A camera controller for controlling capturing of content by a camera and an anonymizer for remotely controlling the camera controller

Abstract

A method at a camera controller, connectable to a camera, for controlling capturing, by the camera, of content of a capturable picture, the method comprising transmitting at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions covering a field of view (FOV) of the camera; determining if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, and admitting capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received, or restricting capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity for at least one region has been received. A method at an anonymizer is also disclosed for remotely controlling the camera controller.

Description

A CAMERA CONTROLLER FOR CONTROLLING CAPTURING OF CONTENT BY A CAMERA AND AN ANONYMIZER FOR REMOTELY CONTROLLING THE CAMERA CONTROLLERTECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] A method at a camera controller for controlling capturing of content by a camera, a camera controller, capable of executing the mentioned method, a method at an anonymizer for remotely controlling the camera controller, and a camera controller, capable of executing the mentioned method.BACKGROUND

[0002] In an increasingly digital and interconnected world, concerns about maintaining anonymity in public and private spaces have become paramount. With the advancement of technology, particularly the widespread use of cameras and artificial intelligence (Al) systems, individuals are faced with the challenge of preserving their privacy. The European Union's proposed Al Act recognizes the significance of this issue and seeks to address it by enacting regulations that protect individuals' right to anonymity. It regulates the use of facial recognition technology and promotes the option of anonymity.

[0003] The technical background revolves around the potential risks associated with ubiquitous camera surveillance and Al-powered facial recognition in public spaces. As technology continues to evolve, there is a growing need to strike a balance between the benefits of surveillance and the preservation of individual privacy. Additionally, with the anticipated rise of augmented reality (AR) glasses, it becomes crucial to ensure that individuals have the option to remain anonymous, even when other device's cameras capture their images, with or without the individual's knowledge.

[0004] In schools, sports clubs, or at public events, children's activities are often recorded or photographed for memories or social media sharing. Parents usually sign consent forms to authorize or deny the inclusion of their child in such media. Presence of underage children in photos is becoming more of a concern in USA. However, managing this consent in real timepresents significant challenges, especially when a child who does not have permission to be photographed is part of a group activity.

[0005] Also, adult people might be concerned of appearing in other people's photos, especially when AR headsets with cameras are being used in public more frequently. Current social networks lack the capability to filter uploaded content based on individual privacy preferences. Images containing random individuals or those who do not wish their faces to be publicly available can still be uploaded without restriction. Currently, social networks cannot differentiate images based on these privacy requests. There are no watermarks or indications that signal whether a person depicted in an image prefers to remain private. This can lead to significant privacy violations.

[0006] US1106869B2 disclose several methods and a system aimed at protecting the anonymity of individuals in public spaces where cameras are capable of capturing their images in video streams. The objective is to prevent the identification of individuals by obscuring their facial features in the captured video stream. A first method disclosed in US1106869B2 involves pre-registering facial features associated with an individual and, upon capturing an image from the video stream, determining if the pre-registered facial features obtained from the captured image have been registered in a database. If they have been registered, the method applies an unidentifiable image to obscure the facial features in the video stream.

[0007] In a second method of US1106869B2, a camera and associated system can detect a signal, such as e.g. radio light or invisible light, from electronic identifiers / tags or mobile phones associated with individuals when they are being captured in a video stream. If an identifier / tag or signal is detected that indicates a desire for anonymity, the system obscures the captured facial features with an unidentifiable image of the individual(s) in the video stream.

[0008] In a third method disclosed in US1106869B2, individuals that want to stay anonymous wear / handle marker(s) or item(s) that can be detected by the camera and that will result in the facial features of the associated individual to be obscured using an unidentifiable image.

[0009] US9983692B2 discloses a method for determining a position of a photosensor with respect to a projector, in a system which is capable to provide a visual presentation, such as e.g., a game presented on a head mounted display (HMD), where a beam generator of the projector is generating a beam, where the direction of travel of the beam can be modified. Asindicated in Fig. 4D of US9983692B2 and the associated text, the beam can be emitted in different directions at different points in time, thereby distinguishing the different emissions from each other, so that a specific position of the photosensor can be determined.SUMMARY

[0010] It is an object of the present invention to address at least some of the deficiencies mentioned above, by introducing technical solutions according to the following aspects.

[0011] According to one aspect, a method at a camera controller, connectable to a camera, for controlling capturing by the camera, of content of a capturable picture is suggested, where the method comprise transmitting at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions covering a field of view (FOV) of the camera; determining if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, and admitting capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received, or restricting capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity for at least one region has been received.

[0012] According to another aspect, a computer program product, comprising a computer program, comprising instructions for executing a method, executable in a camera controller, according to any of the embodiments described herein, is suggested.

[0013] According to yet another aspect, a method, at an anonymizer, for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture at a camera, connected to a camera controller, is suggested, where the method comprise: identifying an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller; determining, in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity has been initiated at the anonymizer, and transmitting, a response to the received identifiable beam to the camera controller, where the response is indicating a request for anonymity, associated with the identifiable beam, in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.

[0014] According to another aspect, a computer program product, comprising a computer program, comprising instructions for executing a method, executable in an anonymizer, according to any of the embodiments described herein.

