Image capture with privacy protection

• US 9,940,525 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2016
• Issued: 04/10/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mace Wolf
• Original Assignee: Mace Wolf
• Inventors: Wolf, Mace
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, Vu
• Assistant Examiner(s): BEG, SAMAH A
• Application Number:
  US15/298,946
• Publication Number:
  US 20170300757A1
• Time in Patent Office: 537 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5854 using shape and object relationship
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10024 Color image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10032 Satellite or aerial image; Remote sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30204 Marker
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30232 Surveillance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/90 Determination of colour characteristics
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/25 Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI]
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/52 Surveillance or monitoring of activities, e.g. for recognising suspicious objects recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 40/10 Human or animal bodies, e.g. vehicle occupants or pedestrians; Body parts, e.g. hands
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3247 involving digital signatures
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/80 Camera processing pipelines; Components thereof
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/183 for receiving images from a single remote source

Abstract

A method of providing obscurant data includes receiving image data including an image of a target and receiving a preference setting corresponding to the target. Obscurant data of at least a portion of the image data corresponding to the target are determined using the received preference setting. A method of providing surveillance image data includes capturing image data including an image of a target, querying a database to receive a preference setting corresponding to the target, determining the obscurant data of the portion of the image data, and selectively modifying the received image data according to the determined obscurant data to provide the surveillance image data.

Claims

1. A surveillance data processing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices storing computer program instructions that, upon execution, cause the one or more hardware computing devices to:

receive image data captured at a first time by an imaging device of a drone, the image data representing a surveillance area visible to the drone at the first time;

determine, based at least in part on the image data, that a first tag and a second tag different from the first tag are present in the surveillance area at the first time, wherein the first tag is not a unique identifier of any specific object present in the surveillance area, and wherein the second tag is associated with a first preference setting indicating that targets associated with the second tag are to be highlighted;

identify a first target appearing in the image data, the first target representing a first object bearing the first tag;

identify a first portion of the image data that is associated with the first target;

identify a second target appearing in the image data, the second target representing a second object that is present in the surveillance area at the first time and is associated with the second tag;

identify a second portion of the image data that is associated with the second target;

transform the first portion of the image data using obscurant data and the second portion of the image data using a highlighting indicator to produce surveillance image data comprising an image of the surveillance area at the first time wherein the first object is obscured and visibility of the second object is increased, wherein to transform the first portion and add a highlighting indicator to the second portion of the image data, the one or more hardware computing devices execute the computer program instructions to;

determine that the first portion of the image data and the second portion of the image data overlap at an overlapping portion;

receive information identifying, in the surveillance area, a first location of the first object and a second location of the second object;

determine which of the first location and the second location is closer to the imaging device at the first time;

responsive to a determination that the first location is closer to the imaging device than the second location, modify the overlapping portion with the obscurant data and not the highlighting indicator; and

responsive to a determination that the second location is closer to the imaging device than the first location, modify the overlapping portion to include the highlighting indicator and not the obscurant data; and

send the surveillance image data to a display device in communication with the one or more hardware computing devices.

2. A surveillance data processing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices and a database accessible by the one or more hardware computing devices and storing a plurality of records each including:

a corresponding unique identifier of a plurality of unique identifiers; and

one or more preference settings describing a desired manipulation of image data;

the one or more hardware computing devices storing computer program instructions that, upon execution, cause the one or more hardware computing devices to;

before receiving image data captured at a first time by an imaging device of a drone, the image data representing a surveillance area visible to the drone at the first time;

generate a user interface enabling a user to enter the corresponding one or more preference settings for one or more of the plurality of records;

send the user interface to a user interface system for display to the user;

receive, from the user interface system, user input comprising a first preference setting indicating that the desired manipulation of image data is to highlight targets tagged with the first preference setting; and

store the first preference setting with a first unique identifier of the plurality of unique identifiers in a first record of the plurality of records;

receive the image data;

determine, based at least in part on the image data, that a first tag and a second tag different from the first tag are present in the surveillance area at the first time, wherein the first tag is not a unique identifier of any specific object present in the surveillance area;

identify a first portion of the image data that depicts a first object bearing the first tag;

determine that the second tag includes the first unique identifier;

query the database using the first unique identifier to retrieve the first preference setting from the first record;

identify a second portion of the image data that depicts a second object associated with the second tag; and

transform the first portion of the image data using obscurant data and the second portion of the image data using a highlighting indicator to produce surveillance image data comprising an image of the surveillance area at the first time wherein the first object is obscured and visibility of the second object is increased.

3. A surveillance data processing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices storing computer program instructions that, upon execution, cause the one or more hardware computing devices to:

receive image data captured at a first time by an imaging device of a drone, the image data representing a surveillance area visible to the drone at the first time;

receive sensor data captured at the first time by a sensor of the drone;

determine, based at least in part on the image data and the sensor data, that a first tag is present in the surveillance area at the first time, wherein the first tag is not a unique identifier of any specific object present in the surveillance area and the first tag emits a signal that is detectable by the sensor;

identify a first target appearing in the image data, the first target representing a first object bearing the first tag;

identify a first portion of the image data that depicts a first object bearing the first tag;

determine that the sensor data includes a first value of a first flag, the first value set by a switch on the first tag;

determine that the first value indicates the first object bearing the first tag is to be obscured;

transform the first portion of the image data using obscurant data to produce surveillance image data comprising an image of the surveillance area at the first time wherein the first object is obscured; and

send the surveillance image data to a display device in communication with the one or more hardware computing devices.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the first tag has a color represented in the image data, and to determine that the first tag is present in the surveillance area at the first time, the computer program instructions, upon execution, cause the one or more hardware computing devices to:

identify the color based on data stored in memory of the one or more hardware computing devices; and

determine that a plurality of adjacent pixels in the image data have the color.

5. A surveillance data processing system comprising one or more hardware computing devices and a database accessible by the one or more hardware computing devices and storing data representing a grid, the grid comprising grid lines that represent geographic coordinates in the surveillance area and define a plurality of grid squares each representing a corresponding region of the surveillance area, the one or more hardware computing devices storing computer program instructions that, upon execution, cause the one or more hardware computing devices to:

receive image data captured at a first time by an imaging device of a drone, the image data representing a surveillance area visible to the drone at the first time;

associate the grid with the image data;

determine, based at least in part on the image data, that a first tag is present in the surveillance area at the first time, wherein the first tag is not a unique identifier of any specific object present in the surveillance area;

determine that a location of the first tag is represented in the image data located within a first grid square of the plurality of grid squares;

transform the image data located within the first grid square using modification data associated with the first tag to produce surveillance image data; and

send the surveillance image data to a display device in communication with the one or more hardware computing devices.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the database further stores a plurality of masking layers each associated with the grid and each comprising obscurant data within one or more of the grid squares, wherein to transform the image data located within the first grid square, the one or more hardware computing devices further execute the computer program instructions to:

query the database to retrieve a first masking layer of the plurality of masking layers, the first masking layer having the obscurant data within the first grid square; and

superimpose the first masking layer over the image data to produce the surveillance image data.