Detecting objectionable content in displayed images

• US 20050160258A1
• Filed: 12/10/2004
• Published: 07/21/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2003
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Bioobservation Systems Limited
• Original Assignee: Bioobservation Systems Limited
• Inventors: O'Shea, Donal, Fitzgerald, Dara
• Application Number:
  US11/008,867
• Publication Number:
  US 20050160258A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/10 Terrestrial scenes scenes under surveillance with static cameras G06V20/52; scenes perceived from the exterior of a vehicle G06V20/56; scenes perceived from the interior of a vehicle G06V20/59

Abstract

The disclosed technology can detect objectionable content in a displayed image. Pixel groupings associated with the displayed image can be analyzed in response to one or more intercepted messages associated with a window that displays the image and a probability that the displayed image includes objectionable content can be subsequently computed. This probability can serve as a basis for classifying the displayed image as objectionable.

Claims

1. A method of detecting objectionable content within a displayed image, the method comprising:

maintaining a list of windows-of-interest, each of the windows-of-interest being capable of displaying at least one graphical image therein;

intercepting messages associated with the windows-of-interest;

in response to at least one of the intercepted messages directed at a particular one of the windows-of-interest, analyzing pixel groupings of at least one particular graphical image displayed therein to compute a probability that the analyzed graphical image includes objectionable content; and

based on the computed probability, classifying the analyzed graphical image as being objectionable.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein objectionable content corresponds to at least one of a pornographic content, a pedophilic content, an illegal content, an immoral content, and a user-specified content.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the intercepted messages correspond to messages issued by an operating system executing on a digital data processing device.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the intercepted messages are based on a user interaction with at least one of the windows-of-interest.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the user interaction corresponds to at least one of a mouse movement and a keyboard entry.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the intercepted messages correspond to changes in the graphical images displayed within the windows-of-interest.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of windows-of-interest includes a status of such windows.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the pixel groupings correspond to subsets of pixels within quadrants of the particular window-of-interest and within a central region of the graphical image displayed in the particular window-of-interest.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing pixel groupings comprises evaluating color attributes of substantially adjacent pixels.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical images displayed within the windows-of-interest originate from at least one of a file on a DVD, a file on a CD, a file on a computer-readable memory, a segment of streaming video, and a digital representation of a photograph.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting formation of a plurality of windows; and

identifying the windows-of-interest from the plurality of windows based on at least one of a window size, a window visibility, and a window classification.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

re-analyzing the pixel groupings at periodic time intervals;

re-computing the probability that the analyzed graphical image includes objectionable content based on at least some time-based changes in the pixel attributes of corresponding pixel groupings; and

re-classifying the analyzed graphical image based on the re-computed probability.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the steps are performed on a client computer displaying the windows-of-interest and the method further comprises transmitting indicia of the classified image from the client computer to an administration software process executing on a server computer.