JP2012147199A - Positional information fuzziness system, information processing apparatus, and server device, method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a positional information fuzziness system, information processing apparatus, server device, positional information fuzziness method, and positional information fuzziness program, capable of making positional information fuzzy while retaining utility value.SOLUTION: The positional information fuzziness system includes: positional information acquisition means 10 that can acquire the positional information of an information processing apparatus; and position information conversion means 20 that converts the positional information into landmark positional information showing a landmark position, based on the positional information acquired by the positional information acquisition means 10 and area information showing an area defined with a predetermined landmark as a base point.

Description

  The present invention relates to a location information obscuration system, an information processing device, a server device, a location information ambiguity method, and a location information ambiguity program.

  In recent years, a position information acquisition function using GPS or the like is mounted on a portable device, and a service using the acquired position information is provided. However, the position information is personal information in that the position of the individual can be specified. Therefore, it is better to avoid as much as possible accurate location information from being passed to service providers.

  Therefore, it has been studied to obscure location information and provide it to service providers. Even if location information is somewhat ambiguous, if the location is meaningful, there is often no problem in service provision, analysis, and research.

  An example of the position information obscuration method is described in Non-Patent Document 1. In the method described in Non-Patent Document 1, k anonymity is used to protect personal information, and the smallest possible rectangular area including k pieces of position information including additional information such as a store as shown in FIG. It is ambiguous by calculating. Further, Non-Patent Document 1 shows an example in which map information is further combined and a rectangular area including a station is considered.

  As a related technique, Patent Document 1 describes a privacy protection device capable of dynamically concealing privacy information such as position information.

JP 2009-009305 A

“Proposal of station clustering method using Web information” Kiichi Yuichi, Aya Koike, Yasuyuki Shirai, 1D1-2, The 24th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, 2010.

  In the method described in non-patent literature, the station is a landmark that anyone can understand, but by defining a rectangular area to include the station, the granularity of the location information (rectangular information in this paper) becomes rough. Too much.

  Further, since the rectangular area is used as the position information and is not the information indicating the specific position but the range information, the representative point cannot be determined and used.

  Moreover, if the location information is concealed for the purpose of protecting privacy as in the privacy protection device described in Patent Document 1, the user cannot receive a service using the location information.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a location information obscuration system, an information processing device, a server device, a location information obscuration method, and a location information ambiguity program that can obscure location information while leaving utility value. And

  A position information obscuration system according to the present invention shows position information acquisition means capable of acquiring position information of an information processing apparatus, position information acquired by the position information acquisition means, and an area defined based on a predetermined landmark. It is characterized by comprising position information conversion means for converting the position information into landmark position information indicating the position of the landmark based on the area information.

  The positional information obscuration system according to the present invention includes positional information acquisition means capable of acquiring positional information of the information processing apparatus, and positional information ambiguity means for obscuring the positional information acquired by the positional information acquisition means. Features.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is obfuscated from a server apparatus, a position information acquisition unit that can acquire position information, a transmission unit that transmits information including at least the position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit to a server apparatus, and It is characterized by comprising receiving means for receiving position information and position information transmitting means for transmitting information including at least obscure position information to the server device for service providers.

  The server device according to the present invention determines whether or not the receiving means for receiving the position information of the information processing apparatus from the information processing apparatus, and whether or not the position information received by the receiving means is included in the area based on the landmark. Characterized in that it comprises ambiguity means for making the position of the landmark ambiguous position information and a transmission means for transmitting the ambiguous position information to the information processing apparatus when it is determined that the landmark position is ambiguous. To do.

  The server device according to the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives at least information including location information and a URI that can identify a server device for a service provider, and whether the received location information is included in an area based on a landmark. If it is determined to be included, the ambiguous means for making the position of the landmark ambiguous and the position information ambiguous by the ambiguous means for the service provider specified by the URI And a transmission means for transmitting to the server device.

  The position information ambiguity method according to the present invention determines whether or not the position indicated by the position information is included in an area based on the landmark, and if it is determined that the position is included, the position of the landmark is ambiguous. It is characterized in that it is converted to position information.

