Cyril Houri

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Cyril Lionel Houri (born April 1969 in Meudon, Hauts-de-Seine, France) is a New York-based inventor and entrepreneur who has founded two geolocation technology companies: InfoSplit, Inc. and Mexens Technology Inc. (now called Navizon). [1] Houri is recognized as one of the inventors of IP address geolocation, [2] and has contributed in the advance of WiFi and cellular positioning technologies. For his expertise, he testified as an expert witness on location-based technology in LICRA vs. Yahoo!. [3]

Contents

Houri's education began in Paris, and he later earned a Master of Science degree in engineering and computer science from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse in 1992. In 1996, he relocated to New York City, where he initially worked on financial software design. In 1999, Houri founded InfoSplit Inc., a pioneer in IP geolocation, which identifies the geographic location of an Internet user. [4] Houri designed and patented some of the technology that is now commonly used to geolocate website visitors.

Inventions and Innovations

IP Geolocation

Cyril Houri is credited as one of the key inventors of IP geolocation, a technology that identifies the geographical location of an internet user based on their IP address. This technology, developed in the late 1990s through his company InfoSplit Inc., became crucial for industries such as advertising, fraud prevention, and content localization. As mentioned by Jack Goldsmith, former Assistant Attorney General, in his book Who Controls the Internet? Illusions of a Borderless World, [2] Houri is the main inventor behind the technology to associate an IP address to a physical location. His patent for IP geolocation, [5] co-owned by Microsoft and Neustar (previously Quova) since 2014, [6] [7] is now widely used across the internet. [8]

How it works

This system utilizes IP addresses to determine the physical locations of internet users by analyzing network paths and associating them with geographic data. The system employed a database of IP addresses, statistical analysis, and hostname patterns to improve accuracy. Widely adopted in industries like e-commerce and online advertising, this method became a fundamental tool for personalizing content and optimizing marketing strategies based on users' locations. [8]

WiFi Triangulation - Global positioning

In 2005, Houri founded Mexens Technology Inc., which developed Navizon, a Wi-Fi and cellular signal triangulation and geolocation system. This system allows mobile devices to pinpoint user location based on nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular towers, offering a solution for outdoor and indoor positioning where GPS signals may be weak. [9] Navizon is a patented technology [10] based on a collaborative database compiled by users with GPS devices who collect positional information of Wi-Fi hotspots and cellular signals. Navizon has been the first GPS solution for IPhone, [11] when a GPS module was not available on the first models. [12]

Navizon’s technology significantly contributed to the development of both global positioning systems based on a combination of satellite GPS, WiFi signals and cellular towers, [13] and modern indoor tracking systems used in retail and other industries. [14] [15]

When using location services on smartphones, for example, the satellite positioning is often corrected by using WiFi signals, leveraging Houri's invention. Smartphones scan for nearby Wi-Fi access points and send a list of detected networks (along with their MAC addresses and signal strength) to a server. The server compares this data against an extensive database of Wi-Fi and cellular signal information, estimating the user’s location with improved precision.

This hybrid approach, leveraging both GPS and Wi-Fi/cellular signals, has made location services more reliable and accurate, particularly in environments where satellite signals struggle. [16]

WiFi Triangulation - Indoor positioning

In 2011, Navizon released its Indoor Triangulation System (I.T.S.), a Wi-Fi positioning system to track WiFi enabled devices such as smartphones, tablets and notebooks, to analyze people's traffic inside a building or throughout a venue with room-level accuracy. [17]

This system uses dedicated Wi-Fi Nodes running Navizon firmware to detect signals within the environment. By knowing the fixed positions of these Nodes, the system can estimate the location of the detected devices through multilateration, returning a precise position of the device as (x,y) or (latitude, longitude) coordinates, plus the floor level. This technology was granted a patent and its considered the first high-accuracy indoor location system. [18]

Buddy Finder App - Find my friends

In 2007, Houri's company Navizon introduced the “Buddy Finder” app, one of the early location-based social applications. This app, initially available for Apple devices, enabled users to locate friends nearby using Wi-Fi and cellular signals, pre-dating many modern social geolocation apps. [19]

In 2018 Agis Software sued Apple for a patent infringement for the Find my friends app. [20] Houri was called by Apple to testify and named as co-defendant, to provide early documentation for the Buddy Finder from Navizon, in order to demonstrate that it was prior art to Agis Software's patent.

