Secure and private cloud based broadcast identification
A tracking device can securely communicate with a secondary device by generating a hash value based on the identity of the tracking device. If the secondary device cannot resolve the hash value, the hash value can be provided to a tracking server, such as a cloud server, for resolving the hash value. Upon resolving the hash value, the tracking server can store a location of the tracking device in association with the identity of the tracking device. To preserve power, the secondary device can activate location-detection functionality (such as a GPS receive) only in response to the detection of movement of the tracking device, can obtain location information, and can de-activate the location-detection functionality upon providing the location information to the tracking server. The tracking server can associate one or both of a previous location and the current location information based on movement of the tracking device.
1. A method comprising:
receiving, at a tracking server from a mobile device, an authentication value computed by a tracking device within communicative range of the mobile device, the authentication value computed based on a unique identifier associated with the tracking device and an incremented value maintained by the tracking device that is incremented at a regular interval of time; and
resolving, by the tracking server, a conflict between the received authentication value and one or more other authentication values using account information associated with the tracking device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication value is computed based further on a key stored by the tracking device.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the key is also stored by the mobile device, and wherein the key is not transmitted between the tracking device and the mobile device.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incremented value is incremented by the tracking device after each subsequent passage of the regular interval of time.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the authentication value is computed using one or more of a hash operation, an encryption operation, or an encoding operation.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the received authentication value is received in an advertisement packet transmitted by the tracking device, and wherein the advertisement packet includes the incremented value in plaintext.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the tracking server is configured to compute an authentication value for each tracking device associated with tracking server, and wherein the tracking server is configured to identify the tracking device in response to a match between a computed authentication value and the received authentication value.
8. A tracking server comprising a hardware processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by the hardware processor, cause the tracking server to perform steps comprising:
receiving, at the tracking server from a mobile device, an authentication value computed by a tracking device within communicative range of the mobile device, the authentication value computed based on a unique identifier associated with the tracking device and an incremented value maintained by the tracking device that is incremented at a regular interval of time; and
resolving, by the tracking server, a conflict between the received authentication value and one or more other authentication values using account information associated with the tracking device.
9. The tracking server of claim 8 , wherein the authentication value is computed based further on a key stored by the tracking device.
10. The tracking server of claim 9 , wherein the key is also stored by the mobile device, and wherein the key is not transmitted between the tracking device and the mobile device.
11. The tracking server of claim 8 , wherein the incremented value is incremented by the tracking device after each subsequent passage of the regular interval of time.
12. The tracking server e of claim 8 , wherein the authentication value is computed using one or more of a hash operation, an encryption operation, or an encoding operation.
13. The tracking server of claim 8 , wherein the received authentication value is received in an advertisement packet transmitted by the tracking device, and wherein the advertisement packet includes the incremented value in plaintext.
14. The tracking server of claim 8 , wherein the tracking server is configured to compute an authentication value for each tracking device associated with tracking server, and wherein the tracking server is configured to identify the tracking device in response to a match between a computed authentication value and the received authentication value.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions that, when executed by a hardware processor of a tracking server, cause the tracking server to perform steps comprising:
receiving, at the tracking server from a mobile device, an authentication value computed by a tracking device within communicative range of the mobile device, the authentication value computed based on a unique identifier associated with the tracking device and an incremented value maintained by the tracking device that is incremented at a regular interval of time; and
resolving, by the tracking server, a conflict between the received authentication value and one or more other authentication values using account information associated with the tracking device.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the authentication value is computed based further on a key stored by the tracking device.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the key is also stored by the mobile device, and wherein the key is not transmitted between the tracking device and the mobile device.
18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the incremented value is incremented by the tracking device after each subsequent passage of the regular interval of time.
19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the authentication value is computed using one or more of a hash operation, an encryption operation, or an encoding operation.
20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the received authentication value is received in an advertisement packet transmitted by the tracking device, and wherein the advertisement packet includes the incremented value in plaintext.