Device location history anonymization based on stop detection

摘要

Embodiments described herein may help to protect users' privacy when storing and/or utilizing location data that is provided by the users' mobile devices. An example method may involve: (a) determining a location history associated with a first client device, wherein the location history comprises a plurality of time-stamped location reports associated with the first client device, (b) before the location history is exported: (i) identifying at least one stop in the location history, wherein the at least one stop corresponds to a plurality of location reports that indicate a substantial lack of movement by the first client device, and (ii) scrubbing the location history in order to obscure at least one location report that corresponds to the at least one stop, and (c) exporting the scrubbed location history to long-term data storage.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
determining, by a computing device, a location history associated with a first client device, wherein the location history comprises a plurality of time-stamped location reports associated with the first client device; before the location history is exported, the computing device:
for each of a plurality of the location reports in the location history: (a) determining whether or not a maximum distance between a location indicated by the location report and one or more locations indicated by one or more subsequent location reports in the location history is less than a threshold distance, and (b) based at least in part on whether or not the maximum distance is less than the threshold distance, associating the location report with either a stopped state or a non-stopped state;identifying at least one stop in the location history, wherein the at least one stop corresponds to a plurality of location reports that are associated with the stopped state, which indicate a substantial lack of movement by the first client device; andscrubbing the location history in order to obscure at least one location report that corresponds to the at least one stop; and exporting the scrubbed location history to long-term data storage.