Determination device, determination method, and program

Abstract

To determine the validity of the terminal's location information.SOLUTION: A determination device for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is location information of a terminal, includes an information acquisition unit that acquires the terminal location information from the terminal, and a determination unit that determines whether the terminal location information is valid by comparing the terminal location information with comparison target location information, which is location information for a comparison target.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technique for determining the validity of location information. [Background technology]

[0002] GPS technology is widely used to grasp the position information of terminals such as smartphones. In general, GPS technology is used by terminal users for purposes such as getting directions to a destination, and grasping their own location while running or climbing a mountain. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology for guiding pedestrians using GPS technology. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2000-28391 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, many services use location information acquired by terminals. However, location information acquired by terminals may be tampered with. If the location information of a terminal is tampered with and the tampering cannot be detected, various problems may occur.

[0005] For example, if a company provides a service on the condition that the user is in a specific area, if the device's location information is tampered with, it could lead to people who are not supposed to be able to use the service.

[0006] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned points, and has an object to provide a technique for determining the validity of terminal location information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] According to the disclosed technology, there is provided a determination device for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is location information of a terminal that communicates with a plurality of base stations by carrier aggregation, comprising: The terminal location information is acquired from the terminal, and Base station Base station specific information to multiple cell IDs that are an information acquisition unit that acquires corresponding multiple base station location information from an information management device; Each of the plurality of base station position information When the distance between the position indicated by the base station position information and the position indicated by the terminal position information is smaller than a threshold value determined for each of the plurality of base station position information, The terminal location information is valid and A determination unit for determining A determination device is provided, comprising: Effect of the Invention

[0008] According to the disclosed technology, a technology for determining the validity of location information of a terminal is provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the overall configuration of a communication system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the configuration of a determination device 100. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram for explaining the operation of the communication system. [Figure 4] 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of determining the validity of terminal location information; FIG. [Diagram 5] 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of determining the validity of terminal location information; FIG. [Figure 6] 11 is a diagram for explaining an example of determining the validity of terminal location information; FIG. [Figure 7] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a hardware configuration of the apparatus. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0010] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention (the present embodiment) will be described with reference to the drawings. The embodiment described below is merely an example, and the embodiment to which the present invention is applied is not limited to the following embodiment.

[0011] (About the assignment) First, the problem of the technique according to the present embodiment will be described. As described above, GPS technology is widely used to grasp location information, but location information may be tampered with. Examples of cases where problems arise due to tampering with location information are shown below.

[0012] <Example 1> A game that allows users to enjoy various monsters and benefits by walking is provided by an application on a device. This application uses GPS technology to capture the user's location information. In this case, if the location information is tampered with, the user can receive various points even though they have not actually walked.

[0013] <Example 2> Credit card fraud is on the rise. If the location information of the credit card user's device could be captured as the user's location information, it would be possible to increase the reliability of identity verification and reduce fraudulent use. However, if the device's location information is tampered with, there is a possibility that credit cards could be fraudulently used.

[0014] <Example 3> During disasters such as earthquakes, location information collection by devices is important from the perspective of rescue support. On the other hand, there is a possibility that false information will be spread on SNS during disasters.

[0015] In any of the above-mentioned examples 1 to 3, if it is possible to detect that the location information acquired by the terminal has been tampered with, it is possible to prevent unauthorized acts.

[0016] Hereinafter, a technique for determining whether or not location information acquired by a terminal is valid (whether or not it has been tampered with) will be described as a technique according to this embodiment.

[0017] (Outline of the embodiment) First, an overview of the technology according to this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, a determination device 100, which will be described later, compares location information acquired by a GPS in a terminal with other location information (comparison target location information) to check whether the location information has been changed or tampered with. This makes it possible to grasp "location information that is highly likely not to have been tampered with."

[0018] As location information different from that acquired by GPS, for example, location information of a base station (an example of a comparison object) communicating with the terminal can be used.

