Method for managing privacy of digital images

• US 10,007,798 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2017
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 05/28/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Monument Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Inventors: Winters, Dustin L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dagnew, Mekonnen
• Application Number:
  US15/839,618
• Publication Number:
  US 20180101693A1
• Time in Patent Office: 196 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/58 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/60 Protecting data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/107 wherein the security policies are location-dependent, e.g. entities privileges depend on current location or allowing specific operations only from locally connected terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00132 in a digital photofinishing system, i.e. a system where digital photographic images undergo typical photofinishing processing, e.g. printing ordering
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00137 Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00156 with a group of selected individuals or correspondents
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00159 for sharing images without access restriction, e.g. publishing images
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00172 directly from a still digital camera or from a storage medium mounted in a still digital camera H04N1/0018 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00244 with a server, e.g. an internet server fax-servers or the like for store and forward H04N1/324
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00323 with a measuring, monitoring or signaling apparatus, e.g. for transmitting measured information to a central location
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/00925 Inhibiting an operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 1/32101 Display, printing, storage or transmission of additional information, e.g. ID code, date and time or title
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/42202 environmental sensors, e.g. for detecting temperature, luminosity, pressure, earthquakes
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4223 Cameras H04N23/00 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4524 involving the geographical location of the client retrieval from the Internet by querying based on geographical locations G06F16/9537; systems specially adapted for using geographical information in broadcast systems H04H60/70; protocols in which the network application is adapted for the location of the user terminal in communication control or processing H04L67/52; services making use of the location of users or terminals in wireless networks H04W4/02; locating users or terminals in wireless networks H04W64/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/485 End-user interface for client configuration
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/84 Generation or processing of descriptive data, e.g. content descriptors systems specially adapted for using meta-information in broadcast systems H04H60/73
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/0084 Digital still camera
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3253 : Position information, e.g. geographical position at time of capture, GPS data
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3274 : Storage or retrieval of prestored additional information
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2201/3278 : Transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 9/8233 : the additional signal being a character code signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 : Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A captured digital image is stored in memory together with metadata derived from a location signal only if the location metadata is determined not to be within one or more predefined exclusion zones. A GPS receiver module can be implemented to obtain the location signal.

Claims

1. A method for controlling access to capture location data concerning geographic locations at which digital images were captured, comprising:

automatically determining, by a processor of a processor-based photo management unit having a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, whether to permit access by a requesting user to geographic location metadata for a digital image file stored in a storage unit of the photo management unit by assessing whether the geographic location metadata for the digital image file indicates that the digital image file was created within any of one or more geographic exclusion zones, said assessing being by loading into a memory communicatively coupled with the processor the one or more geographic exclusion zones and comparing the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to said one or more geographic exclusion zones; and

if the assessment concludes that the digital image file was created within any of one or more geographic exclusion zones, transmitting, by the processor-based photo management unit, only digital image data of the digital image file to a computer associated with the requesting user, otherwise

if the assessment concludes that the digital image file was not created within any of one or more geographic exclusion zones, transmitting, by the processor-based photo management unit, digital image data of the digital image file along with the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, by the processor, a user-defined geographic exclusion zone.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining that the geographic location metadata for the digital image file is within the geographic exclusion zone comprises determining that the geographic location metadata for the digital image file defines a location that is within an area defined by the geographic exclusion zone.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

defining a region on a digital display of a geographic map; and

storing the defined region as one of the geographic exclusion zones.

5. The method of claim 1, if the assessment concludes that the digital image file was created within any of one or more geographic exclusion zones, removing, by the processor, the geographic location metadata for the digital image file from the digital image file before transmitting only digital image data of the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein assessing whether the geographic location metadata for the digital image file indicates that the digital image file was created within any of the one or more geographic exclusion zones comprises calculating a great arc distance using a Haversine formula.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one geographic exclusion zone of the one or more geographic exclusion zones has a polygonal shape.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein assessing whether the geographic location metadata for the digital image file indicates that the digital image file was created within any of the one or more geographic exclusion zones comprises calculating a line starting from the geographic location metadata and determining how many sides of the at least one geographic exclusion zone are crossed using a Jordan curve theorem.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one geographic exclusion zone of the one or more geographic exclusion zones has a rectangular shape, and further wherein the determining that the geographic location metadata for the digital image file is within any of the geographic exclusion zones comprises:

determining whether a longitude of the geographic location metadata for the digital file is between a longitude of a first coordinate and a second coordinate of the at least one geographic exclusion zone, wherein;

the first coordinate and the second coordinate are both different corners of the at least one geographic exclusion zone,

the first coordinate is at a corner of two sides of the at least one geographic exclusion zone where the two sides intersect with each other, and

the two sides do not intersect with the second coordinate; and

determining whether a latitude of the geographic location metadata for the digital file is between a latitude of the first coordinate and the second coordinate of the at least one geographic exclusion zone.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting only digital image data of the digital image file and transmitting digital image data of the digital image file along with the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user each comprise transmission via a Multimedia Messaging Service.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting only digital image data of the digital image file and transmitting digital image data of the digital image file along with the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user each comprise transmission via email.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said automatically determining is performed responsive to receipt of a request from the requesting user, said request being converted into a query at the processor-based photo management unit, said query causing the processor of the processor-based photo management unit to load into the memory, the geographic location metadata for the digital image file.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein transmitting only digital image data of the digital image file and transmitting digital image data of the digital image file along with the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user each comprise rendering output HTML including a reference to the digital image file which is displayed in a browser of the computer associated with the requesting user.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein transmitting the geographic location metadata for the digital image file to the computer associated with the requesting user further comprises generating a map interface for a graphical user interface displayed at the computer associated with the requesting user.