Privacy Server Concealing Location via Language Selection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional communication network systems fail to effectively conceal the location information of a user, allowing the calling party to identify the called party's location and potentially intrude on their privacy, especially when the user is roaming.
Innovation Solution
An information protection server that receives current location information of a mobile terminal, retrieves predefined privacy settings, and routes calls to announce pre-stored information in a predefined language, thereby concealing the user's location from the calling party.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If the mobile terminal announces busy or unreachable state in the language of the visitor network (current location), then the calling party can understand the announcement, but the location information of the called party is revealed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (the announcement system) that translates location information into a different form (language selection) to protect privacy. When a called party is roaming, the system announces their busy or unreachable state in the language of their home network rather than the visitor network, preventing location inference while maintaining communication functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter of language used in announcements based on the called party's roaming status. Instead of using the language of the current location (visitor network), the system switches to the language of the home network, thereby altering the information content to protect location privacy while maintaining the announcement function.
2Loss of information
If the mobile terminal uses the language of the home network for announcements, then the privacy of location is protected, but the calling party may not understand the announcement if they are in a different language region
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by determining the called party's language preference in advance and storing it in the subscriber profile. This pre-configured language setting is then used for announcements even when the called party is roaming, ensuring privacy protection without requiring real-time language negotiation.
3Loss of information
If the system always uses the home network language for announcements during roaming, then location privacy is consistently protected, but the system complexity increases due to language management
Solution Approach 1:
The system utilizes existing self-service mechanisms in mobile networks, specifically the subscriber profile stored in HLR/VLR and the language preference settings already maintained by operators. The announcement system leverages these pre-existing data structures and language management capabilities without requiring additional complex infrastructure.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure relates to a method for concealing location information of a user. The method comprises receiving current location information of a mobile terminal associated with the user from a network server upon initiation of a call by telecom equipment with the mobile terminal. The mobile terminal is registered with the network server. The method further comprises retrieving privacy settings of the mobile terminal predefined in respect to the telecom equipment when the current location information of the mobile terminal is different from location information associated with the network server. The method further comprises routing the call to the network server for announcing pre-stored information in a predefined language to the telecom equipment based on the retrieved privacy settings for concealing the current location information of the user.