Privacy-preserving user-experience monitoring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11316896-B2
Application number	US-201615214849-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 20, 2016
Priority date	Jul 20, 2016
Publication date	Apr 26, 2022
Grant date	Apr 26, 2022

Abstract

A method of operating a mobile device includes displaying a user interface as an image, the user interface being composed of a plurality of widgets, storing a privacy policy identifying at least one of the widgets, capturing a screenshot image corresponding to the screenshot image, excluding the at least one of the widgets from the screenshot image to create a modified screenshot image, and transmitting the modified screenshot image over a network to a monitoring server.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a computing device comprising:
displaying a user interface on a display of said computing device, said user interface being composed of a plurality of widgets;
storing a privacy policy identifying at least one of said widgets;
detecting that a screen capture has been triggered;
changing said user interface displayed by excluding said at least one of said widgets from said user interface in response to detecting that said screen capture has been triggered and according to said privacy policy;
capturing a screenshot image of a changed user interface in which said at least one of said widgets is excluded from being displayed on said display of said computing device; and
transmitting said screenshot image over a network to a monitoring server.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising running an application in said computing device, said application including program instructions causing said computing device to display said user interface, detect that said screen capture has been triggered, display said changed user interface excluding said at least of said widgets, capture said screenshot image of said changed user interface and transmit said screenshot image.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein excluding said at least one of said widgets comprises at least one of omitting a portion of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at a time of said capture of said screenshot image, occluding a portion of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at said time of said capture of said screenshot image, and removing a portion of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at said time of said capture of said screenshot image.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving data from a server causing said computing device to perform one of updating said privacy policy, modifying said privacy policy, and replacing said privacy policy.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising recording metadata about said at least one of said widgets contemporaneously with said capture of said screenshot image.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a selection of a widget not identified in said privacy policy; and
updating said privacy policy to include said widget not identified in said privacy policy.

7. A non-transitory computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, said program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:
display a user interface on a display of said non-transitory computer program product, said user interface being composed of a plurality of widgets;
store a privacy policy identifying at least one of said widgets;
detect that a screen capture has been triggered;
change said user interface displayed by excluding said at least one of said widgets from said user interface in response to detecting that said screen capture has been triggered and according to said privacy policy;
capture a screenshot image of a changed user interface in which said at least one of said widgets is excluded from being displayed on said display of said computing device; and
transmit said screenshot image over a network to a monitoring server.

8. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , wherein said program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to exclude said at least one of said widgets from said screenshot image further comprises program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to omit from said displayed user interface a portion of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at a time of said capture of said screenshot image.

9. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , wherein said program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to exclude said at least one of said widgets from said screenshot image further comprises program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to occlude in said displayed user interface a portion of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at a time of said capture of said screenshot image.

10. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , wherein said program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to exclude said at least one of said widgets from said screenshot image further comprises program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to remove a portion from said displayed user interface of said user interface corresponding to said at least one of said widgets at a time of said capture of said screenshot image.

11. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to receive data from a server updating said privacy policy.

12. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to receive data from a server modifying said privacy policy.

13. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to receive data from a server replacing said privacy policy.

14. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to record metadata about said at least one of said widgets contemporaneously with said capture.

15. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 7 , further comprising program instructions executable by said processor to cause said processor to:
receive a selection of a widget not identified in said privacy policy; and
updating said privacy policy to include said widget not identified in said privacy policy.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Ligman Joseph W
• Pistoia Marco
• Thomas Gegi
• Wood Stephen P

Classifications

• G06F21/54

  by adding security routines or objects to programs · CPC title

• H04L63/20 Primary

  for managing network security; network security policies in general (filtering policies H04L63/0227) · CPC title

• H04W12/02

  Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII] · CPC title

• G06F21/6245

  Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes · CPC title