[0015] According to yet another aspect, a camera controller, connectable to a camera, for controlling capturing, by the camera, of content of a capturable picture, is suggested, where the camera controller comprise processing circuitry and a memory, the memory containing instructions, executable by the processing circuitry, such that the camera controller is operable to: transmit at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions, covering a FoV of the camera; determine if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, and admit capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received, or restrict capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity has been received.

[0016] According to another aspect, An anonymizer for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture at a camera, connected to a camera controller is suggested, where the anonymizer comprise processing circuitry and a memory, where the memory contains instructions, executable by the processing circuitry, such that the anonymizer is operable to: identify an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller; determine, in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity is initiated at the anonymizer, and transmit, to the camera controller, a response to the received identifiable beam, indicating a request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam, in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form part of the specification, illustrate various embodiments.

[0018] Fig. l is a simplified illustration of a camera controller of a camera adapted to be remotely controlled by an anonymizer.

[0019] Fig. 2a is another simplified illustration of a camera controller of a camera adapted to be remotely controlled by an anonymizer, according to one scenario.

[0020] Fig. 2b is yet another simplified illustration of a camera controller of a camera adapted to be remotely controlled by an anonymizer, according to another one scenario.

[0021] Fig. 2c is another simplified illustration of a camera controller of a camera adapted to be remotely controlled by an anonymizer, according to yet another scenario.

[0022] Fig. 3a is a flow chart, illustrating a method executable at a camera controller, capable of controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture, according to one embodiment.

[0023] Fig. 3b is another flow chart, illustrating a method executable at a camera controller, capable of controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture, according to another embodiment.

[0024] Fig. 3c is yet another flow chart, illustrating a method executable at a camera controller, capable of controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture, according to yet another embodiment.

[0025] Fig. 4 is a flow chart, illustrating how a region to be anonymized can be identified at a camera controller.

[0026] Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating how the method according to any of Fig. 3a-3c is triggered by an actuation of the actuator of a camera.

[0027] Fig. 6 is a flow chart, illustrating how a restricted picture can be captured, together with meta-data, indicative of the restriction.

[0028] Fig. 7 is a flow chart, illustrating how a user of a camera, connected to a camera controller, can be instructed to be moved in a certain direction.

[0029] Fig. 8 is an exemplifying illustration of a capturable picture, presented in the viewfinder of a camera, connected to a camera controller.

[0030] Fig. 9 is a flow chart, illustrating a method, executable in an anonymizer, for requesting anonymity.

[0031] Fig. 10 is a block scheme, illustrating a camera controller, according to one embodiment.

[0032] Fig. 11 is a block scheme, illustrating a camera controller, according to another embodiment.

[0033] Fig. 12 is a block scheme, illustrating an anonymizer, according to one embodiment.

[0034] Fig. 13 is a block scheme, illustrating an anonymizer according to another embodiment.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] With the increasing use and importance of visual media in today's society, there is also an increased demand for allowing individuals or owners of certain objects to gain more control of what is actually captured, and possibly also stored, in the form of photos or video streams, by various types of cameras, when moving in public areas, as well as on private premises. From hereinafter such photos or video streams will be referred to as pictures, whereas pictures ready for being captured by a camera will be referred to as capturable pictures. Not only is there a problem with being captured on a picture without approving to this being done, but also the fact of not being aware of this when it actually is about to happen is often considered as big integrity problems.

[0036] A concept is therefore suggested where a stationary or mobile camera that is capable of capturing pictures of people, animal and / or objects within its FoV is adapted to make individuals within the relevant FoV aware of that they may, in the near future be, or stand the risk of being captured on one or more pictures, and to allow these individuals, once being aware of this fact, to take an active decision as to whether or not they approve to be captured on a picture. Active decision is here to be construed as either a manual decision, taken by an individual, or an automated decision, taken by an anonymizer, according to certain rules or instructions. The suggested mechanism will thereby allow a user or an automation to restrict their appearance on captured pictures in a smooth and adaptive way which does not require any pre-registering but can be initiated anytime, anywhere on-the-fly.

[0037] According to one scenario, parents or guardians recording their children at a playground, at school or in any other type of public or private children-centric environment, might want other children to, somehow be anonymized rather than being captured on a picture, in order to respect their privacy.

[0038] According to another scenario, tourists recording videos of friends or family members at a tourist or cultural site may utilize the suggested method for ensuring the privacy of other tourists or locals.

[0039] According to yet another scenario, stationary cameras for recording training sessions in sports facilities e.g. for the purpose of analyzing techniques and movements, or for instructional purposes, using video, may allow other visitors to gain privacy by being blurred on the video.

