GPS Repeater Mapping for Indoor Location Obfuscation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional GPS location methods are inadequate in environments with signal attenuation, such as buildings, and economically infeasible to deploy, leading to a lack of mobile device location data, which affects service reliability and security.
Innovation Solution
Utilizing GPS repeaters to generate repeated GPS reference points with controlled signal delays, allowing for obfuscated location calculations that map to actual locations, providing location information without revealing precise coordinates.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If GPS signals are used for indoor localization, then location accuracy is improved, but signal strength deteriorates due to building wall attenuation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces GPS repeaters as intermediary devices that receive weak GPS signals from satellites, amplify them, and retransmit them indoors. This mediator overcomes the signal attenuation caused by building walls, enabling GPS reception in environments where direct satellite signals are too weak.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs signal amplification through GPS repeaters to counteract the harmful attenuation effect of building walls. The repeaters provide counterbalancing signal strength to compensate for the loss incurred when GPS signals penetrate building structures.
2Adaptability or versatility
If GPS repeaters are deployed to enable indoor localization, then location availability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The GPS repeaters are designed to be multi-functional devices that not only amplify GPS signals for localization but also integrate with existing cellular network infrastructure. This universality allows a single deployment to serve multiple purposes: enabling indoor GPS, providing network coverage extension, and supporting various location-based services.
3Measurement precision
If actual GPS location is reported, then location precision is improved, but security deteriorates due to exposure of precise coordinates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms the location data by applying offset transformations and coordinate system conversions. Instead of reporting actual precise coordinates, the system modifies location parameters through mathematical transformations to produce obfuscated locations that preserve relative positioning information while eliminating precise geographic coordinates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a virtual copy of the location space with transformed coordinates. Instead of directly exposing real location data, the system generates a replicated location representation that maintains the functional relationships between locations while substituting the actual coordinate values with transformed equivalents.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for obfuscating locations of mobile devices and for simultaneously determining and reporting both actual locations and obfuscated locations of the mobile devices operating in a wireless communications network includes a receive section in wireless communication with a mobile device over the network, and in communication with geo-position satellites (GPS), the receive section including GPS receive antennae coupled by a corresponding cable to corresponding ones of GPS repeaters. The system further includes a monitoring section in communication with the mobile device. The monitoring section includes a processor that accesses a mapping table relating an actual GPS repeater location to an obfuscated GPS repeater location in which the mobile device obfuscated location is the obfuscated location of a nearest GPS repeater and the actual location of the mobile device is the obfuscated location of the GPS repeater minus an obfuscation offset. The processor reports mobile device actual and obfuscated locations.