Privacy-preserving location attestation
AssigneeGoogle Inc.
InventorsAlex Jacobson, Nicholas Sabatino, Sudhi Herle
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A non-transitory computer-readable medium stores instructions that implement an application programming interface (API). When invoked by a software entity executing on a computing device, the API is configured to receive, from the application, an indication of a geographic location (304); obtain, from an operating system of the computing device, an indication of a general geographic area associated with a home location of a user, wherein the operating system prevents the software entity from accessing the indication of the general geographic area (306); and provide, to the software entity, an indication of whether the geographic location is within the general geographic area (308).
Claims16
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing thereon instructions that implement an application programming interface (API) on a portable device which, when invoked by a software application executing on the portable device, is configured to:
- receive, from the software application, an indication of a current geographic location of the portable device;
- obtain, from an operating system of the portable device, an indication of a general geographic area including a home location of the portable device, wherein the operating system prevents the software application from accessing the indication of the general geographic area;
- and
- provide, to the software application, an indication of whether the current geographic location is within the general geographic area.
A method implemented in an operating system of a portable device, the method comprising:
- determining, by one or more processors, a general geographic area including a home location of the portable device;
- storing, by the one or more processors, an indication of the general geographic area in a privileged region of a memory of the portable device;
- and
- restricting, by the one or more processors, access to the indication, including:
- preventing, by the one or more processors, software application executing on the portable device from accessing the indication of the general geographic area, and
- granting, by the one or more processors, access to the indication to an API exposed to the software application and configured to operate on the indication without revealing the indication to the software application.
A portable device comprising:
- one or more processors;
- a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the portable device to:
- determine a general geographic area including a home location of the portable device;
- store an indication of the general geographic area in a privileged region of a memory of the portable device;
- and
- restrict access to the indication, including:
- preventing software application executing on the portable device from accessing the indication of the general geographic area, and
- granting access to the indication to an API exposed to the software application and configured to operate on the indication without revealing the indication to the software application.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.