[0019] Since the base station does not move, its location information is fixed. The determination device 100 can determine whether the location information of the terminal acquired from the terminal indicates a location within the range where radio waves from the terminal can reach the base station by comparing the location information acquired from the terminal with the location information of the base station to which the terminal is connected. For example, if the location information of the terminal indicates a location where radio waves should not reach, it can be determined that the location information of the terminal has been tampered with.

[0020] The technology according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail below. Note that the technology can be applied to any of the cases of Examples 1 to 3, and also to cases other than Examples 1 to 3. However, the following describes an example in which the technology is applied to preventing fraudulent use of credit cards.

[0021] For example, we envision a case in which, when a terminal user uses a credit card in a specific location (e.g., a location where credit cards are used on a daily basis, if registered in advance), it is determined that there is a high possibility that the user is attempting to use the credit card legitimately.

[0022] (System configuration example) Fig. 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of a communication system according to the present embodiment. As shown in Fig. 1, this communication system has a determination device 100, an information management device 200, and a service device 300, which are connected to a network 400. Also, a fixed base station 20 is provided in each area, and wireless communication is performed between a terminal 10 and the base station 20. Fig. 1 shows one base station 20 and one terminal 10.

[0023] The network 400 includes a core network (which may be called a carrier network) of a mobile operator, and the base station 20 is connected to the core network. Communication between the base station 20 and the terminal 10 is performed using a wireless access technology such as 3G, 4G, 5G, or 6G.

[0024] The determination device 100 uses the technology according to the present invention to determine whether the location information of the terminal 10 is valid. The information management device 200 holds the location information of the base station. In this embodiment, the service device 300 is a device that executes a process for preventing fraudulent use of credit cards.

[0025] The terminal 10 is, for example, a mobile terminal such as a smartphone. The terminal 10 may be a vehicle such as an automobile. The terminal 10 has a function of wireless communication and a function of acquiring its own location information (for example, a GPS function). In this embodiment, it is assumed that the terminal 10 is a terminal 10 of a user who uses a credit card.

[0026] (Configuration example of determination device 100) Fig. 2 shows an example of the configuration of the determination device 100. As shown in Fig. 2, the determination device 100 includes an information acquisition unit 110, a determination unit 120, an information notification unit 130, and a data storage unit 140. The operation of each unit will be described in the following operation of the communication system.

[0027] (Example of communication system operation) Next, an example of the operation of the communication system will be described along the procedure of the sequence diagram in Fig. 3. In the example shown in Fig. 3, it is assumed that the terminal 10 is present in the area of ​​the base station 20.

[0028] <s101> In S101, the terminal 10 acquires its own location information using a GPS function. The terminal 10 acquires the location information constantly (for example, periodically). The location information acquired by the terminal 10 is called terminal location information.

[0029] <s102> In S102, the terminal 10 acquires base station specific information from the base station 20. The terminal 10 acquires the base station specific information constantly (for example, periodically). The base station specific information is, for example, both a Tracking Area Code (TAC) and a Cell-ID. The base station specific information may be either the TAC or the Cell-ID. The base station specific information may be information different from both the TAC and the Cell-ID. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the location information of the base station 20 can be acquired by the base station specific information.

[0030] <s103> In S103, the terminal 10 acquires its own terminal information, for example, from its own storage device. The acquired terminal information is, for example, an International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI) and "Mobile Country Code (MCC)+Mobile Network Code (MNC)", or any one of these two. The terminal information may be information other than these. For example, the terminal information may be an ID or password of a user of the terminal 10.

[0031] <s104> In S104, the terminal 10 transmits the information acquired in S101 to S103 (terminal location information, base station specific information, terminal information) to the determination device 100. The information acquisition unit 110 in the determination device 100 receives (acquires) the information transmitted from the terminal 10 (terminal location information, base station specific information, terminal information), and stores the acquired information in the data storage unit 140.