  The position information ambiguity program according to the present invention searches a position information acquisition process for acquiring position information in a computer, determines whether or not the position information is included in an area based on a landmark, and searches for an area including the position information. And a re-search process for enlarging and recalculating the area so that each area includes k or more pieces of position information in order to satisfy k anonymity.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to obscure position information while leaving utility value.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of 1st Embodiment of the positional information obscuration system by this invention. It is a flowchart showing the operation example of 1st Embodiment of a positional information ambiguity system. It is explanatory drawing which shows the specific Example of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of 2nd Embodiment of a positional information obscuration system. It is a message chart for demonstrating 2nd Embodiment of a positional information obscuration system. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the existing technique. It is a block diagram which shows the minimum structural example of a positional information obscuration system.

First Embodiment Next, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a first embodiment of a position information ambiguity system according to the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, the first embodiment of the positional information ambiguity system according to the present invention includes M information processing apparatuses 1j (j = 1 to M) having means for acquiring positional information, and positional information. And a reliable server device 2 corresponding to the position information of a landmark (here, the distance is closest). In addition, the reliable server apparatus 2 is specifically equipped with the capability to protect a user's personal information including a positional information. The information processing apparatus 1j and the server apparatus 2 can communicate with each other via a communication line such as the Internet.

  Further, in this embodiment, the expression that the position information is made ambiguous is used. Specifically, the position of the user is anonymized while leaving an element that can recognize the position of the user to some extent.

  Specifically, the information processing device 1j is realized by a mobile terminal device (for example, a mobile phone or a PHS terminal) that operates according to a program.

  Further, the information processing apparatus 1j acquires at least the position information acquisition unit 101j, the transmission unit 102j that transmits the position information to the server apparatus 2, and the result from the server apparatus 2 (specifically, the ambiguous position information) Receiving means 103j and providing means 104j for providing the obfuscated location information to the service provider.

  Specifically, the position information acquisition unit 101j is realized by a CPU of an information processing apparatus that operates according to a program. The position information acquisition unit 101j has a function of acquiring the position information of the information processing apparatus 1j. The position information acquisition unit 101j receives, for example, a GPS signal emitted from a GPS satellite, and calculates position information based on the received GPS signal.

  Specifically, the transmission unit 102j, the reception unit 103j, and the provision unit 104j are realized by a network interface unit of an information processing apparatus that operates according to a program.

  In the present embodiment, it is assumed that M information processing apparatuses 1j (j = 1 to M) each include the above-described means.

  The server device 2 includes a storage unit 201, a reception unit 202, a search unit 203, and a transmission unit 204. Specifically, the server apparatus 2 is realized by an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer that operates according to a program.

  Specifically, the storage unit 201 is realized by a storage device such as an optical disk device or a magnetic disk device. The storage unit 201 stores at least position information, radius information, and number information of N landmarks. Note that the radius information indicates the radius of a circular region with the landmark position indicated by the position information as a base point. In this embodiment, a circular area centered on the landmark position is used, but the area does not necessarily have to be the center of the landmark position. The number information indicates the number of information processing devices included in the area specified by the position information and the radius information.

  Specifically, the receiving unit 202 is realized by a network interface unit of an information processing apparatus that operates according to a program. The receiving unit 202 has a function of receiving position information transmitted from the information processing apparatus 1.

  Specifically, the search unit 203 is realized by a CPU of an information processing apparatus that operates according to a program. The search means 203 uses the position information and radius information of N landmarks (for example, high-rise buildings, famous shops, public facilities, etc.) stored in the storage means 201 to compare the received position information, It has a function to search landmarks. Further, for example, the search unit 203 converts the received position information into the latest landmark position information (hereinafter also referred to as landmark position information).

  Specifically, the transmission unit 204 is realized by a network interface unit of an information processing apparatus that operates according to a program. The transmission unit 204 has a function of transmitting the landmark position information after conversion to the information processing apparatus 1.

  Each of these means generally operates as follows. In the information processing apparatus 1j, the position information acquisition unit 101j acquires the position information of the information processing apparatus 1j every predetermined time or when a user operation is detected. Then, the transmission unit 102j transmits information including at least the acquired position information to the server device 2.

  On the other hand, in the server device 2, the receiving unit 202 receives information including the position information transmitted by the information processing device 1j. Then, the search unit 203 performs a search using the data stored in the storage unit 201 and determines which landmark the received position information belongs to (that is, to which landmark the received position information corresponds). To do.

