US 11,914,747 B2
Method, apparatus, and computer program product for quantifying the linkability of trajectory data
Stefano Bennati, Zurich (CH); and Aleksandra Kovacevic, Wettswil (CH)
Assigned to HERE GLOBAL B.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Filed by HERE GLOBAL B.V., Eindhoven (NL)
Filed on Mar. 16, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/249,851.
Prior Publication US 2022/0300641 A1, Sep. 22, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 21/62 (2013.01); H04W 4/02 (2018.01); H04W 4/029 (2018.01); H04W 12/02 (2009.01)
CPC G06F 21/6245 (2013.01) [H04W 4/026 (2013.01); H04W 4/029 (2018.02); H04W 12/02 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
receive a set of probe data points defining a target trajectory from a probe apparatus;
characterize the target trajectory based on features of the target trajectory;
identify a plurality of candidate trajectories sharing at least some features with the target trajectory;
calculate, for each of the candidate trajectories, a similarity score with respect to the target trajectory, wherein the similarity score for a candidate trajectory reflects a similarity between shared features of the candidate trajectory with the target trajectory;
calculate a privacy score representing a likelihood of identifying the probe apparatus from the target trajectory based on a number of trajectories in the plurality of candidate trajectories and their respective similarity score, wherein the privacy score increases responsive to an increase in the number of trajectories and responsive to an increase in a number of shared features of each candidate trajectory with the target trajectory; and
provide information associated with the target trajectory for location-based services in response to the privacy score satisfying a predetermined value.