Path construction under MAC address randomization

摘要

Constructing and/or recovering paths of mobile devices is enabled. For instance, a method comprises: receiving, by wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) sensors, respective probes from mobile devices, grouping probes having a same media access control (MAC) address into segments, identifying fingerprints of information elements the mobile devices, grouping segments according to an identified fingerprint, determining an increment of a sequence number corresponding to consecutive segments of a segment group, determining a time gap between the sequence number corresponding to a first probe and an incremented sequence number corresponding to a second probe having a timestamp that is later in time than the first probe, and comparing a growth rate of the sequence number corresponding to the consecutive segments to determine a forward segment of the consecutive segments, resulting in a constructed path of the mobile devices, and storing the constructed path in a database.