Mobile User Location Analysis System with Privacy Gatekeepers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile telephone companies face challenges in analyzing location and classification data of users without breaching user privacy, due to strict regulations that prohibit the use of location information unless court permission is obtained, which is rarely granted.
Innovation Solution
A system that aggregates and analyzes mobile phone registration data by ensuring that only data sets from a predefined number of different users are processed and stored, using a signal tracker, aggregator-classifier, gate keepers, and writers to maintain privacy, and an analyzer for querying and statistical analysis within a secured database.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If mobile telephone companies obtain and analyze detailed location data of individual users, then the quality and precision of location analysis is improved, but user privacy is breached and regulations are violated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges location data from multiple users into aggregated datasets before analysis. The system combines registration records and step records from numerous users, ensuring that individual user locations cannot be identified while still providing meaningful location analysis at aggregated levels (e.g., by age group, gender, or other classifications).
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary processing layer that transforms individual user location data into aggregated statistical data. This intermediary system performs classification and aggregation operations that prevent direct access to individual user locations while preserving the analytical value of the data for commercial purposes.
2Loss of information
If mobile telephone companies store and process detailed user registration data, then the completeness of location information is improved, but the risk of privacy exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple types of location information (registration records and step records) from multiple users into aggregated datasets. This merging process preserves the completeness of location information for statistical analysis while ensuring that individual user data remains protected within the aggregation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary aggregation and classification of user data before storing it in the database. By pre-processing the data to combine information from multiple users and apply classification rules, the system ensures that only aggregated, privacy-protected data is stored, eliminating the risk of individual user exposure while maintaining information completeness.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the system aggregates data from multiple users to protect privacy, then user privacy is maintained, but the precision of individual user location analysis is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the analysis into different levels: individual user data collection, aggregated dataset creation, and classification-based analysis. This segmentation allows the system to maintain high precision for aggregated group analysis (e.g., location patterns of users aged 50-60) while protecting individual user privacy through the aggregation process.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the analysis parameters from individual user-level precision to aggregated group-level precision. By transforming the data representation from individual locations to aggregated location patterns classified by demographic parameters, the system achieves privacy protection while maintaining analytical value for commercial applications.
4Object-affected harmful factors
If the system implements multiple aggregation layers and gate keepers, then privacy protection is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the privacy protection mechanism into distinct functional components: signal tracker for data collection, aggregator-classifier for initial aggregation, gate keepers for privacy verification, and writers for secure storage. This segmentation makes the complex system manageable by dividing it into specialized modules, each handling a specific aspect of privacy-protected data processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces intermediary components (aggregator-classifier and gate keepers) that mediate between raw user data and the final database storage. These intermediaries perform necessary aggregation and verification operations, simplifying the overall system architecture by centralizing privacy protection functions in dedicated intermediary components rather than distributing complexity throughout the entire system.
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a system for providing a database ready for querying and analyzing locations of mobile phone users, said database being secured from possibility of breaching a privacy of a single user, which comprises: (a) a signal tracker for receiving a flow of real-time network registrations of plurality of mobile phones, for comparing each registration with a corresponding previous registration for a same mobile phone, and for forwarding any present registration and the result of said comparison to an aggregator-classifier and a step aggregator respectively; (b) an aggregator-classifier and a step aggregator for receiving each of said registration and comparison results respectively, for consulting with a CRM with respect to each registration, and based on said consultation aggregating registration records and step records according to their classifications; (c) a timer for periodically, every period T, forwarding the aggregated registration records and the aggregated step records, as aggregated within said aggregator-classifier and within said step aggregator respectively to a sector gate keeper and to a step gate keeper respectively; (d) a sector gate keeper and a step gate keeper for inspecting each aggregated registration record and each aggregated step record, and for forwarding to a sector gate keeper and to a step gate keeper respectively only those aggregated registration records and aggregated step records that evolve from at least a predefined number N of different users; (e) a sector writer and a step writer for receiving aggregated registration records, and aggregated step records, each evolving from at least a predefined number N of different users, and for writing all said records within a database.