant with the authorization level required for receipt of the indoor location information.

12. Method of claim 4 , wherein the secure proof comprises expiration information and the positioning webservice only provides indoor location information when the secure proof has not expired.

13. Method of claim 4 , wherein the indoor location information is a database with one or more entries relating a location beacon identifier to an indoor position, the indoor position comprising a latitude and a longitude.

14. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device with computer-executable instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more computer processors for a positioning webservice, cause the one or more computer processors to perform operations of providing conditional access to indoor location information in a system comprising a mobile device, the positioning webservice, and an authorization authority, the operations comprising:

receiving a request for indoor location information from the mobile device, the request comprising a request-location-estimate corresponding to a location estimate of the mobile device at the time of making the request;

receiving a secure proof verifiable by the positioning webservice, wherein the secure verifiable proof is issued by the authorization authority and indicates that the mobile device has provided license information authorizing access to indoor location information by the mobile device for an authorized region;

verifying whether the secure proof authorizes the transmission of indoor location information to the mobile device, by verifying, using the secure proof, that the request-location-estimate is within the authorized region; and

upon successful verification sending indoor location information for the request-location-estimate to the mobile device.

15. System for providing conditional access to indoor location information, the system comprising a mobile device, a positioning webservice and an authorization authority and wherein:

the mobile device arranged to

transmit license information to the authorization authority,

transmit a request for indoor location information to the positioning webservice the request comprising a request-location-estimate corresponding to a location estimate of the mobile device at the time of making the request,

the authorization authority server is arranged to:

receive the license information,

verify whether the license information authorizes access to indoor location information by the mobile device

issue a secure proof verifiable by the positioning webservice upon successful verification, the secure proof indicating that the license information authorizes access to indoor location information by the mobile device for an authorized region;

the positioning webservice is arranged to:

receive the request for indoor location information and the secure proof;

verify whether the secure proof authorizes the transmission of indoor location information to the mobile device, by verifying, using the secure proof, that the request-location-estimate is within the authorized region; and

upon successful verification send indoor location information for the request-location-estimate to the mobile device.