  The search means 203 performs the above search process on the M pieces of position information received by the server apparatus 2 within the time Δt (that is, within a predetermined period), and adjusts the length of the radius of the area based on the landmark position. By doing so, the position information belonging to each landmark is set to k or more. Note that k is a value of 2 or more determined in advance. Thus, by associating the position information of a plurality of information processing devices with one landmark, it is possible to increase the anonymity of the position information of each user and make it difficult to specify personal information.

  Next, the transmission unit 204 of the server apparatus 2 transmits the position information of the landmark associated with the received position information to the information processing apparatus 1j. Then, in the information processing apparatus 1j, the receiving unit 103j receives the landmark position information as ambiguous position information. The providing unit 104j provides the service provider with the obfuscated position information. In the present embodiment, the expression that the location information is provided to the service provider is used. Specifically, the location information is transmitted to a server device provided by the service provider.

  Next, the overall operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the first embodiment of the positional information ambiguity system. Here, an example in which a plurality of information processing apparatuses 1 i and one server apparatus 2 are operating will be described.

  First, the position information acquisition unit 101i (i = 1 to M) of each information processing apparatus 1i (i = 1 to M) acquires position information (step S1 in FIG. 2).

  Next, the transmission means 102i of each information processing apparatus 1i transmits the acquired position information to the reliable server apparatus 2 (step S2 in FIG. 2). Then, in the server device 2, the receiving unit 202 receives position information.

  It is assumed that the processing of steps S1 to S2 is repeated and the server apparatus 2 receives M pieces of position information within the time Δt (step S3 in FIG. 2).

  Next, the search unit 203 of the server device 2 performs a search using the landmark position information and radius information stored in the storage unit 201 based on the received position information, and extracts the corresponding landmark position information. To do. At this time, the search unit 203 increases the number h (initial value 0) indicated by the landmark number information stored in the storage unit 201 by 1 (step S4).

  Specifically, the search unit 203 determines whether the position indicated by the received position information is included in the area indicated by the landmark position information and the radius information. And the search means 203 matches the landmark used as the base point of the area | region determined to be included, and position information. Further, at this time, the search unit 203 makes the received position information ambiguous by converting the received position information into the associated landmark position information.

  Further, the search means 203 performs all the position information that has received the process of step S4 (step S5).

  Next, the search unit 203 increases the radius r by Δr until the number of pieces of position information belonging to the region having the radius r centered on the landmark having the number h of 1 or more is at least k (step S6, Step S7).

  Specifically, the inspection unit 203 determines whether or not the number h is less than k in all the areas determined based on the landmark position information and the radius information (step S6). When determining that the number h is less than k, the inspection unit 203 increases the radius r of the corresponding region by Δr (step S7), shifts the process to step S4, and repeats steps S4 to S6. Execute. On the other hand, when determining that the number h is not less than k, the inspection unit 203 proceeds to step S8.

  Since the processing for determining which landmark the received position information corresponds to has been completed by the above processing, the transmission unit 404 transmits the position information of the landmark associated with each information processing apparatus 1i (step S8). ).

  Finally, each information processing device 1i provides the received location information of the landmark to the service provider as the location information that is ambiguous (step S9). Specifically, the providing unit 104i transmits the received landmark position information to a server device or the like provided by the service provider. Thereafter, for example, the server device of the service provider distributes information on landmarks (for example, special sales information or coupons for department stores) based on the received position information.

  Next, the operation of the positional information ambiguity system according to the present invention will be described using a specific embodiment. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, an example in which Δt = 10 minutes, Δr = 100 m, M = 8, k = 2, and the number of landmarks is 3 will be described.

  Here, the radii r1, r2, r3 of the landmark 1, the landmark 2, and the landmark 3 are calculated in advance so as to be ½ between the latest landmarks. The position pi (i = 1 to 10) of the information processing apparatus is at the position shown in FIG. Further, the area of radius r2 with landmark 2 as the base point includes p2, p3, and p4. Further, the region of radius r3 with the landmark 3 as the base point includes p5, p6, p7, and p8.

  In this case, since only one information processing device p1 is included in the area having the radius r1 with the landmark 1 as a base point, 100 m is added to the radius r1. In this way, when the region is expanded, in addition to p1, p2 is included in the region having landmark 1 as a base point. Since k = 2 is satisfied (that is, position information of a plurality of information processing devices is associated with one landmark), the position information of landmark 1 is transmitted to the information processing devices corresponding to p1 and p2. To do. Further, the position information of the landmark 2 is transmitted to the information processing apparatuses corresponding to p3 and p4, and the position information of the landmark 3 is transmitted to the information processing apparatuses corresponding to p5, p6, p7 and p8.

