Decentralized Device-to-Device Network Location Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing social networks and cloud-based storage systems compromise user privacy as they often allow third parties to access and utilize user data for marketing and advertising purposes, conflicting with users' desire for control over their information.
Innovation Solution
A secure, decentralized device-to-device network that allows users to communicate and share content without relying on external servers, using pre-established associations and encryption keys to control access and maintain privacy, enabling users to restrict or eliminate third-party access to their information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users publish information on social networks to enable easy access and information exchange, then the ability to communicate with large groups is improved, but user privacy and control over information is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the centralization function from traditional social networks by implementing a distributed network architecture where each user's device acts as an independent node. Information is published directly to the distributed network without being stored or controlled by a central server, thereby maintaining ease of information exchange while preventing loss of user privacy and control.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the centralized social network into multiple independent user devices forming a distributed network. Each device maintains its own information locally and shares it peer-to-peer, eliminating the single point of control and preventing third-party access to aggregated user data while preserving information exchange capabilities.
2Ease of operation
If social network providers use published information for revenue generation and advertising, then service convenience is improved, but user privacy is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a self-service distributed network where users independently manage and control their own information without relying on centralized provider services. Each user device autonomously handles information storage, sharing, and access control, eliminating the need for providers to monetize user data while maintaining service convenience through direct peer-to-peer interactions.
3Reliability
If a distributed device-to-device network is implemented without external servers, then user privacy and security is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes each user device universal by enabling it to perform multiple functions: storing information locally, acting as a network node, discovering other devices, and sharing information peer-to-peer. This multi-functionality distributes the system's operational burden across all participants, reducing the need for external infrastructure while maintaining security and privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary device discovery and association mechanisms where devices establish connections and exchange information about each other before actual information sharing begins. This pre-establishment of trust and connectivity relationships simplifies the overall system operation by avoiding the need for complex real-time negotiation protocols during information exchange.
Data Source
AI summary
An electronic device in a device-to-device network of a user of the electronic device communicates with a group of one or more other instances of the electronic via dynamic connections that are based on pre-established and maintained (i.e., long-lived) associations in the device-to-device network. Moreover, a given dynamic connection between the electronic device and a given instance of the electronic device in the group is setup by the electronic device without assistance of a computer in another network, which conveys the communication within the group. During operation, the electronic device: detects a change to a location of the electronic device in the other network; and communicates a message with the update to the location to a second user in the device-to-device network who is associated with a second instance of the electronic device in the group at a second location specified by one of the associations.