Secure Multi-Party Computation for Anonymized Parking Estimation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing location-based services struggle to provide accurate and private parking availability information, as they rely on sensitive vehicle probe data that can reveal user privacy.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize historical vehicle probe data to anonymously estimate parking availability by employing a secure multi-party computation protocol, ensuring data privacy while providing accurate parking information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If vehicle probe data is used to provide parking availability information, then the accuracy of parking information is improved, but user privacy is compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces secure multi-party computation as an intermediary mechanism that enables multiple data providers to jointly compute parking availability statistics without any single party accessing raw probe data. The computation is performed on encrypted data, ensuring privacy protection while maintaining information accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the data processing task across multiple independent data providers, each holding portions of the probe data. By dividing the computation into multiple parties who contribute partial results, the system achieves accurate parking availability information without centralizing sensitive user data.
2Reliability
If multiple data providers contribute probe data, then the reliability of parking availability estimation is improved, but the system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a universal secure multi-party computation framework that can handle contributions from any number of data providers without requiring provider-specific customization. This multi-functional approach maintains system reliability while managing complexity through standardized protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where each data provider receives information about the overall computation progress and contributes adjustments to their partial results. This feedback loop ensures reliable aggregation of data from multiple sources while coordinating the complex multi-party computation process.
Data Source
AI summary
A method, apparatus, and computer program product are provided for estimating parking availability in an area based on probe data points in response to a request while maintaining data privacy. A method may include: receiving probe data associated with a plurality of vehicles; determining, from the probe data, location information, parking event information, and a timestamp; receiving a parking availability query, where the parking availability query includes a location; generating and transmitting a request for parking availability information corresponding to the location; receiving a plurality of partial results in response to the request for parking availability information corresponding to the location; determining, from the plurality of partial results, parking availability information corresponding to the location; and providing the parking availability information corresponding to the location responsive to the parking availability query.