Anonymous Device Positioning via Entropy-Modified MAC Addresses
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional systems for measuring device positions using MAC addresses raise privacy concerns as they can be used to track individual consumers, potentially violating privacy legislation and customer privacy expectations.
Innovation Solution
An anonymous device position measuring system that modifies user identification codes by altering their entropy and applying mapping functions to create secondary identification codes, allowing for adjustable anonymity while maintaining user privacy through hashing and bit manipulation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If MAC addresses are used for device position measurement, then device tracking accuracy is improved, but user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary identifying information from MAC addresses by removing specific bits (increasing entropy) to create truncated identifiers. This extraction process retains enough information for position measurement while removing personally identifiable elements, thus resolving the contradiction between tracking accuracy and privacy protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of identification codes by modifying their entropy through bit removal and hashing operations. By transforming MAC addresses into truncated identifiers with different entropy characteristics, the system maintains functionality for position measurement while altering the identifying properties to protect user privacy.
2Productivity
If unique identifiers are collected for position measurement, then user tracking capability is improved, but compliance with privacy legislation is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs disposable identifiers that are intentionally designed to be short-lived and non-reversible. By creating identifiers that cannot be traced back to original MAC addresses and that change over time, the system maintains tracking capability while ensuring compliance with privacy legislation that prohibits collection of persistent unique identifiers.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces truncated identifiers as an intermediary between the original MAC address and the position measurement system. This intermediary layer allows tracking functionality to operate while preventing direct access to personally identifiable information, thus enabling productivity while ensuring legal compliance.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If MAC addresses are hashed for anonymity, then user privacy is improved, but identification accuracy is worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies partial hashing by removing only certain bits from MAC addresses rather than applying full hashing. This partial action provides sufficient anonymity protection while retaining enough identifying information to maintain reasonable identification accuracy, thus balancing privacy protection with measurement precision.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
AI summary
There is provided a system for measuring in an anonymous manner one or more spatial positions of one or more user devices (104) within a region, wherein the system includes a wireless arrangement (100) for receiving signals from the one or more user devices (104) for determining the one or more spatial positions of the one or more user devices (104), wherein the wireless arrangement (100) is operable to receive one or more user identification codes from the one or more user devices (104), wherein the one or more user identification codes include N bits and; the system is operable to apply a mapping function to map the one or more user identification codes to form one or more corresponding secondary identification codes by decreasing an entropy of the one or more user identification codes by K bits; and to modify the one or more corresponding secondary identification codes by increasing entropy of the one or more corresponding secondary identification codes by M bits; or the system is operable to modify the one or more user identification codes by increasing entropy of the one or more user identification codes by M bits; and to apply a mapping function to map the entropy-increased one or more user identification codes to form one or more corresponding secondary identification codes by decreasing an entropy of the one or more user identification codes by K bits.