[0040] An overview of the suggested concept is given in Fig. 1, where an arrangement, forming part of, or connected to a camera, from hereinafter referred to as a camera controller 110, is adapted to control how pictures are captured by the camera. The camera controller 110 transmit a plurality of beams, here represented by the single beam 120, in the direction of, and spread out over the FoV of the camera, being controlled by the camera controller 110, whenever the camera is active and ready for capturing a picture, from herein after referred to as a capturable picture, i.e. a picture shown in the viewfinder of the camera and capable of being captured if actively selected by the user of the camera to actuate an actuator of the camera, where such an actuation is identified by the camera controller 110. The camera may be any type of camera which is capable of capturing pictures, in the form of photographs or video streams, either manually, automatically, or semi-automatically, such as e.g. a digital camera, a camera of a smart phone, a mobile or stationary surveillance camera, or any type of camera, comprising or connectable to communication functionality, enabling two-way communication, as described herein, between the camera controller 110 and a device 130, from hereinafter referred to as an anonymizer, capable of reacting to one or more of the transmitted beams, if transmitted in the direction of the anonymizer 130, by responding to the one or more beams by transmitting a request, requesting anonymity in the direction, pointed to by the respective beam or beams.Requesting anonymity is, from hereinafter to be referred to as requesting some kind of restriction of a complete picture or a part of picture, identified by the direction of a specific beam.Consequently, the anonymizer is capable of remotely controlling how the camera controller will restrict capturing of content of a picture by a camera, which is connected or comprise a camera controller.

[0041] From hereinafter, if nothing else is said to the contrary, a camera is to be construed as a camera comprising a camera controller, which is either connected to, or integrated with the camera. More specifically, a camera controller is arranged to transmit beams in the same direction as the FoV of the camera which the camera controller is adapted to control.

[0042] The camera controller may form part of, or be connected to, any type of device comprising camera functionality, such as e.g. a smartphone comprising a digital camera, a digital camera, a stationary communication device comprising camera functionality or a robotic system, comprising camera functionality. The camera, controlled by a camera controller may also be referred to as a public or private camera, depending on where it is arranged to operate.

[0043] The anonymizer 130 may be or form part of e.g. AR glasses, a smart phone, headphones, a smart watch, an loT device, a smart textile or a wearable, or any type of device attachable to any of the mentioned devices or alike and capable of providing two-way communication with the camera controller 110, i.e. which either comprise communication functionality or is connectable to communication functionality, capable of providing any suitable type of communication, such as e.g. short-range communication between the two devices, such as e.g. Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or cellular device-2-device communication, such as e.g. 5G communication, such that the anonymizer 130 is capable of controlling the camera controller 110 remotely.

[0044] Alternatively, an anonymizer 130, may be carried by an animal, or attached to an object. Thereby, a camera controller being located closely enough to the animal or object for being able to recognize one or more requests to one or more beams pointing towards the animal or object, may be able to actively provide anonymity for the animal or object. Alternatively, an automatic anonymity request may be initiated by the anonymizer 130, in response to the anonymizer 130 recognizing at least one received beam, such that rather than being a selectable option, anonymization is always applied with respect to the animal or object. Alternatively, such an automatic anonymizer 130 may initiate conditional anonymity requests e.g. based on location, in case it is also capable of determining the location of the camera controller 110 and the anonymizer 130, when being in relatively close vicinity of each other.

[0045] Although Fig. 1 is illustrating a camera controller 110, here integrated in a camera, and an anonymizer 130 as separate entities, it is to be understood that a device may be configured such that it comprises both camera controller and anonymizer functionality, i.e. suchthat it is capable both of controlling a camera about to capture pictures in the direction of an anonymizer and for requesting anonymity of a camera, controlled by a camera controller.

[0046] A user 140, to which a transmitted beam is pointing, will be able to receive and identify the beam via an anonymizer 130, carried by or in possession of the user 140, as described herein, since each of the beams transmitted by the camera controller 110 and received by the anonymizer 130 is uniquely identifiable. Such a beam may have any type of form, as long as the complete FoV of the camera controller 110 is covered by at least one beam, out of the, at least partly overlapping, transmitted beams. The beams may be any type of beams which are weak enough so that they do not stand the risk of harming the eyesight of humans or animals, but which are still recognizable when received by an anonymizer. Such a beam may e.g. be a low energy laser beam or a highly directed high frequency (HF) radio beam. Low energy laser beams may be in the visible wavelength 400-700 nm or near-infrared within the 700-1400 range, using Class 1 or 2 lasers, providing below 1 mW. A HF radio beam may be provided in mm-range frequencies, or even higher, using an antenna array and beamforming e.g. in the range 30 MHz - 300 MHz, whereas a VHF radio beam may be in the range 30 -300 MHz. WiGig may e.g. operate around 60 GHz, whereas cellular FR2 may be in ranges above 60GHz. Such beams may be used at least up to 100 m from a camera controller. Such a distance is typically sufficient, since faces normally become naturally blurred at higher distances.

[0047] Each beam is identifiable due to that it is carrying some kind of beam unique data, such as a unique identity, signature or frequency, allowing each beam to be uniquely identifiable. In response to having identified an identifiable beam, from hereinafter referred to as a beam, a request 150 can be sent from the anonymizer 130, requesting anonymity of a part, or a certain region of user 140, where a region may constitute e.g. the face, the complete user 140, a plurality of users, including user 140, located physically close to each other, thereby forming a group of users, or an object. Such a request may either be sent automatically, either unconditionally, or conditionally, from the anonymizer 130, in case the anonymizer 130, or a device to which the anonymizer 130 is connected, has been pre-set to request anonymity in response to recognizing a beam, e.g. when considered to be located in a specific geographical area, or the request may be initiated manually, whenever anonymity is considered to be required by a user. However, in case a user 140, receiving and recognizing a beam, does not require anonymization, the user 140 maysimply ignore the identified beam, resulting in that picture capturing can be executed in a conventional way.

