Acoustic Token Contact Tracing System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current contact tracing methods are inefficient and lack accuracy in identifying individuals who have been exposed to communicable diseases, especially during epidemics and pandemics, and they do not effectively preserve user privacy.
Innovation Solution
A computer system utilizing acoustic communications to allocate unique acoustic tokens to devices within specific acoustic volumes, allowing for the correlation of exposure between users while maintaining privacy through anonymization and secure data storage, enabling efficient and accurate contact tracing within administrative boundaries.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional contact tracing methods are used, then implementation is simple, but efficiency and accuracy in identifying exposed individuals are insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual contact tracing methods with an acoustic-based automated system. Acoustic tokens are emitted by devices and received by nearby devices, automatically recording proximity events without requiring manual intervention. This substitution of mechanical/manual processes with acoustic field-based detection significantly improves tracing efficiency while managing system complexity through standardized protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces acoustic tokens as intermediary carriers of proximity information. Instead of direct device-to-device communication or manual reporting, acoustic tokens serve as mediators that encode and transmit exposure data through acoustic channels. This intermediary mechanism enables efficient contact tracing by decoupling the tracing logic from direct user interaction while maintaining accuracy.
2Measurement precision
If comprehensive contact tracing data is collected, then accuracy improves, but user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and separates personally identifiable information from the contact tracing data collection process. The system collects acoustic token proximity data without capturing or storing user identities, phone numbers, or personal details. By taking out sensitive information from the data stream, the system maintains exposure detection accuracy while preserving user privacy through anonymization by design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses acoustic tokens as anonymized copies of device presence information. Instead of transmitting or storing actual user identity data, the system creates and processes acoustic token copies that represent device proximity events. These token copies contain sufficient information for exposure assessment while being inherently anonymized, thus resolving the contradiction between accurate tracking and privacy protection.
3Reliability
If acoustic tokens are broadcast continuously, then exposure detection coverage increases, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic acoustic token broadcasting instead of continuous transmission. Devices emit acoustic tokens at predetermined intervals rather than continuously, which significantly reduces energy consumption while maintaining reliable exposure detection coverage. The periodic action ensures that proximity events are captured across multiple time points, maintaining detection reliability without the prohibitive energy cost of continuous broadcasting.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible non-transitory computer-readable media are provided for performing contact tracing using acoustic communications. For example, a computer-implemented method may include allocating an acoustic token for broadcasting via an audio communication channel, obtaining information associated with the acoustic token received from a first device of a first user based on the broadcasting of the acoustic token where the first user is associated with a disease, determining whether the information associated with the acoustic token from the first device relates to information associated with the acoustic token received from a second device of a second user, and providing information that indicates whether the second user was exposed to the disease based on whether the information associated with the acoustic token from the first device relates to the information associated with the acoustic token from the second device.