Other patents and inventions

Houri holds more than 20 patents, [21] most of which are related to geolocation and geofencing [22] systems and solutions, including the use of Computer vision for people and assets tracking and to provide real-time positioning to moving vehicles, such as forklifts, drones, UGV and UAV. [23] Additionally, his patents cover advancements in the use of cryptocurrency-related technologies. [24]

The LICRA vs. Yahoo! case

In 2000, Yahoo! was sued by two French anti-racism groups, namely LICRA (International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism) and UEFJ, demanding that Yahoo! France prevent French web users from accessing English-language auction sites offering Nazi memorabilia, which are illegal in France. Yahoo! argued in court that it was technically impossible to block only French web surfers from the site. Houri was called to testify on behalf of the plaintiff groups and demonstrated that geolocation technology could be used to block at least 90% of France-based users from accessing the offending Yahoo! sites. The court ruled for the plaintiffs and ordered Yahoo! to block French web users from accessing the unlawful content. [25]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone</span> Telecommunications device

A telephone, colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into electronic signals that are transmitted via cables and other communication channels to another telephone which reproduces the sound to the receiving user. The term is derived from Ancient Greek: τῆλε, romanized: tēle, lit. 'far' and φωνή, together meaning distant voice.

Location-based service (LBS) is a general term denoting software services which use geographic data and information to provide services or information to users. LBS can be used in a variety of contexts, such as health, indoor object search, entertainment, work, personal life, etc. Commonly used examples of location-based services include navigation software, social networking services, location-based advertising, and tracking systems. LBS can also include mobile commerce when taking the form of coupons or advertising directed at customers based on their current location. LBS also includes personalized weather services and even location-based games.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wi-Fi</span> Wireless local area network

Wi-Fi is a family of wireless network protocols based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio waves. These are the most widely used computer networks, used globally in home and small office networks to link devices and to provide Internet access with wireless routers and wireless access points in public places such as coffee shops, hotels, libraries, and airports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wireless</span> Transfer of information or power that does not require the use of physical wires

Wireless communication is the transfer of information (telecommunication) between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most common wireless technologies use radio waves. With radio waves, intended distances can be short, such as a few meters for Bluetooth, or as far as millions of kilometers for deep-space radio communications. It encompasses various types of fixed, mobile, and portable applications, including two-way radios, cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless networking. Other examples of applications of radio wireless technology include GPS units, garage door openers, wireless computer mouse, keyboards and headsets, headphones, radio receivers, satellite television, broadcast television and cordless telephones. Somewhat less common methods of achieving wireless communications involve other electromagnetic phenomena, such as light and magnetic or electric fields, or the use of sound.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wardriving</span> Search for wireless networks with mobile computing equipment

Wardriving is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks as well as cell towers, usually from a moving vehicle, using a laptop or smartphone. Software for wardriving is freely available on the internet.

In computing, Internet geolocation is software capable of deducing the geographic position of a device connected to the Internet. For example, the device's IP address can be used to determine the country, city, or ZIP code, determining its geographical location. Other methods include examination of Wi-Fi hotspots.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assisted GNSS</span> System to improve the time-to-first-fix of a GNSS receiver

Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS) is a GNSS augmentation system that often significantly improves the startup performance—i.e., time-to-first-fix (TTFF)—of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). A-GNSS works by providing the necessary data to the device via a radio network instead of the slow satellite link, essentially "warming up" the receiver for a fix. When applied to GPS, it is known as assisted GPS or augmented GPS. Other local names include A-GANSS for Galileo and A-Beidou for BeiDou.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mobile phone tracking</span> Identifying the location of a mobile phone

Mobile phone tracking is a process for identifying the location of a mobile phone, whether stationary or moving. Localization may be affected by a number of technologies, such as the multilateration of radio signals between (several) cell towers of the network and the phone or by simply using GNSS. To locate a mobile phone using multilateration of mobile radio signals, the phone must emit at least the idle signal to contact nearby antenna towers and does not require an active call. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is based on the phone's signal strength to nearby antenna masts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wi-Fi calling</span> Protocol that extends mobile voice, data and multimedia applications over IP networks

Wi-Fi calling, also called VoWiFi, refers to mobile phone voice calls and data that are made over IP networks using Wi-Fi, instead of the cell towers provided by cellular networks. Using this feature, compatible handsets are able to route regular cellular calls through a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) network with broadband Internet, while seamlessly change connections between the two where necessary. This feature makes use of the Generic Access Network (GAN) protocol, also known as Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA).

