Method and system for using bluetooth and other nearby-communications technologies to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of novel corona viruses and other highly-contagious diseases, with user privacy and security central to the design

A new privacy-preserving communications method for implementing exposure notification, contact tracing, and movement tracking measures by using Bluetooth or other nearby communications technology for communicating with nearby smartphones and mobile devices, and for a data exchange mechanism both to alert participants of possible exposure to someone who they have recently been in contact with, and who has subsequently been positively or potentially diagnosed as having a novel coronavirus or other highly contagious disease, and to trace and identify containers, packages, envelopes and other objects that may have been in contact with a person or object carrying or potentially carrying the virus or disease, the method comprising:

• For each smartphone or other mobile device (“Tracing Device”) equipped with at least one item from a set of the following wireless technologies—ZigBee, WiFi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), Bluetooth Smart, Near-Field Communication (NFC) and WiMax (a “Wireless Technology”)—generation of a random or dynamically changing unique device identifier (“Tracing Key”) that is derived from at least one item from a set comprised of at least one of the following identifiers associated with the Tracing Device (including its software and firmware):
• a one-time tracing key, a randomly generated one-time tracing key, operating system software, MAC address, IP address, local area network, wide area network, cloud network, cloud account, serial number, other device identifying information, attribute, interest, preference, activity, service message, tag, token, vendor device identifier, advertising device identifier, other datum, other data set, and other variable identification information;
• Using a client application (herein, a sixth-sense client or, “SS Client”) on the Tracing Device to conduct at least one of the following functions:
• detect the Tracing Key stored on at least one other Tracing Device (“Other Tracing Device”) and authenticate at least one Other Tracing Device based on its Tracing Key;
• and
• Using the SS Client on the at least one Other Tracing Device to authenticate the first Tracing Device or any Other Tracing Device based on its Tracing Key.

A new privacy-preserving Bluetooth method for implementing exposure notification, contact tracing, and movement tracking measures contact tracing by using the Bluetooth LE (Low Energy) contact detection service for proximity detection of nearby smartphones, and for the data exchange mechanism to alert participants of possible exposure to someone who they have recently been in contact with, and who has subsequently been positively or potentially diagnosed as having a novel coronavirus or other highly contagious disease, the method comprising:

• For each smartphone or other mobile device (“Tracing Device”) equipped with either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or Bluetooth Smart contact detection service (BCDS), generation of a random or dynamically changing unique device identifier (“Tracing Key”) that is derived from at least one item from a set comprised of at least one of the following identifiers associated with the Tracing Device (including its software and firmware):
• a one-time tracing key, a randomly generated one-time tracing key, operating system software, MAC address, IP address, local area network, wide area network, cloud network, cloud account, serial number, other device identifying information, attribute, interest, preference, activity, service message, tag, token, vendor device identifier, advertising device identifier, other datum, other data set, and other variable identification information;
• Using a client application (herein, a sixth-sense client or, “SS Client”) on the Tracing Device to conduct at least one of the following functions:
• detect the Tracing Key stored on at least one other Tracing Device (“Other Tracing Device”) and authenticate at least one Other Tracing Device based on its Tracing Key;
• and
• Using the SS Client on the at least one Other Tracing Device to authenticate the first Tracing Device or any Other Tracing Device based on its Tracing Key.