[0048] Fig. 2a is a simplified illustration of the suggested concept, which, in more detail, illustrates how a FoV of a camera controller 110 can be covered by a plurality of, partly overlapping, beams, 120a, 120b, 120c. In Fig 2a, it can be seen that both beams 120a and 120b are pointing in the direction of an anonymizer (not shown), carried by a user 140, whereas beam 120c is not. Consequently, the anonymizer, being capable of identifying both beam 120a and 120b as beams which are pointing in the direction of the anonymizer and its user 140 may determine to respond to one or both of the beams, depending on whether the user 140 wants to actively request the camera controller 110 to restrict picture capturing, or remain passive. An anonymizer receiving a plurality of beams may distinguish the different beams based on received signal strength, thereby determining which beam out of a plurality of identified beams that is considered to be pointing at the direction of the anonymizer and which that is not.

[0049] Fig. 2b is yet another illustration of the suggested concept, showing how a moving camera, controlled by a camera controller 110 can result in that the one or more beams pointing in the direction of an anonymizer (not shown) of user 140 and its user 140 can change over time. In Fig. 2b now only beam 120b is pointing in the direction of the anonymizer and its user 140. The more granular spatial coverage of the beams, i.e. the more beams that cover the FoV, the more precise determining of a specific direction will be possible. Better granularity may e.g. be required in crowded areas, where a clear distinction between who or what to anonymize and who or what not to anonymize is required.

[0050] Fig. 2c is illustrating how a user 140 is moving in the direction from one end of the FoV of a camera to the other, so that, compared to the situation illustrated in Fig. 2b, instead the two beams 120b and 120c are pointing in the direction of the anonymizer and its user 140, whereas beam 120a is no longer relevant to consider.

[0051] It is to be understood that, although the beams of Fig. 2a-2c are all shown in a two-dimensional (2D) plane, a typical beam is actually progressing in a three dimensional (3D) plane, where each beam is typically representing a cone, or a conelike form, covering a certain part of a FoV of a camera.

[0052] A fact that beams, pointing in the direction of an anonymizer, changes over time may not be a problem, e.g. in situations when either a whole picture, for which at least oneanonymizer has requested anonymity, is to be anonymized, or no part of the picture is to be anonymized, if no request for anonymity has been received by the camera controller 110 as long as at least one beam is covering each part of a FoV of a camera. However, in many situations an ability to adapt the beams so that irrespective of if the camera or a user requesting anonymity is moving, the same beam is pointing in the direction of the same user or individual may be required. If beams are able to follow the different objects of a capturable picture, even if the camera or the object in question is moving, an object for which anonymization has been requested will be easier to track, and continued anonymization of objects to be anonymized will be simplified as well.

[0053] A method executable at a camera controller as described herein will now be described in further detail with reference to Fig. 3a. Once initiated, which may be done automatically or manually, the method according to Fig. 3a will typically continue to execute as long as the actuator or the view finder of the camera remains activated, or at least as long as the function of allowing anonymization of what is shown in the viewfinder of the camera is maintained active. In other words, the suggested method is adapted to run in parallel to the conventional camera functionality so that e.g. each time a user or automation is actuating an actuator of the camera for the purpose of capturing a picture, e.g. by activating picture capturing of a picture shown, or the viewfinder of the camera is activated, the described method is executed.

[0054] As indicated by step 3: 10 of Fig. 3a, the camera controller is transmitting a plurality of partly overlapping beams so that each part of the FoV of the camera is covered by at least one beam. Such transmission is typically executed continuously, i.e. once initiated, according to step 3: 10, transmission is commencing until the method according to Fig. 3a is terminated or the actual camera and / or its camera controller is switched off. In order to assure that the full FoV is covered by the transmitted beams, the beams may even be transmitted, so that they provide coverage which exceed the FoV of the camera.

[0055] As long as no request for anonymity is received in a next step 3:20, capturing of capturable pictures, i.e. pictures that are present in the viewfinder of the camera, and thus ready to be captured, may be captured by the camera in a conventional way, as indicted in step 3:30.

[0056] However, once a request for anonymity is received in response to one of the transmitted beams in step 3:20, restriction of capturing of the picture will be activated, asindicated in step 3:40. Restriction in this context may include anything from blurring or obscuring a part of a picture when the picture is actually captured, or adapting a part of the picture to an extent that the part in question is no longer recognizable, to prohibiting any capturing at all of a picture in a specific direction, i.e. blocking the camera shutter function of the picture shown in the viewfinder of the camera. Blurring a part or a region of a picture will result in that a person, animal or object, or a part of a person, animal or object, within that part or region of the picture will be blurred. This may mean that e.g. only the face of a person is blurred, or the whole person, or even a group of persons, including the one or more persons who has requested for anonymity, is blurred.

[0057] The extent of restriction may, according to one embodiment, be preselected at the camera controller, either so that all capturable pictures are handled in the same way, or a preselection may be conditional, e.g. based on geographical location or for which purpose a camera is used. In the latter situation, the anonymizer may include e.g. a geo-tag in its response to the camera controller, which may make use of this information for determining how to restrict a capturable picture.