[0032] <s105> In S105, the information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 reads the base station specific information acquired in S104 from the data storage unit 140, and transmits the base station specific information to the information management device 200, thereby requesting location information (base station location information) for the base station 20. The information management device 200 receives the base station specific information.

[0033] <s106> In S106, the information management device 200 generates (or acquires) base station position information (e.g., latitude, longitude) based on the base station specific information received in S105, and returns the generated base station position information to the determination device 100 as a response to the request of S105. The information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 acquires the base station position information and stores it in the data storage unit 140.

[0034] <s107> In S107, the information notification unit 130 of the determination device 100 notifies the service device 300 that authentication is being performed using location information on the user (person to be authenticated) of the terminal 10. This notification includes information capable of identifying the terminal 10, such as terminal information.

[0035] <s108> The service device 300 holds, for example, in its own storage device, any one, any multiple, or all of "address, coordinate information of any registered location, blacklist, whitelist" for each credit card user. Here, the blacklist is, for example, a list of locations (places) where the credit card is suspected to be used fraudulently. The whitelist is, for example, a list of locations (places) where the credit card is expected to be used legitimately.

[0036] In S108, the service device 300 acquires from the storage device any one or more or all of the following information for the user (person to be authenticated) of the terminal 10: "address, coordinate information of any registered location, blacklist, whitelist" and transmits the acquired information (hereinafter referred to as "designated location information") to the determination device 100.

[0037] The information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 acquires the designated position information and stores it in the data storage unit 140 .

[0038] <s109> In S109, the determination unit 120 compares the terminal location information acquired in S104 with the base station location information acquired in S106 to determine whether the terminal location information is valid (whether the terminal location information has not been tampered with). A specific example of the determination method will be described later.

[0039] Here, it is assumed that the determination unit 120 has determined that the terminal location information acquired in S104 has not been tampered with.

[0040] The determination unit 120 compares the terminal location information with the designated location information to determine whether the location of the terminal 10 is appropriate as a location for using a credit card. For example, the determination unit 120 verifies that the terminal location information does not correspond to a location included in a blacklist. Also, for example, the determination unit 120 verifies that the terminal location information corresponds to a location included in a whitelist.

[0041] For example, when the determination unit 120 determines that the location of the terminal 10 is valid as a location for using a credit card, it generates authentication information indicating that fact. Also, when the determination unit 120 determines that the location of the terminal 10 is not valid as a location for using a credit card (e.g., corresponds to a blacklist), it generates authentication information indicating that fact (e.g., information indicating that the credit card cannot be used).

[0042] If the determination unit 120 determines that the terminal location information has been tampered with, it may generate authentication information indicating that the credit card cannot be used without comparing the terminal location information with the designated location information.

[0043] <S110、S111> The information notifying unit 130 of the determination device 100 notifies the terminal 10 of the authentication information generated in S109 (S110), and also notifies the service device 300 (S111).

[0044] (Example of process for determining the validity of terminal location information) A description will be given of an example of a process for determining the validity of terminal location information by the determining unit 120. Here, it is assumed that the terminal location information is coordinate information (position of a point) such as latitude and longitude.

[0045] <Example 1> The information acquisition unit 110 acquires coordinate information (position of a point) such as latitude and longitude as position information of the base station 20 (base station position information) from the information management device 200.

[0046] The judgment unit 120 calculates the distance (Euclidean distance) between the location indicated by the base station location information and the location indicated by the terminal location information, and if the calculated distance is less than or equal to a threshold, judges that the terminal location information is valid (not tampered with), and if the calculated distance is greater than the threshold, judges that the terminal location information is invalid (has been tampered with).

[0047] The threshold value may be a predetermined value common to multiple base stations, or may be a predetermined value for each base station. Figure 4 shows an example of a case where it is determined that no tampering has occurred in Example 1.

