Location-Based Information Retrieval Using Segmented Geohash Privacy
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Solution Overview
Problem
Location-based services pose privacy concerns as users' location information can be compromised, leading to potential identity theft and criminal activities, and existing private information retrieval protocols are resource-intensive and impractical for large datasets like global weather data.
Innovation Solution
A paradigm using multiple addresses or indexes with differing precision levels is employed, where first address information selects a subset of location-based information, and encrypted second address information performs a privacy protocol on this subset to retrieve data without revealing precise location details to the server.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If users provide precise location information to servers, then they can access accurate location-based information, but their privacy is compromised and vulnerable to identity theft and criminal activities
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments location information into two distinct components: coarse location data (first address information) and fine location data (second address information). The coarse data is sent to the server in plaintext to select a subset of location-based information, while the fine data remains encrypted on the user's device. This segmentation allows the server to work with less precise data, reducing privacy risks while still enabling accurate information retrieval through the combination of both data types locally on the user's device.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If existing private information retrieval protocols are used to protect user privacy, then privacy is preserved, but the computational resources required become excessive and impractical for large datasets
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the data retrieval process into two stages: first, the server uses coarse location information to select and return a limited subset of location-based information from its database; second, the user's device uses the encrypted fine location information to identify and extract the specific desired information from this already-filtered subset. This segmentation dramatically reduces the computational burden on the user's device compared to applying private information retrieval protocols to the entire database, while still maintaining strong privacy protections.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If privacy protocols are applied to entire datasets, then privacy is maintained, but retrieval latency increases due to the computational burden
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a two-phase retrieval mechanism where the server first processes the coarse location query to filter and return a small subset of relevant location-based information, and then the user's device performs the privacy-preserving selection of the specific item from this pre-filtered subset. This segmentation of the retrieval process between server and client dramatically reduces latency compared to applying privacy protocols to the entire dataset at once, as the computational work is distributed and the search space is significantly reduced before the privacy-preserving operations begin.
Data Source
AI summary
A computing device sends a request for location-based information (LBI) to a server, where the request includes first address information indicative of a geographic area (e.g., where the computing device is located), and an encrypted version of second address information that specifies a sub-region of the geographic area. The second address information is encrypted by a first key not accessible to the server. The first address information is used to select a subset of the LBI stored on the server. The server then performs a privacy protocol such as Private Information Retrieval on the selected subset using the encrypted second address information. This produces an encrypted version of the requested LBI without the server having access to information indicating which item of LBI was requested. The encrypted version of the particular item of LBI is returned to the computing device, where it can be decrypted using a second key.