[0058] As already mentioned, the signal strength of different beams may, according to one embodiment, be used for selecting a most relevant beam from a plurality of identified beams. According to another embodiment, which is based on Machine learning (ML) object detection, it is determined which part of a capturable picture to blur, based on what has been generated within a bounding box or segmentation mask of a camera view by a machine learning object detection algorithm, applied to the camera's FoV. According to yet another embodiment, a camera controller comprising functionality for estimating the distance from the camera controller (and camera) to the anonymizer, may be used for reducing uncertainty due to a long distance between the camera controller and the anonymizer. Such distance estimation may be executed e.g. by applying functionality of a depth camera or by applying radar signaling.

[0059] Blurring is here to be construed as meaning that a specific, identifiable part of a picture is adapted or obscured, e.g. by using any known blurring functionality, to the extent that the blurred section is unrecognizable. Any type of known blurring algorithm may be used, such as e.g. an algorithm for gaussian blurring, configured such that each pixel to be blurred is replaced with the average of the surrounding pixels, and weighted by a Gaussian function. Such blurring can be achieved, using e.g. image editing software or programming libraries.

[0060] Pose detection may be applied for distinguishing who to anonymize and who not to anonymize in a picture. More specifically, once a request for anonymity has been received from a specific direction, continuous tracking of the person or animal in this direction when tracking a user who has previously requested anonymity may be achieved by applying pose detection.

[0061] In some scenarios, e.g. when being exposed to a family owned camera, covering a certain area of premises of the family, anonymizers of family members of this family may be aware of specific beam identities transmitted by a camera controller, capable of controlling this camera, such that these anonymizers are preregistered not to initiate or send any request for anonymity, in response to receiving and recognizing any of these beam identities. Thereby, requests from family members, or certain family members, may be ignored by the camera controller, such that only non-family members are considered for anonymity within a specific family's premises.

[0062] In case restriction of picture capturing comprise blurring or any other way of adapting at least one part or region of a picture, rather than the whole picture, the restriction of step 3:40 includes a process for determining and distinguishing which specific part of a picture to restrict. Such a process, according to one embodiment, will now be described with reference to Figure 4. In a scenario where a request for restriction is resulting in a restriction of only a certain region of the FoV of a camera, step 3:40 of Fig. 3 is preceded by optional step 4: 10 and 4:20 of Fig. 4, where the direction from which the request for anonymity has been received is determined in step 4: 10, whereas the actual region of the FoV to be anonymized is determined based on the identified direction of the request, in step 4:20. More specifically, the mentioned direction can be determined according to any known technique, whereas a specific direction corresponds to a specific part of a capturable picture. The direction may e.g. according to one embodiment be determined based on a look-up table available to the camera controller, where a mapping of identifiers to direction is stored. In such an embodiment each beam can be characterized by a pair of angles, representing azimuth and elevation. Thereby it will be possible to map a direction in 3D. For low-energy laser beams visible light modulation or coded light patterns can be used to represent azimuth and elevation, using e.g. color and / or intensity.Thereby a look up table may be arranged such that one or more of a certain color, intensity and / or a certain blinking pattern corresponds to a certain azimuth and elevation. In such ascenario an anonymizer may be able to extract this information from the beams in real time and report this back to the camera controller, such that the camera controller can map the direction. For HF beams instead one or more of frequency, amplitude and / or phase modulation may be applied for encoding.

[0063] When the camera controller is configured to apply anonymity in a specific region, such as e.g. the face or the complete body of a person visible on the capturable picture, the determined direction can be used for identifying a relevant region. By applying the suggested feature of limited restriction or anonymity, restriction or anonymity of parts of a human, animal or object can be executed without requiring any identification of the respective human, animal or object, but rather to determine from which direction the request was received. The direction can be determined based on information on in which direction each beam has been sent. Based on the beam identity of the beam to which an anonymizer responds, when providing a request for anonymity, the camera controller can determine the direction to the object to be anonymized.

[0064] As already mentioned, the method according to any of Fig. 3a-3c may e.g. be controlled based on the camera controller determining that capturing of a capturable picture has been initiated, e.g. by determining that an actuator of the camera for capturing a picture has been actuated and or that the viewfinder of the camera has been activated. This is illustrated with step 5: 10 of Fig. 5, which is executed at the camera in parallel to any of the methods according to any of Fig. 3a-3c, executed at the associated camera controller.

[0065] Typically step 3:20 is triggered by the “Yes” branch of step 5: 10, in case beams are transmitted continuously also when no actuator has been actuated, but alternatively step 5: 10 will trigger step 3: 10 to initiate the suggested method. According to one embodiment the applied method according to any of Fig 3a-3c is executed only as long as the actuator of the camera is actuated, whereas according to another embodiment the method is executed continuously, i.e. irrespective of any possible outcome of step 5: 10, i.e. the beams are transmitted continuously, for as long as the anonymity mechanism described with respect to any of Fig. 2a-3c commences.

[0066] In a typical scenario, requests for anonymity are repeatedly transmitted for as long as the request remains valid, and consequently, a camera controller receiving such requests continuously will continue to anonymize the requested region.

