Obfuscating information related to personally identifiable information (PII)

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10839104-B2
Application number	US-201816004128-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 8, 2018
Priority date	Jun 8, 2018
Publication date	Nov 17, 2020
Grant date	Nov 17, 2020

Abstract

A system for protecting personally identifiable information (PII) associated with audio, image and video. The system includes an output device and a processor. The processor receives a document including an audio, an image, or a video containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information, scans the document for a voice, a face, a graphically rendered text, or a personal attribute, match the voice, face, graphically rendered text, or personal attribute with records in a database to determine whether the voice, face, graphically rendered text, or personal attribute in the document is associated with personally identifiable information. The processor also determines a start time and an end time associated with the presence of the voice or video in response to determining that the voice, or video is associated with PII, generates an obfuscated audio or a video between the start time and the end time, and causes the output device to output the obfuscated audio, graphically rendered text or video.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer system for protecting personally identifiable information (PII), the computer system comprising:
an output device;
an electronic processor electrically coupled to the output device and configured to:
receive a data set containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information;
scan the data set for a first personal attribute;
match the first personal attribute with one or more records in a client database and determine whether the first personal attribute in the data set is associated with personally identifiable information associated with a client identifier in the client database;
determine a start time and an end time associated with the first personal attribute in an audio data in the data set;
generate an obfuscated version of the data set, wherein the first personal attribute in the audio data is obfuscated between the start time and the end time; and
generate a signal causing the output device to output the obfuscated version of the data set.

2. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the data set includes personally identifiable information included in an item selected from the group consisting of graphically rendered text, audio, image, and video data.

3. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein obfuscated audio data includes an item selected from the group consisting of a tone, a beep, a second audio and a period of silence to replace the voice or the first personal attribute.

4. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein determining that the first personal attribute is associated with personally identifiable information includes converting the audio into textual information and parsing the textual information for personally identifiable information.

5. The computer system of claim 4 , wherein the textual information for personally identifiable information includes an item selected from a group consisting of name, date of birth, place of birth, email address, phone number, fax number, particular content, social networking credential, biometric information, financial account number, organization issued identification, and government issued identification.

6. The computer system of claim 5 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to
in response to the personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database, update the client database with a new record associated with the personally identifiable information.

7. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to
scan the data set for a facial image;
match the facial image with records in the client database to determine whether the facial image in the data set is associated with personally identifiable information associated with the client identifier in the client database;
in response to determining that the facial image is associated with personally identifiable information, obfuscate the portion of an image including the facial image;
generate an obfuscated image including an obfuscated facial image; and
display the obfuscated image.

8. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the client database is accessible based on an authorization level associated with a user.

9. The computer system of claim 1 , wherein the electronic processor is further configured to
delete all data sets containing personally identifiable information associated with an individual.

10. A method for protecting personally identifiable information of entities, the method executed via an electronic processor and comprising:
receiving a data set including an item selected from the group consisting of graphically rendered text, an audio file, an image, and a video containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information;
scanning the document for a first personal attribute;
matching the first personal attribute with one or more records in a client database and determining whether the first personal attribute in the data set is associated with personally identifiable information associated with a client identifier in the client database;
determining a start time and an end time associated with the first personal attribute in audio data in the data set;
generating an obfuscated version of the data set, wherein the first personal attribute in the audio data is obfuscated between the start time and the end time; and
generating a signal causing the output device to output the obfuscated version of the data set.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
retrieving all data sets containing personally identifiable information associated with an individual; and
deleting all data sets containing personally identifiable information associated with the individual.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein receiving the data set containing both non-personally identifiable data and personally identifiable information of one or more entities includes:
receiving the data set including personally identifiable information included in an item selected from the group consisting of graphically rendered text, audio, image, and video data.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein determining that the first personal attribute is associated with personally identifiable information includes converting the audio data into textual information and parsing the graphically rendered text for personally identifiable information.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein parsing the graphically rendered text for personally identifiable information includes parsing the graphically rendered text information for an item selected from a group consisting of name, date of birth, place of birth, email address, phone number, fax number, particular content, social networking credential, biometric information, financial account number, organization issued identification, and government issued identification.

15. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
updating the client database with a new record associated with the personally identifiable information, in response to the personally identifiable information matching none of the records in the client database.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
scanning the data set for a facial image;
matching the facial image with records in the client database to determine whether the facial image in the data set is associated with personally identifiable information;
in response to determining that the facial image is associated with personally identifiable information, obfuscating the portion of the image including the facial image;
generating an obfuscated image including an obfuscated facial image; and
displaying the obfuscated image.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
accessing the client database based on an authorization level associated with the user.

18. A tangible non-transitory machine-readable medium containing computer-readable instructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processors to perform a method, the method comprising:
receiving a data set including an item selected from the group consisting of an audio file, an image file, and a video file containing both non-personally identifiable information and personally identifiable information;
scanning the data set for a voice or a first personal attribute;
matching or personal attribute with records in a client database to determine whether or the first personal attribute in the data set is associated with personally identifiable information associated with a client identif

Assignees

• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Balzer Andreas
• Mowatt David
• Woulfe Muiris

Classifications

• H04L63/0421

  Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer · CPC title

• G06F21/6254 Primary

  by anonymising data, e.g. decorrelating personal data from the owner's identification · CPC title