Digital media privacy protection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9298931-B2
Application number	US-201213882491-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 15, 2012
Priority date	Aug 15, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

In one example of digital media privacy protection, a computer-readable medium stores computer-executable instructions that, when executed, cause one or more processors to execute operations including capturing at least one image file, obfuscating at least all facial images included in the captured image file, comparing all facial images included in the captured image file against a locally stored privacy policy, unobfuscating those of the facial images included in the captured image file for which the comparison against the locally stored privacy policy results in a positive match, and rendering the captured image file.

First claim

We claim:

1. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, in response to being executed, cause one or more processors to execute operations comprising:
capturing, by an image capturing device, an image file;
obfuscating, by the image capturing device, facial images included in the captured image file;
comparing, by the image capturing device, the facial images included in the captured image file against a privacy policy including permissions locally stored on the image capturing device, the privacy policy including one or more of: names and one or more distinguishing characteristics, for at least one person who has provided conditions upon which a captured image may be rendered,
wherein the privacy policy is updated by a remote server,
wherein the permissions include conditions under which an image for a particular person may be rendered by the image capturing device on which the computer-readable medium is hosted, and
wherein the conditions include at least one of a geographical location and a time setting;

unobfuscating, by the image capturing device, those of the facial images included in the captured image file for which the comparison against the locally stored privacy policy results in a positive match; and
rendering, by the image capturing device, the captured image file.

2. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the computer-readable medium is hosted on an image capturing device.

3. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the image file includes a digital photograph.

4. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the image file includes a digital video file.

5. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the privacy policy includes one or more of: names, permissions, and one or more distinguishing characteristics for at least one person for whom at least a facial image is recognizable by the image capturing device on which the computer-readable medium is hosted.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the privacy policy is dynamic.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operation to render the captured image file includes removing a restriction configured to prevent the captured image file from being stored.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operation to render the captured image file includes removing a restriction configured to prevent the captured image file from being transmitted to another device or storage medium.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operation to render the captured image file includes removing a restriction configured to prevent the captured image file from being uploaded to a cloud-based networking entity.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the operation to obfuscate includes obfuscating predetermined objects.

11. An image capturing device, comprising:
an image capturing component configured to capture an image file;
a policy component configured to:
access a dynamic privacy policy, hosted at a server, that identifies:
a facial image for one or more individuals who have consented to being identifiable in captured media, and
permissions for one or more individuals who have consented to being identifiable in the captured media, wherein the dynamic privacy policy includes one or more of: names and one or more distinguishing characteristics for the one or more individuals who have consented to being identifiable in the captured media,
wherein the dynamic privacy policy includes conditions under which an image for the one or more consenting individuals may be rendered by the image capturing device, and
wherein the conditions include at least one of location and time;

a facial recognition component configured to compare each facial image included in a captured image file against the dynamic privacy policy; and
an image rendering component configured to render the captured image file with all facial images included therein obfuscated but for those of the individuals whose consent is included in the dynamic privacy policy.

12. The image-capturing device of claim 11 , wherein the image capturing device is capable of capturing digital photographs and digital video files.

13. A method, comprising:
capturing, by an image-capturing device, an image in a digital image file;
blurring, by the image-capturing device, facial images included in the digital image file for those subjects for whom permission to publish a corresponding facial image is not included in a locally accessible privacy policy, the privacy policy updated by a remote server and includes permissions,
wherein the privacy policy includes one or more of: names and one or more distinguishing characteristics for one or more potential subjects for whom an image may be captured in a present context,
wherein the locally accessible privacy policy includes conditions under which an image for a consenting subject may be rendered by the image capturing device, and
wherein the conditions include at least one of location and time; and

rendering, by the image-capturing device, the digital image file.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the rendering the digital image file includes at least one of:
storing the digital image file, and
publishing the digital image file.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , wherein the conditions upon which the captured image may be rendered for the at least one person is provided prior to the capturing the at least one image file.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 1 , further comprising updating the privacy policy with an updated permission for the at least one person who has provided the conditions upon which the captured image may be rendered.

Assignees

• Ur Shmuel
• Margalit Mordehai
• Empire Technology Dev Llc

Inventors

• Ur Shmuel
• Margalit Mordehai

Classifications

• G06F21/32

  using biometric data, e.g. fingerprints, iris scans or voiceprints · CPC title

• G06F21/00

  Security arrangements for protecting computers, components thereof, programs or data against unauthorised activity · CPC title

• G06F21/6245

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

• G06F21/60 Primary

  Protecting data · CPC title

• G06F21/6254 Primary

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