[0067] As an alternative or complement to the process described above, with reference to Fig 3 a, a duration of restriction may be controlled by applying a timer function, as indicated inFig. 3b. Steps 3: 10-3:40 of Fig 3b are identical to the corresponding steps of Fig 3a. However, as indicated in the added steps of Fig. 3b, a timer, set to a suitable time interval, is initiated in step 3:50, each time a new picture restriction is initiated in step 3:40. An initiated restriction continues as long as the timer is running, whereas when it is determined, in step 3:80, that the timer has elapsed, the process will commence by awaiting a new request for anonymity in step 3:20, before restricting capturing is initiated again whenever required according to step 3:40. The method of Fig. 3b may be applied e.g. for avoiding the necessity that an anonymizer of a user requesting anonymity need to repeatedly send out requests for anonymity. By setting the timer to a relatively high value, e.g. in the matter of hours, this approach may, in practice, result in that one single request for anonymity, received by a camera controller, will be sufficient for acquiring anonymity for as long as needed. Alternatively, such an approach may be combined with tracking the person in question, so that e.g. when a person who has remained in the same place for a while suddenly moves, this may be tracked, resulting in that a new request for anonymity is transmitted, and that the timer is re-set.

[0068] According to an alternative embodiment, the method according to Fig. 3b may, by default, start to restrict picture capturing until the camera controller has been given sufficient time, such as e.g. one or a few seconds, to verify whether or not any person, animal or object within the present FoV has requested for anonymity, i.e. at this initial stage the answer to step 3:20 is aways considered to be yes, in response to determining that the described anonymization method is to be executed. Once a timer, allowing sufficient time to elapse for assuring that no request has been received, has elapsed conventional picture capturing can be admitted, according to step 3:30. In the latter situation, the “Yes” branch of step 3:80 continues to step 3:20, but this time any of the “Yes” or “No” branch can be selected, depending on whether a request for anonymity has been received or not.

[0069] In a similar manner, a person entering the FoV of a camera may be initially anonymized for a predetermined time, before entering a mode where restricted capturing is instead executed only upon reception of a request therefore. If any of the suggested default restriction approaches is applied, restricted picture capturing may be visually presented to the user of the camera by the camera controller, e.g. by displaying a red frame around the FoV in the viewfinder of the camera or in a limited part of the viewfinder, for the duration of the applied timer, i.e. until restriction is only to be applied in response to reception of a request.

[0070] Yet another alternative way of applying the suggested anonymity mechanism is described with reference to Fig. 3c, where, again, steps 3: 10-3:40 are identical to the steps as illustrated in Fig. 3a and 3b. According to steps 3:50 and 3:80 of Fig. 3c, however, a timer, operating as already described with reference to Fig. 3b, may optionally be applied. However, in order to allow for continuous anonymity, the method according to Fig. 3c also allow adaptation of the beams, whenever this is considered to be required. Consequently, it is determined, in step 3:60, whether beam adaptation is required or not, and if this is found to be the case, beam adaptation is executed in step 3:70. Beam adaptation may e.g. be considered to be required when it is determined that, due to movement of the camera and / or a user who has requested for anonymity, the request is a response to a beam with an identity other than the identity, provided in an original request. Beam adaptation may also be considered if the camera controller determines this by itself and / or the camera is moving.

[0071] In case it is determined that the camera is moving in an angular direction, such angular movement of the camera may be compensated for by changing the identity of respective beams, so that, by moving the identity of a beam pointing in a certain geographical direction the identity of the original requesting beam is maintained for the relevant beam also after the movement. Thereby, pointing in substantially the same direction after a camera has been moved, as it did before the movement, a specific beam identity can continuously be representative of a certain geographical direction. This will allow the camera to, in a smooth way, continue to track a stationary person, animal or object for which anonymity has been requested even when the camera is not stationary. In case it is determined that the camera is moving in an angular direction, but where the camera controller is stationary, each beam identity by default represent a certain geographical direction and the angle of the camera relative to the camera controller is used to (re)map beam identities to regions of the camera FoV.

[0072] Orientation of a position of a camera can be obtained by a camera controller in a plurality of ways. According to one embodiment, a method applied in a camera controller of a dynamic system, performing Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) can calculate camera poses when it explores and maps the environment, by considering the three Cartesian coordinates (x,y,z), and the three Euler rotation angles. In such a scenario, a spatial translation, i.e. change of the Cartesian coordinates and / or the angular displacement can be calculated when it is determined that the camera has moved and / or has rotated.

[0073] According to another embodiment, a movement of a camera can be determined based on measurements of a linear acceleration along the three axes (X,Y,Z) of an accelerometer of an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor, thereby allowing for the determination of changes in velocity and position over time. Thereby any movement along a straight line can be tracked by integrating these acceleration measurements. An IMU also typically comprise a gyroscope, which can be used for providing data about rotational movement, by measuring angular velocity. By combining the data from both the accelerometer and the gyroscope, it will be possible to track the camera's movements. Both linear and rotational, in 3D space.

