Tracking Key Diversification for Secure Low-Power Location Sharing
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Traditional tracking devices face limitations such as limited battery life due to high power consumption for long-range tracking, expensive technology requirements, and low-power options that are restricted to close proximity, making them less useful for locating objects at a distance.
Innovation Solution
A tracking device associated with a permanent encryption key pair and temporary public keys is used, allowing location data to be encrypted and decrypted through a central tracking system, leveraging a community of mobile devices for location updates when the user is out of range.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Length of stationary object
If traditional long-range tracking technology is used, then tracking range is improved, but power consumption increases and battery life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces community mobile devices as intermediaries that perform the actual location detection and GPS tracking. The tracking device only needs to broadcast its identifier and receive nearby device detections, while the community mobile devices handle the power-intensive GPS and communication operations. This mediator approach allows long-range tracking capability without requiring the tracked device to consume high power.
Solution Approach 2:
The tracking system is segmented into multiple functional components: the tracking device handles only identification and local broadcasting, while community mobile devices handle detection, GPS location acquisition, and cloud communication. This segmentation allows each component to perform only its specific function, minimizing the power requirements of the battery-constrained tracking device while achieving long-range tracking capability.
2Length of stationary object
If traditional long-range tracking technology is used, then tracking range is improved, but device cost and circuitry complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
Community mobile devices serve as intermediaries that provide GPS, wireless communication, and processing capabilities. The tracking device itself only needs minimal circuitry for broadcasting its identifier and receiving detection signals. This approach achieves long-range tracking without requiring sophisticated circuitry in the tracked device.
Solution Approach 2:
The system leverages the existing multi-functional capabilities of community mobile devices (GPS receiver, processor, wireless communication, display) to perform tracking functions. Instead of building all these capabilities into the tracking device, the system uses the universal functionality of readily available mobile devices in the community to achieve long-range tracking.
3Use of energy by moving object
If low-power tracking options are used, then power consumption is reduced, but tracking range is limited to close proximity
Solution Approach 1:
Community mobile devices act as intermediaries that extend the effective tracking range. The tracking device only needs to communicate with nearby devices that detect it, and those intermediaries handle the long-range communication with the cloud. This allows the tracking device to remain low-power while achieving extended tracking range through the intermediary network.
Solution Approach 2:
Community mobile devices perform preliminary detection and location acquisition before the tracking device needs to communicate long-range. By having nearby devices already detect and locate the tracking device, the system eliminates the need for the tracking device to activate high-power long-range transmission, maintaining low power consumption while achieving extended range through the preliminary actions of intermediaries.
4Length of stationary object
If location data is collected by community mobile devices, then tracking range is extended, but data security and privacy requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Different parts of the system handle data with different security requirements. Community mobile devices collect and process location data locally, then transmit only encrypted identifiers and location information to the cloud. The tracking device itself never exposes sensitive data. This local quality approach allows extended tracking range while maintaining security by ensuring sensitive data remains localized and encrypted throughout the system.
Solution Approach 2:
The cloud server acts as a secure intermediary that receives encrypted data from community mobile devices and provides it to authorized users. The intermediary architecture ensures that raw location data is not exposed during transmission or storage, and that only encrypted, authenticated communication occurs between components. This mediator approach enables extended tracking through community devices while maintaining data security through centralized encrypted handling.
Data Source
AI summary
A tracking device can use a permanent encryption key pair to encrypt a temporary private key that corresponds to a set of diversified temporary public keys. When a community mobile device subsequently detects the tracking device, the central tracking system provides a diversified temporary public key to the community mobile device. The community mobile device uses the diversified temporary public key to encrypt location data representative of a location of the community mobile device, and provides the encrypted location data to the central tracking system. When a user subsequently requests a location of the tracking device from the central tracking system, the central tracking system provides the encrypted temporary private key and the encrypted location data to a device of the user, and the device can decrypt the encrypted temporary private key using the permanent encryption key pair, and decrypt the encrypted location data using the decrypted temporary private key.