Concealing sensitive information on a display

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9406157-B2
Application number	US-201414257015-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 21, 2014
Priority date	Apr 21, 2014
Publication date	Aug 2, 2016
Grant date	Aug 2, 2016

Abstract

An example method is provided for a computing device, coupled to a first display and a second display, to conceal sensitive information on a display. The method may comprise in response to detecting sensitive information in a desktop shown on the first display, generating a replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information in the desktop and sending the replacement image to the second display for display. Otherwise, a mirror image of the desktop shown on the first display may be sent to the second display for display.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for a computing device to conceal sensitive information on a display, wherein the computing device is coupled to a first display and a second display, the method comprising:
detecting sensitive information in a desktop shown on the first display by detecting a user interface element associated with sensitive information;
in response to detecting sensitive information in the desktop shown on the first display, generating a replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information in the desktop and sending the replacement image to the second display for display, wherein generating the replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information comprises capturing a static image of the desktop before the detected sensitive information appears on desktop and modifying a portion of the desktop in the static image on which the sensitive information is detected; and
in response to failing to detect sensitive information in the desktop shown on the first display, sending a mirror image of the desktop shown on the first display to the second display for display.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface element associated with sensitive information is a text entry field that can contain or receive entry of sensitive information, and has a property indicative of containing or receiving entry of sensitive information.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein detecting sensitive information in the desktop further comprises detecting that the text entry field is in focus.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user interface element associated with sensitive information is a window of a computing application that is included in a list of sensitive computing applications.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein detecting sensitive information in the desktop further comprises detecting that the computing application is active.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to detecting sensitive information in the desktop, determining that the second display is connected to the computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensitive information comprises at least one of: password, login username, personal information, credit card information, bank account information, documents, messages and notifications and computing application information.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the computing device is a client device that supports a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) client to access a remote desktop in a virtualized computing environment; and
the VDI client is to conceal sensitive information on the second display based on information received from the remote desktop.

9. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing a set of instructions which, when executed by a processor of a computing device, causes the processor to perform a method of concealing sensitive information on a display, the method comprising:
detecting sensitive information in a desktop shown on a first display by detecting a user interface element associated with sensitive information;
in response to detecting sensitive information in a desktop shown on the first display, generating a replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information in the desktop and sending the replacement image to a second display for display, wherein generating the replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information comprises capturing a static image of the desktop before the detected sensitive information appears on desktop and modifying a portion of the desktop on which the sensitive information is detected; and
otherwise, sending a mirror image of the desktop shown on the first display to the second display for display.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the user interface element associated with sensitive information is a text entry field that can contain or receive entry of sensitive information, and has a property indicative of containing or receiving entry of sensitive information.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein detecting sensitive information in the desktop further comprises detecting that the text entry field is in focus.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the user interface element associated with sensitive information is a window of a computing application that is included in a list of sensitive computing applications.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein detecting sensitive information further comprises detecting that the computing application is active.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the method further comprises, prior to detecting sensitive information in the desktop, determining that the second display is connected to the computing device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the sensitive information comprises at least one of: password, login username, personal information, credit card information, bank account information, documents, messages and notifications and computing application information.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein:
the computing device is a client device that supports a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) client to access a remote desktop in a virtualized computing environment; and
the VDI client is to conceal sensitive information on the second display based on information received from the virtualized computing environment.

17. A computer system configured to conceal sensitive information on a display, comprising: a processor and a non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by the processor, causes the processor to:
detect sensitive information in a desktop shown on a first display by detecting a user interface element associated with sensitive information;
in response to detecting sensitive information in a desktop shown on the first display, generate a replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information in the desktop and send the replacement image to a second display for display, wherein the replacement image that conceals the detected sensitive information is generated by capturing a static image of the desktop before the detected sensitive information appears on desktop and modifying a portion of the desktop on which the sensitive information is detected; and
otherwise, send a mirror image of the desktop shown on the first display to the second display for display.

18. The computer system of claim 17 , wherein when detecting sensitive information in the desktop, wherein the processor is configured to detect a user interface element associated with sensitive information, wherein the user interface element is one of:
a text entry field that can contain or receive entry of sensitive information and has a property indicative of containing or receiving entry of sensitive information; and
a window of a computing application that is included in a list of sensitive computing applications.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein modifying a portion of the desktop in the static image on which the sensitive information is detected further comprises performing an image processing technique on the portion of the desktop in the static image on which the sensitive information is detected, wherein the image processing technique comprises at least one of: blurring, pixelating, blanking, blocking, or overlaying the porti

Assignees

• Vmware Inc
• Airwatch Llc

Inventors

• Liu Guoxin
• Cheng Yunxia
• Wei Yuping
• Mu Jian
• Zhang Yueting
• Shao Wenlong

Classifications

• G09G2358/00

  Arrangements for display data security · CPC title

• G09G2354/00

  Aspects of interface with display user · CPC title

• G09G5/14

  Display of multiple viewports · CPC title

• G06F3/1454 Primary

  involving copying of the display data of a local workstation or window to a remote workstation or window so that an actual copy of the data is displayed simultaneously on two or more displays, e.g. teledisplay · CPC title

• G06T11/60 Primary

  Creating or editing images; Combining images with text · CPC title