  Thereafter, each information processing apparatus regards the position information received from the server apparatus as ambiguous position information and provides the position information to the service provider.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described.

  The first effect is that ambiguous position information is easy to use. The reason is that the position information of the landmark is made ambiguous.

  In other words, replacing the position of the terminal in the vicinity of the landmark with the position of the landmark obfuscates the exact position of the terminal, but it can be understood that the approximate position is replaced with the position of the landmark. Because. Thus, by replacing with the position of the landmark, the service provider can also provide a service for providing information on the landmark (for example, special sales information and coupons for department stores). Substituting for is significant.

  The second effect is that individual position information can be hidden. The reason is that a plurality of pieces of accurate position information are included in the same area, and landmarks are shown as ambiguous position information.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 4 and 5, the second embodiment of the positional information ambiguity system according to the present invention includes an information processing device 3 j (j = 1 to M) and a reliable server device 4.

  The information processing device 3j transmits information including at least position information and a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) that can identify the service provider to the server device 4. And the server apparatus 4 transmits the positional information made ambiguous directly to the service provider. In the present embodiment, the expression that information is transmitted to the service provider is used. Specifically, the information is transmitted to a server device or the like installed by the service provider specified by the URI.

  The difference from the first embodiment is that a URI acquisition unit 303j for acquiring a URI capable of specifying a service provider is added to the information processing apparatus 3j. The URI acquisition unit 303j acquires, for example, the URL of a Web site that provides a service that the user wants to receive according to the user's operation.

  In the server device 4, the storage unit 401 can store the URL of the service provider, and the transmission unit 404 does not return the ambiguous position information to the information processing device 3i. 4 is different in that it uses the URI stored from 4 to send the obfuscated location information to the service provider. Except for these points, the flowchart is the same as the first embodiment of the present invention, and a description thereof will be omitted.

  FIG. 5 is a message chart of the second embodiment of the position information ambiguity system. As shown in FIG. 5, in the present embodiment, the information processing device 3 j first transmits information including at least location information and a URI that identifies the service provider to the server device 4. Then, the server device 4 performs a search process based on the received information in the same manner as in the first embodiment, and simultaneously receives the position information (landmark position information) obtained by obscuring the received position information. Sent to the service provider specified in.

  Next, the effect of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, the location information received from the information processing device is converted by the server device, and the converted location information is transmitted directly from the server device to the service provider. Therefore, there is no overhead for returning position information from the server device to the information processing device, and in addition to the effects of the first embodiment, the overall processing can be simplified.

  As described above, the position information obscuration system according to the present invention includes the position information of the landmark, the circular area information acquisition means based on the landmark, and the means for determining which area the position information belongs to. ing. In addition, there is provided means for adjusting the area so that the number of position information belonging to the area becomes k or more in order to maintain k anonymity, and the position information of the landmark corresponding to the area is made ambiguous as position information. Operates to reply. By adopting such a configuration and indicating landmark position information, the object of the present invention can be achieved.

  Next, the minimum configuration of the position information obscuration system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a minimum configuration example of the position information ambiguity system. As shown in FIG. 7, the positional information obscuration system includes positional information acquisition means 10 and positional information conversion means 20 as minimum components.

  In the minimum configuration position information obscuration system shown in FIG. 7, the position information acquisition unit 10 acquires the position information of the information processing apparatus. Then, the position information converting means 20 indicates the position of the landmark based on the position information acquired by the position information acquiring means 10 and the area information indicating the area defined with the predetermined landmark as a base point. Convert to landmark position information.

  Therefore, according to the position information obscuration system having the minimum configuration, the position information can be obscured while retaining the utility value.

  In this embodiment, the characteristic configuration of the positional information ambiguity system as shown in the following (1) to (5) is shown.

  (1) The positional information obscuration system includes positional information acquisition means (for example, realized by the positional information acquisition means 101) that can acquire positional information of the information processing apparatus (for example, the information processing apparatus 1), and positional information acquisition. Based on the position information acquired by the means and area information indicating an area defined with a predetermined landmark as a base point (for example, indicated by landmark position information and radius information), the position information is converted into the position of the landmark. It is characterized by comprising position information converting means (for example, realized by the search means 203) for converting into landmark position information indicating.