[0074] A user using a method according to any of the alternative embodiments as described with reference to any of Fig. 3a-3c, may also want to store a picture or a series of pictures, e.g. constituting a video stream, at a storage of the camera or separated from the camera, for potential future use, where the stored one or more pictures also comprise meta-data, holding information on any anonymization that may have been requested and executed. For such a scenario, the suggested method may also provide a feature for capturing and storing such information together with the respective picture, as illustrated in Fig. 6, executable by the camera controller, whenever capturing of one or more pictures is executed in step 6:10, after which the picture is stored, together with the information on requested and executed anonymity in a subsequent step 6:20, here referred to as associated meta-data. Such a feature may be executed as a compulsory feature, e.g. in case it is essential to track all pictures where anonymity events have occurred, or such an extended storing feature may be activated only on demand, either actively by the user, or automatically, e.g. by applying such a storing mechanism when certain conditions or events occur. Such conditions may e.g. be dependent on the environment in which pictures are captured and / or if a certain app, such as e.g. a specific social media app is used. Steps 6: 10 and 6:20 may be executed following step 3:30 of any of the methods according to any of Fig. 3a-3c. By applying storage of pictures together with associated meta-data, indicating if a picture has been restricted or not, such information may later be used e.g. for only publishing non-restricted pictures on Facebook.

[0075] There may be situations where a user, having been restricted from capturing a picture, due to a request for anonymity, e.g. when the user, about to take a picture of a view in which people are moving around, want assistance from the camera controller for the purpose of finding a view in a direction where no request for anonymity has been received, i.e. where theuser is free to capture an unrestricted picture. In such a situation, as will now be described in further detail with reference to Fig. 7, the camera can, according to one optional embodiment, assist or instruct a user to move the camera in a preferred direction of movement. For this purpose, in association with executing step 3:30 according to any of Fig. 3a-3c also steps 7: 10 - 7:30 according to Fig. 7 may be executed. More specifically, a determining of a preferred direction of movement, according to step 7: 10 may be initiated either automatically when picture capturing is restricted, or after this feature has been actively selected by a user of the camera. According to a next step 7:20, the user receives instructions of the determined preferred direction of movement, e.g. by receiving a visual indication, illustrated as an arrow, presented in the viewfinder of the camera, and pointing in the preferred direction. The described method steps are executable by the camera controller as long as no picture has been captured, as indicated with step 7:30. Once a picture has been captured, according to step 7:30, however, the mentioned assistance of the user is successfully executed and, thus, this process is terminated. Alternatively, the described instruction of direction of movement is continued from step 7:20 until this feature has been terminated.

[0076] Figure 8 is illustrating how a user may, graphically or visually be presented with information associated with a method according to any of the embodiments as described herein. Thereby a user activating the viewfinder of a camera may instantly become aware of if a picture presented in the viewfinder is ready for capturing, due to that there is no active request for anonymity for this picture, or if there is at least one active request, requesting restriction for any region presently presented in the viewfinder. If there is at least one active request for anonymity associated with any region presently presented in the viewfinder, the view of the viewfinder may be adapted to assist the user of the camera to move the camera out of the relevant one or more regions.

[0077] In Figure 8, a picture 800, is presented in the viewfinder of a camera, controllable by a camera controller, where the FoV, extending the picture 800, presented in the viewfinder, is here indicated as 810. The picture 800 of the present example comprise a person in motion 820, and a couple 830, standing still. In the present example, the person in motion 820 has not requested anonymity, whereas one or both of the persons, constituting the couple 830 has. In the present example it is also assumed that persons, located tightly to each other can in many situations only be distinguished as a group of persons and not as two separate individuals. TheFoV 810 can be divided into different squared sections with different granularity, depending on how the picture 800 has been zoomed in or zoomed out, where the smallest possible section 840, which is not shown to the user in the present example, but is presented herein only for illustrative purposes, whereas section 850, in the present example is a 16 times larger section, which constitutes 4 x 4 , i.e. 16 of smaller sections 840, divided over section 850.

[0078] When a user is watching the capturable picture 800 in the viewfinder of the camera, the suggested process may, according to one embodiment, be arranged so that section 850, comprising the couple 830, for which a request for anonymity has been received, is visually indicated as being located within section 850 of picture 800. By graphically presenting section 850 to the user e.g. as a red square in the viewfinder, this may illustrate an indication to the user that, within this red square there is at least one person, animal or object for which a request for anonymity has been requested. If instead no request for anonymity has been received for a specific picture 800, this complete picture 800 may be presented e.g. within a green square of the viewfinder, this time instead indicating that the shown picture 800 can now be captured without any restriction requirement.

[0079] If an automated feature for assisting the user on how to move the camera in order to obtain what can be referred to as a green FoV, or a FoV free of any active request for anonymity, following the argumentation above, the suggested method may also comprise the option to have visual instructions presented to the user of the camera, e.g. as an overlay over the ordinary view, presented in the viewfinder, instructing the user, e.g. by presenting an arrow within the viewfinder, instructing the user to move the camera in any specific direction. In Fig. 8 an arrow 860, pointing to the right, illustrates how a preferred direction of movement, as described above, with reference to Fig. 8, can be presented to the user. Such a feature for instructing a user may, alternatively, be combined with another feature for determining which direction to move the camera. Such a feature may e.g. be based on directional audio detection, wherein the FoV of the camera is instructed to be moved away from detected audio.

