Automatic removal of sensitive information from a computer screen

• US 8,863,008 B2
• Filed: 02/17/2010
• Issued: 10/14/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Chan, Yuk, To, Tin H., Tsang, Andrew, Zhou, Wei
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Kieu
• Assistant Examiner(s): LOWENBERGER, AARON J
• Application Number:
  US12/707,130
• Publication Number:
  US 20110202850A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,700 Days
• Field of Search: 715/741, 715/759, 715/751, 715/745, 345/626
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/606 by securing the transmission between two devices or processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/84 output devices, e.g. displays or monitors
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2221/2143 Clearing memory, e.g. to prevent the data from being stolen

Abstract

A method for automatic censoring of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen includes receiving a censoring trigger by a censoring module; identifying information present in the GUI screen by a object recognition module; comparing the identified information with a set of preferences stored in a censoring preferences module to determine content to be removed from the GUI screen; and removing the determined content from the GUI screen by the censoring module.

Claims

1. A method for automatic censoring of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen of a computer, the method comprising:

receiving a censoring trigger by a censoring module of the computer;

identifying information present in the GUI screen of the computer by an object recognition module;

comparing, by the censoring module of the computer, the identified information with a set of preferences stored in a censoring preferences module to automatically determine a first piece of the identified information to be removed from the GUI screen of the computer;

displaying a list of the identified information to a user;

receiving a selection from the user of a second piece of the identified information from the list;

removing the first piece of the identified information and the second piece of the identified information from the GUI screen of the computer by the censoring module;

adding the second piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module;

receiving a censoring trigger by the censoring module, wherein the censoring trigger comprises a screen share of the GUI screen, and wherein the screen share comprises sharing a region of the GUI screen of the computer that is less than the entire GUI screen of the computer; and

removing from the GUI screen a third piece of information corresponding to the second piece of information by the censoring module based on the adding of the selected piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module, wherein the first piece of the identified information is removed from the screen share based on information that was identified in the GUI screen by the object recognition module and that is located in a portion of the GUI screen of the computer outside of the shared region.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified information comprises metadata regarding objects in the GUI screen, and information is removed from the GUI screen based on the metadata regarding the objects in the GUI screen.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the identified information comprises a first image, and the preferences comprise a second image;

and

wherein the first image is removed from the GUI screen by the censoring module based on the second image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the determined information comprises minimizing a window comprising the information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein removing the determined information comprises closing a window comprising the information.

6. A computer system for automatic censoring of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen of a computer, the computer system comprising:

a display, the display comprising the GUI screen of the computer; and

a processor of the computer, the processor configured to;

receive a censoring trigger by a censoring module of the computer;

identify information present in the GUI screen of the computer by an object recognition module;

compare, by the censoring module of the computer, the identified information with a set of preferences stored in a censoring preferences module to automatically determine a first piece of he identified information to be removed from the GUI screen of the computer;

display a list of the identified information to a user;

receive a selection from the user of a second piece of the identified information from the list;

remove the first piece of the identified information and the second piece of the identified information from the GUI screen of the computer by the censoring module;

add the second piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module;

receive a censoring trigger by the censoring module, wherein the censoring trigger comprises a screen share of the GUI screen, and wherein the screen share comprises sharing a region of the GUI screen of the computer that is less than the entire GUI screen of the computer; and

remove from the GUI screen a third piece of information corresponding to the second piece of information by the censoring module based on the adding of the selected piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module, wherein the first piece of the identified information is removed from the screen share based on information that was identified in the GUI screen by the object recognition module and that is located in a portion of the GUI screen of the computer outside of the shared region.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the identified information comprises metadata regarding objects in the GUI screen, and information is removed from the GUI screen based on the metadata regarding the objects in the GUI screen.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the identified information comprises a first image, and the preferences comprise a second image;

and

wherein the first image is removed from the GUI screen by the censoring module based on the second image.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein removing the determined information comprises minimizing a window comprising the information.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein removing the determined information comprises closing a window comprising the information.

11. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium containing computer code that, when executed by a computer, implements a method for automatic censoring of a graphical user interface (GUI) screen of a first computer, wherein the method comprises:

receiving a censoring trigger by a censoring module of the computer;

identifying information present in the GUI screen of the computer by an object recognition module;

comparing, by the censoring module of the computer, the identified information with a set of preferences stored in a censoring preferences module to automatically determine a first piece of the identified information to be removed from the GUI screen of the computer;

displaying a list of the identified information to a user;

receiving a selection from the user of a second piece of the identified information from the list;

removing the first piece of the identified information and the second piece of the identified information from the GUI screen of the computer by the censoring module;

adding the second piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module;

receiving a censoring trigger by the censoring module, wherein the censoring trigger comprises a screen share of the GUI screen, and wherein the screen share comprises sharing a region of the GUI screen of the computer that is less than the entire GUI screen of the computer; and

removing from the GUI screen a third piece of information corresponding to the second piece of information by the censoring module based on the adding of the selected piece of information to the set of preferences in the censoring preferences module, wherein the first piece of the identified information is removed from the screen share based on information that was identified in the GUI screen by the object recognition module and that is located in a portion of the GUI screen of the computer outside of the shared region.