[0048] <Example 2> The information management device 200 holds the latest information on the communication area of ​​each base station in addition to the location information of each base station. The "communication area" of a certain base station is an area within which information transmitted from the terminal 10 can reach that base station wirelessly.

[0049] The information acquisition unit 110 acquires information on the communication area of ​​the base station 20 from the information management device 200 as location information on the base station 20 (base station location information).

[0050] The determination unit 120 determines whether the position of the terminal 10 indicated by the terminal position information is within the communication area indicated by the base station position information. If the position of the terminal 10 is within the communication area, the determination unit 120 determines that the terminal position information is valid (has not been tampered with), and if the position of the terminal 10 is not within the communication area, the determination unit 120 determines that the terminal position information is invalid (has been tampered with).

[0051] Figure 5 shows an example of the case where it is determined that no tampering has occurred in Example 2.

[0052] <Example 3> There is a case where the terminal 10 performs communication using multiple carriers (i.e., multiple cells) simultaneously by carrier aggregation. In this case, multiple pieces of base station specific information (here, cell IDs) are transmitted from the terminal 10 to the determination device 100.

[0053] For example, it is assumed that the determination device 100 receives cell ID_1 and cell ID_2 from the terminal 10. Here, it is assumed that the position of the carrier transmission source of cell ID_1 is different from the position of the carrier transmission source of cell ID_2.

[0054] The information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 transmits cell ID_1 and cell ID_2 to the information management device 200, thereby acquiring base station position information (position 1) corresponding to cell ID_1 and base station position information (position 2) corresponding to cell ID_2. Note that the base station position information here indicates the position of an antenna that is the source of radio waves. Here, the antenna is referred to as a base station.

[0055] The determination unit 120 calculates the distance (referred to as distance 1) between position 1 and the position indicated by the terminal position information, and also calculates the distance (referred to as distance 2) between position 2 and the position indicated by the terminal position information.

[0056] Here, the threshold corresponding to cell ID_1 is threshold 1, and the threshold corresponding to cell ID_2 is threshold 2. Threshold 1 and threshold 2 may be the same or different.

[0057] The determination unit 120 determines that the terminal location information is valid (not tampered with) if "distance 1≦threshold 1 and distance 2≦threshold 2" is satisfied, and determines that the terminal location information is invalid (has been tampered with) if "distance 1≦threshold 1 and distance 2≦threshold 2" is not satisfied. An image of a case where it is determined that no tampering has been performed in Example 3 is shown in FIG. 6.

[0058] (Detection of tampering with base station specific information) There is a possibility that the base station specific information has been tampered with in the terminal 10, but the determination device 100 can detect the tampering.

[0059] The terminal 10 transmits the base station specific information acquired from the base station 20 to the determination device 100 via the base station 20. Then, for example, when acquiring the base station specific information transmitted from the terminal 10, the determination unit 120 of the determination device 100 compares the information of the base station 20 that is the sender of the base station specific information (the sender in the network 400) with the acquired base station specific information, and if they do not match (for example, if the TAC or cell ID is different), it can determine that the base station specific information has been tampered with.

[0060] It is also possible to check whether the base station specific information has been tampered with based on the information transmission route in the network 400 (more specifically, the carrier network of the mobile operator).

[0061] Here, it is assumed that the information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 can also acquire information on the transmission route of the information when acquiring the information transmitted from the terminal 10. The transmission route of the information may be the transmission route of the information itself, or the transmission route of a control plane signal for transmitting the information.

[0062] For example, when the information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 acquires information transmitted from the terminal 10, it acquires information indicating that the information or a control plane signal passed through "nodes A and B" as the transmission route of the information.

[0063] For example, when the determination unit 120 of the determination device 100 determines that the signal cannot pass through node A (for example, an AMF in an area far from the area indicated by the base station specific information) to transmit the acquired information, it can determine that the acquired base station specific information has been tampered with. Note that the base station 20 etc. may utilize block chain technology to provide the base station specific information in a form that cannot be processed.