  (2) In the position information obscuration system, the position information conversion means repeatedly determines whether or not the position information converted into the landmark position information is equal to or greater than k (integer). It may be configured to update and convert the position information into the landmark position information based on the updated area information.

  (3) The position information obscuration system includes position information acquisition means (for example, realized by the position information acquisition means 101) capable of acquiring position information of the information processing apparatus (for example, information processing apparatus 1), and position information acquisition. It is characterized by comprising position information obscuration means (for example, realized by the search means 203) for obscuring the position information acquired by the means.

  (4) In the position information obscuration system, the position information ambiguity means obtains position information included in a region (for example, indicated based on the position information of the landmark and the radius information) based on a predetermined landmark. It may be configured to be ambiguous by converting to landmark position information indicating the position of a predetermined landmark.

  (5) In the position information obscuration system, the position information ambiguity means satisfies k anonymity by determining the area so that there are k or more pieces of position information included in the area based on the landmark. It may be configured to control.

  The present invention can be applied to a use for providing a service using location information in consideration of protection of personal information. According to the present invention, the service user can use the service without having to present accurate location information, which is personal information, to the service provider. Since the position information is a landmark, the service provider can provide landmark-related information or provide a service using the approximate position of the user on the map.

1j, 3j Information processing device 2, 4 Server device 10 Position information acquisition means 20 Position information conversion means 101j Position information acquisition means 102j Transmission means 103j Reception means 201 Storage means 202 Reception means 203 Search means 204 Transmission means 301j Position information acquisition means 302j Transmission means 303j URI acquisition means 401 Storage means 402 Reception means 403 Search means 404 Transmission means

Claims (10)

Position information acquisition means capable of acquiring position information of the information processing device;
The position information is converted into landmark position information indicating the position of the landmark based on the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means and area information indicating an area defined with a predetermined landmark as a base point. A position information ambiguity system characterized by comprising position information conversion means. The position information conversion means repeatedly determines whether or not the position information converted into the landmark position information is equal to or greater than k (integer), and updates the area information if not greater than k, based on the updated area information. The position information ambiguity system according to claim 1, wherein the position information is converted into the landmark position information. Position information acquisition means capable of acquiring position information of the information processing device;
A position information ambiguity system comprising: position information ambiguity means for obscuring the position information acquired by the position information acquisition means. 4. The position information according to claim 3, wherein the position information ambiguity means is obscured by converting position information included in an area having a predetermined landmark as a base point into landmark position information indicating a position of the predetermined landmark. Ambiguity system. The position information ambiguity means controls to satisfy k anonymity by determining the area so that k or more pieces of position information are included in the area based on the landmark. Description location information ambiguity system. Position information acquisition means capable of acquiring position information;
Transmitting means for transmitting at least information including position information acquired by the position information acquiring means to a server device;
Receiving means for receiving ambiguous location information from the server device;
An information processing apparatus comprising: position information transmitting means for transmitting information including at least the obfuscated position information to a server device for a service provider. Receiving means for receiving position information of the information processing device from the information processing device;
It is determined whether or not the position information received by the receiving means is included in an area having a landmark as a base point. When,
A server apparatus comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the position information obfuscated by the obfuscation unit to the information processing apparatus. Receiving means for receiving information including at least location information and a URI capable of specifying a server device for a service provider;
It is determined whether or not the received position information is included in an area having a landmark as a base point, and when it is determined that the position information is included, an obfuscation unit that makes the position of the landmark ambiguous,
A server device comprising: a transmission unit configured to transmit the position information obfuscated by the obfuscation unit to a server device for a service provider specified by the URI. It is determined whether or not the position indicated by the position information is included in an area having the landmark as a base point, and when it is determined that the position is included, the position of the landmark is made ambiguous. How to obscure location information. On the computer,
Position information acquisition processing for acquiring position information;
A search process for determining whether or not the position information is included in an area based on a landmark and searching for an area including the position information;
In order to satisfy k anonymity, a position information ambiguity program for executing a re-search process for enlarging and re-calculating and searching so that each area includes k or more pieces of position information.

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