Information discriminating device, information discriminating method, and non-transitory storage medium storing information discriminating program

• US 10,515,229 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Issued: 12/24/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Original Assignee: Olympus Corporation
• Inventors: Matsuzawa, Yoshinori, Tomizawa, Masaomi, Kawai, Sumio, Yoshida, Hideaki, Nonaka, Osamu
• Primary Examiner(s): Rashid, Harunur
• Assistant Examiner(s): Taylor, Sakinah White
• Application Number:
  US15/193,260
• Publication Number:
  US 20160378958A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: 726 33
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6227 where protection concerns the structure of data, e.g. records, types, queries
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6245 Protecting personal data, e.g. for financial or medical purposes
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/20 in augmented reality scenes

Abstract

An information discriminating device includes an information acquiring unit, an information discriminating unit, and an information superimposing unit. The information acquiring unit acquires private information to be privately used by a user of the information discriminating device. The information discriminating unit discriminates a public information portion that is also usable as public information accessible by a special majority in the private information acquired by the information acquiring unit from a private information portion unusable as the public information. The information superimposing unit superimposes the private information portion on the public information.

Claims

1. An information discriminating device comprising:

an information acquiring unit which acquires private information to be privately used by a user of the information discriminating device, the private information including both (A) a public information portion which is used as public information and which is permitted to be freely shared, and (B) a private portion which is not to be used as public information and which includes information from which a person is identifiable; and

a control circuit which (1) discriminates the public information portion within the private information acquired by the information acquiring unit, from the private portion within the private information acquired by the information acquiring unit, (2) extracts the public information portion, (3) obtains open public information using the extracted public information portion, and (4) superimposes the private information portion on the obtained open public information.

2. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit identifies the private information having a part similar to the open public information as the private information portion.

3. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the control circuit further records supplementary information to associate the private information portion with the open public information.

4. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the private information is an image,

the private information portion is a person part in the image, and

the public information portion is a structure part in the image.

5. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the open public information is a scenic image group obtained by changing a photography position.

6. The information discriminating device according to claim 5, wherein when more than one private information portion are discriminated for a single scenic image, the control circuit selects one of the private information portions in accordance with at least one of (a) a degree of image edges in the single scenic image, (b) hues in the single scenic image, and (c) brightness in the single scenic image, to superimpose the selected private information portion on the open public information.

7. The information discriminating device according to claim 5, wherein when more than one private information portion are discriminated for one scenic image, the control circuit selects one of the private information portions in accordance with hues corresponding to a season, an acquisition date, a time, and a weather condition in the scenic image to superimpose the selected private information portion on the public information portion.

8. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein a part of the open public information obtained includes an object found in the extracted public information portion, and wherein the control circuit obtains the open public information using a search for the object found in the extracted public information portion.

9. The information discriminating device according to claim 8, wherein the private information is an image, and wherein the object is a structure within the image.

10. The information discriminating device according to claim 9, wherein the open public information is street-view image information.

11. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the private information portion superimposed on the obtained open public information defines a superimposed image, and wherein the control circuit further (5) receives a user input permitting the superimposed image to be used as public information, and (6) responsive to receiving the user input permitting the superimposed image to be used as public information, sends the superimposed image to a public information server.

12. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the open public information obtained by the control circuit includes a sequence of images, and wherein the control circuit superimposes, sequentially, the private information portion on the obtained sequence of images.

13. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the private information is an image, the public information portion includes a structure part in the image, and the control circuit obtains open public information using the extracted public portion by searching for a scenic image including a structure similar to the structure included in the public information portion.

14. The information discriminating device according to claim 13 wherein the control circuit searches for a scenic image including a structure similar to the structure included in the public information portion using ridge lines of the structure included in the public information portion and ridge lines of the structure included in the scenic image.

15. The information discriminating device according to claim 13 wherein the control circuit searches for a scenic image including a structure similar to the structure included in the public information portion using vertical lines of the structure included in the public information portion and vertical lines of the structure included in the scenic image.

16. The information discriminating device according to claim 1, wherein the private information is a picture of a place, and

wherein the open public information includes scenic images of at least one of (A) scenes of the place on different dates, (B) scenes of the place at different seasons, and (C) scenes of the place at different times of day.

17. An information discriminating method comprising:

acquiring private information to be privately used by a user of an information discriminating device, the private information including both (A) a public information portion which is public information and which is permitted to be, and (B) a private portion is public information and which includes information from which a person is identifiable;

discriminating the public information portion within the acquired private information, from the private portion within the acquired private information;

extracting the public information portion;

obtaining open public information using the extracted public information portion; and

superimposing the private information portion on the obtained open public information.

18. A non-transitory storage medium storing a computer-readable program which causes a computer to:

acquire private information to be privately used by a user of an information discriminating device, the private information including both (A) a public information portion which is public information and which is permitted to be, and (B) a private portion which is not to be used as public information and which includes information from which a person is identifiable;

discriminate the public information portion within the acquired private information, from the private portion within the acquired private information;

extract the public information portion;

obtain open public information using the extracted public information portion; and

superimpose the private information portion on the obtained open public information.