[0064] (What is compared with device location information) In the examples described above, the object to be compared with the terminal location information is the base station location information, but the object to be compared with the terminal location information is not limited to the base station location information. Any object that is fixed (not moving) may be used as the object to be compared with the terminal location information. An example of an object to be compared with other than the base station location information will be described below.

[0065] As a comparison target other than the base station location information, the location information of a fixed-line telephone assigned the 0ABJ number can be used. This fixed-line telephone may be a fixed-line telephone installed at home or at work, or may be a public telephone.

[0066] In this example, it is assumed that there is a landline telephone near the terminal 10. For example, in the case of a use case for preventing fraudulent use of a credit card, it is assumed that the credit card is to be used at a location registered in advance, and that there is a landline telephone at the registered location (e.g., home).

[0067] In this example, the determination unit 120 of the determination device 100 can obtain the 0ABJ number associated with the terminal information. The 0ABJ number may be obtained from the data storage unit 140 of the determination device 100, or may be obtained from the service device 300. The determination unit 120 can also obtain location information (referred to as telephone location information) of the fixed telephone to which the 0ABJ number is assigned. The telephone location information may be obtained from the data storage unit 140 of the determination device 100, or may be obtained from the service device 300.

[0068] First, the terminal 10 transmits the terminal location information and the terminal information, and the information acquisition unit 110 of the determination device 100 acquires the terminal location information and the terminal information transmitted from the terminal 10.

[0069] Thereafter, the determination unit 120 of the determination device 100 obtains the 0ABJ number (the telephone number of the landline telephone) corresponding to the terminal information, and connects to the landline telephone using the 0ABJ number (that is, makes a call to the landline telephone).

[0070] When the user of the terminal 10 picks up the receiver of the landline telephone (answers the call), the determination unit 120 transmits authentication information (such as an authentication code) to the landline telephone. The user checks the authentication information and inputs it into the landline telephone (the user may speak the information by voice or input it using buttons, etc.).

[0071] The determination unit 120 receives the authentication information from the fixed-line telephone and checks whether it matches the transmitted authentication information. In this case, it is assumed that they match, and the determination unit 120 determines that the user of the terminal 10 is in a location where the fixed-line telephone is installed.

[0072] Next, the determination unit 120 acquires the location information (telephone location information) of the fixed telephone, and calculates the distance (Euclidean distance) between the location indicated by the telephone location information and the location indicated by the terminal location information. For example, if the calculated distance is equal to or less than a threshold, the determination unit 120 determines that the terminal location information is valid (not tampered with), and if the calculated distance is greater than the threshold, the determination unit 120 determines that the terminal location information is invalid (tampered with).

[0073] (Example of device hardware configuration) Any of the devices described in this embodiment (terminal 10, base station 20, determination device 100, information management device 200, and service device 300) can be realized by, for example, causing a computer to execute a program.

[0074] That is, the device can be realized by executing a program corresponding to the processing performed by the device, using hardware resources such as a CPU and memory built into a computer. The program can be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium (such as a portable memory) and stored or distributed. The program can also be provided via a network such as the Internet or email.

[0075] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the computer. The computer in Fig. 7 has a drive device 1000, an auxiliary storage device 1002, a memory device 1003, a CPU 1004, an interface device 1005, a display device 1006, an input device 1007, an output device 1008, etc., which are all connected to each other via a bus B.

[0076] The program for realizing the processing on the computer is provided by a recording medium 1001 such as a CD-ROM or a memory card. When the recording medium 1001 storing the program is set in the drive device 1000, the program is installed from the recording medium 1001 to the auxiliary storage device 1002 via the drive device 1000. However, the program does not necessarily have to be installed from the recording medium 1001, but may be downloaded from another computer via a network. The auxiliary storage device 1002 stores the installed program as well as necessary files, data, etc.

