Peer-to-peer geolocation system

Abstract

A method and apparatus for location sharing, consisting of sending a location report by a location determining device to a plurality of network enabled devices over a peer-to-peer network, the location determining device being associated with a first digital key pair. A first of the plurality of network enabled devices, associated with a second digital key pair, performs a validation computation on the location report and submits a validation computation result and the location report to a remainder of the plurality of network enabled devices for inclusion in a shared ledger. Including the location report creates commercially-valued credits associated with the public key of the second digital key pair recorded in the shared ledger. A transfer of commercially-valued credits from association with the first public key of the first digital key pair to the public key of the second digital key pair is also recorded in the shared ledger.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for recording location information on a shared ledger comprising:
 receiving, by a first device of a plurality of network enabled devices connected to a peer-to-peer network, a location report, said first device being associated with a first network address and a first public-private key pair; and   performing a validation computation on the location report by the first device; and   transmitting a result of the validation computation and the location report by the first device, through said peer-to-peer network, to a remainder of the plurality of network enabled devices connected to the peer-to-peer network; and   adding to the shared ledger stored, by the remainder of the plurality of network enabled devices connected to the peer-to-peer network, the location report and the result of the validation computation.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 producing the validation computation, by the first device, before any of the remainder of the plurality of network enabled devices connected to the peer-to-peer network produce said validation computation.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the validation computation comprises a proof of work algorithm based on one or more of: a SHA hash, a RIPEMD hash, a Whirlpool hash, a Scrypt hash, a HAS-160 hash, an other cryptographic hash function. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 creating a record of a number of commercially-valued credits associated with a public key of a private-public key pair associated with the first device; and   including the record of the number of commercially-valued credits in the shared ledger along with the result of the validation computation and the location report.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 signing the location report with the private key of the the public-private key pair of the first device.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 extracting from the location report, an offering of a number of commercially-valued credits associated with a second public key of a second private-public key pair; and   transferring said number of commercially-valued credits to a third public key of a third public-private key pair associated with the first device, when including the result of the validation computation and the location report in the shared ledger.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 constructing a collection comprising a plurality of received location reports; and   performing the validation computation on the collection; and   adding the collection to the shared ledger.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: associating the commercially-valued credits with one or more of: a network address, a cryptographic key, an email address. 
     
     
         9 . A system comprising: a plurality of network connected devices connected to a peer-to-peer network, each network connected device comprising: one or more processors, and storage media comprising computer instructions;
 wherein, on receiving a location report, by a first device of the plurality of network connected devices, computer instructions are executed on the one or more processors of the first device and on the one or more processors of a one or more of the plurality of network connected devices, such that operations are caused comprising:   performing, by the first device, a validation computation on the location report; and   transmitting, by the first device, a result of the validation computation and the location report, through said peer-to-peer network, to a remainder of the plurality of network connected devices; and   adding to a shared ledger, by the remainder of the plurality of the network connected devices, the location report and the result of the validation computation.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the first device is associated with a first network address and a first public-private key pair. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 producing the validation computation, by the first device, before any of the remainder of the plurality of network enabled devices connected to the peer-to-peer network produce said validation computation.   
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the validation computation, produced by the first device, comprises a proof of work algorithm based on one or more of: a SHA hash, a RIPEMD hash, a Whirlpool hash, a Scrypt hash, a HAS-160 hash, an other cryptographic hash function. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 creating, by the first device, a record of a number of commercially-valued credits associated with a first public key of the first private-public key pair associated with the first device; and   including the record of the number of commercially-valued credits in the shared ledger along with the result of the validation computation and the location report, by the remainder of the plurality of network connected devices.   
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , further comprising:
 signing the location report, by the first device, with the first private key of the the first public-private key pair of the first device.   
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 extracting from the location report, by the first device, an offering of a number of commercially-valued credits associated with a second public key of a second private-public key pair; and   generating a transfer notification, by the first device, of said number of commercially-valued credits to the first public key of the first public-private key pair associated with the first device; and   submitting the transfer notification, by the first device, along with the result of the validation computation and the location report, to the remainder of the plurality of network connected devices; and   including in the shared ledger, by the remainder of the plurality of network connected devices, the result of the validation computation, the location report and the transfer notification.   
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 constructing, by the first device, a collection comprising a plurality of received location reports; and   performing, by the first device, the validation computation on the collection; and   adding the collection, by the remainder of the network connected devices, to the shared ledger.   
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 15 , further comprising: associating the commercially-valued credits, by the plurality of network connected devices, with one or more of: a network address, a cryptographic key, an email address.