Geofence Tracking with Encrypted Location Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing geofencing systems compromise user privacy by requiring service providers to access and manage location data, which can be a security and privacy concern for users and service providers alike.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a geofence system that uses encrypted geospatial indices and device location identifiers, generated using a hash function with a secret key, to maintain user privacy by ensuring the service provider cannot decipher or interpret the actual locations, thus allowing geofence services to determine if a device is within a geofence without accessing the raw location data.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the service provider manages the geofence and receives current location data from the user device, then the geofence functionality can be performed, but the user's location privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential geofence identification information from the location data while removing the precise location details. The service provider receives and processes encrypted or hashed location identifiers that allow geofence matching without revealing the actual geographic coordinates to the service provider, thus extracting only the necessary information for functionality while preserving privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism in the form of encrypted or hashed location identifiers that mediate between the user device and the service provider. This intermediary representation allows the service provider to perform geofence operations without directly accessing or understanding the actual location data, acting as a privacy-preserving buffer between the two parties.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the service provider accesses and manages location data for geofence operations, then the geofence service can be provided, but security concerns arise from the service provider having access to sensitive location information
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the minimal necessary information (geofence identifier matches) from the location data, removing all sensitive contextual information. The service provider works with stripped-down location identifiers that enable geofence functionality but contain no actionable personal location information that could create security risks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent treats location identifiers as disposable, single-use tokens that are encrypted or hashed for each interaction. These transformed location identifiers have no inherent value beyond the immediate geofence matching operation and cannot be reused or reverse-engineered to compromise security, effectively making them single-purpose, short-lived data elements.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for providing a geofence service is disclosed. The geofence service receives an encrypted geospatial index for a specified geofence based on application of a hash function to respective ones of a plurality of locations for the specified geofence in accordance with a secret key that is unknown to the geofence service. The geofence service stores the encrypted geospatial index to a data store according to a geofence identifier for the specified geofence. The geofence service receives an encrypted device location identifier generated based on application of the hash function to a representation of a current location of a user device in accordance with the secret key. The geofence service determines whether the user device is located in a location of the plurality of locations based on a query of the encrypted geospatial index according to the encrypted device location identifier.