[0077] The memory device 1003 reads out and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device 1002 when an instruction to start the program is received. The CPU 1004 realizes the functions related to the device in accordance with the program stored in the memory device 1003. The interface device 1005 is used as an interface for connecting to a network, etc. The display device 1006 displays a GUI (Graphical User Interface) or the like according to a program. The input device 1007 is composed of a keyboard and mouse, buttons, a touch panel, etc., and is used to input various operation instructions. The output device 1008 outputs the results of calculations.

[0078] (Effects of the embodiment) As described above, the technique according to the present embodiment makes it possible to determine the validity of the location information of a terminal.

[0079] By being able to confirm the validity of the terminal's location information, for example, it is possible to prevent the illegal acquisition of points in the game described in the above-mentioned problem example 1. It is also possible to prevent the illegal use of credit cards described in the problem example 2. Furthermore, in relation to the problem example 3, it will be possible to capture accurate location information in the event of a disaster, which can lead to rapid rescue.

[0080] The following supplementary notes are further disclosed regarding the above embodiment.

[0081] <Additional Notes> (Additional note 1) A determination device for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is terminal location information, comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires the terminal location information from the terminal; a determination unit that determines whether the terminal location information is valid by comparing the terminal location information with comparison target location information that is location information regarding a comparison target; A determination device comprising: (Additional note 2) The comparison object is a base station connected to the terminal, and the comparison object location information is location information of the base station or a communication area of ​​the base station. Item 1. The determination device according to item 1. (Additional note 3) When a distance between the location indicated by the terminal location information and the location indicated by the comparison target location information is smaller than a threshold value, the determination unit determines that the terminal location information is valid. Item 3. The determination device according to item 2. (Additional note 4) When the location indicated by the terminal location information is within the communication area, the determination unit determines that the terminal location information is valid. Item 3. The determination device according to item 2. (Additional note 5) The comparison object is a landline telephone, and the comparison object location information is location information of the landline telephone. Item 1. The determination device according to item 1. (Additional note 6) A method for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is location information of a terminal, performed by a determination device, comprising: an information acquisition step of acquiring the terminal location information from the terminal; a determination step of determining whether or not the terminal location information is valid by comparing the terminal location information with comparison target location information which is location information regarding a comparison target object; The determination method includes: (Additional note 7) A non-transitory storage medium storing a program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

[0082] Although the present embodiment has been described above, the present invention is not limited to such a specific embodiment, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0083] 10 Terminal 20 base station 100 Judgment device 110 Information Acquisition Department 120 Judgment section 130 Information Notification Department 140 Data storage unit 200 Information management device 300 Service Equipment 400 Network 1000 Drive Device 1001 Recording media 1002 Auxiliary storage device 1003 Memory device 1004 CPU 1005 Interface device 1006 Display device 1007 Input Device 1008 Output device

Claims

1. A determination device for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is location information of a terminal that communicates with a plurality of base stations by carrier aggregation, comprising: an information acquisition unit that acquires the terminal location information from the terminal, and acquires a plurality of base station location information corresponding to a plurality of cell IDs, which are base station specific information of the plurality of base stations acquired from the terminal, from an information management device; a determination unit that determines that the terminal location information is valid when a distance between a position indicated by the base station location information and a position indicated by the terminal location information is smaller than a threshold value determined for each of the plurality of base station location information; A determination device comprising:

2. A method for determining the validity of terminal location information, which is location information of a terminal that communicates with a plurality of base stations by carrier aggregation, performed by a determination device, comprising: an information acquisition step of acquiring the terminal location information from the terminal, and acquiring, from an information management device, a plurality of base station location information corresponding to a plurality of cell IDs which are base station specific information of the plurality of base stations acquired from the terminal; determining that the terminal location information is valid when a distance between a location indicated by the base station location information and a location indicated by the terminal location information is smaller than a threshold value determined for each of the plurality of base station location information; The determination method includes:

3. A program for causing a computer to function as each unit in the determination device according to claim 1.

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