Proximity marketing is the localized wireless distribution of advertising content associated with a particular place. Transmissions can be received by individuals in that location who wish to receive them and have the necessary equipment to do so.

A positioning system is a system for determining the position of an object in space. Positioning system technologies exist ranging from interplanetary coverage with meter accuracy to workspace and laboratory coverage with sub-millimeter accuracy. A major subclass is made of geopositioning systems, used for determining an object's position with respect to Earth, i.e., its geographical position; one of the most well-known and commonly used geopositioning systems is the Global Positioning System (GPS) and similar global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SiRF</span>

SiRF Technology, Inc. was a pioneer in the commercial use of GPS technology for consumer applications. The company was founded in 1995 and was headquartered in San Jose, California. Notable and founding members included Sanjai Kohli, Dado Banatao, and Kanwar Chadha. The company was acquired by British firm CSR plc in 2009, who were in turn subsequently acquired by American company Qualcomm on 13 August 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geosocial networking</span> Social network with geographic features

Geosocial networking is a type of social networking in which geographic services and capabilities such as geocoding and geotagging are used to enable additional social dynamics. User-submitted location data or geolocation techniques can allow social networks to connect and coordinate users with local people or events that match their interests. Geolocation on web-based social network services can be IP-based or use hotspot trilateration. For mobile social networks, texted location information or mobile phone tracking can enable location-based services to enrich social networking.

Wi-Fi positioning system is a geolocation system that uses the characteristics of nearby Wi‑Fi access points to discover where a device is located.

Real-time geotagging refers to the automatic technique of acquiring media, associating a specific location with the media, transferring the media to an online map and publishing the media in real time. It is thus an extension of an automatic geotagging process, requiring an in-built or attached location acquisition device, but also requires communication with a wireless data transfer device. Most modern smartphones and several digital cameras already integrate camera, aGPS, and wireless data transfer into one device, thus directly producing a geotagged photograph. Real-time geotagging is sometimes referred to as "mobile geotagging" or "autogeotagging", but this does not imply the real-time publishing step.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Navizon</span> American provider of location-based services

Navizon, Inc. is a provider of location-based services and products. Navizon was an early developer of technology that makes it possible to determine the geographic position of a mobile device using as reference the location of cell phone towers and Wi-Fi-based wireless access points instead of GPS. Navizon also developed technology for locating mobile devices indoors with room and floor-level accuracy.

The W3C Geolocation API is an effort by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to standardize an interface to retrieve the geographical location information for a client-side device. It defines a set of objects, ECMAScript standard compliant, that executing in the client application give the client's device location through the consulting of Location Information Servers, which are transparent for the application programming interface (API). The most common sources of location information are IP address, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth MAC address, radio-frequency identification (RFID), Wi-Fi connection location, or device Global Positioning System (GPS) and GSM/CDMA cell IDs. The location is returned with a given accuracy depending on the best location information source available.

A GSM Cell ID (CID) is a generally unique number used to identify each base transceiver station (BTS) or sector of a BTS within a location area code (LAC) if not within a GSM network.

Device tracking software is software installed in an electronic device that is capable of reporting the device's location remotely. Depending upon the software and the device on which it is installed, the software may obtain the location of the device by means of GPS, WiFi-location, IP address, or accelerometer logs, and it may report the address by means of e-mail, SMS, or other means.

Mozilla Location Service (MLS) was an open geolocation service that allowed devices to find their position by processing received signals of publicly observable radio transmitters: cellular network antennae, Wi-Fi access points, and Bluetooth beacons. The service was provided by Mozilla from 2013 to 2024. The service used Mozilla's open source software project called Ichnaea.

References

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