[0080] In addition to the presented one or more squares of Fig. 8, indicating restricted region / s or unrestricted views, also an indication of the number of active requests for anonymity of a capturable picture displayed in the viewfinder may be visually presented to the user. Thereby the user may get an indication, not only that there is at least one active request foranonymity within a marked square, but also on the extent of active anonymity requests within a scene or even within a marked square presented in the viewfinder of a camera. Such additional information may be used by the user of the camera e.g. for determining how to move the camera when trying to find a view in the viewfinder with no active request for anonymity.

[0081] A method, executable in an anonymizer as described herein will now be described in further detail, with reference to Figure 9. In a first step 8: 10, the anonymizer is identifying an identifiable beam, received from a camera controller. Once a beam has been received and identified by the anonymizer, it is determined if a request for anonymity is initiated at the anonymizer, in response to the identified beam, as indicated in step 8:20. Such a determination may be based on that a user has manually selected that anonymity is required. Alternatively, such a determination is instead automatically executed, based on that certain conditions or rules have been fulfilled. Such rules may e.g. indicate that, for the time being, anonymity is to be applied for a relevant, identifiable person, or that anonymity is to be applied when the anonymizer is located in a certain geographical location. In case requests are initiated manually, the user is typically alerted of the detected beam, as indicated with optional step 8: 15, where such an alerting may be one of, or a combination of an audible and visual alerting.

[0082] If no request for anonymity is determined, the described method awaits the identifying of another identifiable beam or a repeated reception of the same identifiable beam in step 8: 10, whereas if at least one request for anonymity has been determined, a request for anonymity in the direction of the identified beam is generated and transmitted, destined for a relevant camera controller, as indicated with step 8:30. Once a request for anonymity has been determined and transmitted, transmitting of such a request is typically repeated at a certain time interval, such as e.g. during 10 ms each second. Thereby, a camera controller having received a request, indicating a certain identifiable beam, or even a combination of identifiable beams, will be able to track how a user of an anonymizer, who is requesting anonymity, is moving, and may use this information for adapting the beams so that anonymity request received in response to one beam may be continuously responded to by anonymization. Since an anonymizer may receive and identify more than one beam at the same time, the method as described above, may be executed for detecting and responding to a plurality of identified beams in parallel.

[0083] A camera controller for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture of a camera 1050 will now be described in further detail, with reference to Fig. 10. The camera controller 1000 comprise processing circuitry 1010 and a memory 1020, the memory 1020 containing instructions, executable by the processing circuitry 1010, such that the camera controller 1000 is operable to transmit at least two identifiable beams, via an emitting unit 1040, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions, covering a FoV of the camera, after which the camera controller is operable to determine if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer 1200,1300, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, followed by admitting capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received via a communication unit 1030, or restricting capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity has been received.

[0084] The memory 1020 can be any combination of random-access memory (RAM) and / or read only memory (ROM). The memory 1020 also typically comprises persistent storage, which, for example, can be any single one or combination of magnetic memory, optical memory, solid- state memory or even remotely mounted memory. The processing circuitry 1010 may comprise e.g. one or more central processing unit (CPU) or digital signal processor (DSP). The camera controller 1000 may also comprise a computer program 1070, comprising instructions for executing a method according to any of the embodiments as described herein, storable in the memory 1020. Furthermore, the camera controller 1000 may be capable of holding a computer program product 1060, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium on which the computer program 1070 is stored.

[0085] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to assure that each beam is identifiable by providing any of a beam unique identity, a beam unique signature, or a beam unique frequency to each beam.

[0086] The camera controller 1000 is also, according to one embodiment, operable to identify a request for anonymity as comprising any of a beam unique identity of a beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received, a beam unique signature of a beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received, or a beam unique frequency of a beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received, depending on the identity of the beam.

[0087] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to identify at least one specific region of a capturable picture by determining the direction in which at least one identifiable beam, for which a request for anonymity has been received, has been transmitted.

[0088] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to apply a specific region, such that it is representing one of: an individual, a part of an individual or a group of individuals, in the capturable picture.

[0089] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to distinguish a specific region of the capturable picture from other regions by executing pose detection, e.g. by applying a suitable pose detection algorithm, on the visual content of the capturable picture.

[0090] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to restrict picture capturing by blurring the picture, wherein the blurring may comprise blurring a specific region of the capturable picture, blurring an individual, at least partly, located within a specific region of the capturable picture, blurring a group of distinguishable individuals associated with a specific region of the capturable picture, or blurring all distinguishable individuals of the capturable picture. Alternatively, the camera controller 1000 may be operable to prohibiting capturing of a complete, capturable picture.

[0091] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to restrict capturing of the capturable picture by default, in response to having determined that an intention of capturing a capturable picture has been initiated, e.g. by determining that an actuator and / or a viewfinder of the camera has been actuated. Such a camera controller 1000 may also, according to one embodiment, be operable to determine that an intent of capturing a capturable picture has been initiated when it has been determined that a viewfinder of the camera 1050 has been activated and may be capable of maintaining restriction of capturing of the capturable content until it has determined that there is no valid request for anonymity for any region of the capturable picture, or until it has determined that a timer, initiated upon determining the intention to capture the capturable picture, has terminated.

[0092] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to transmit the identifiable beams in the form of laser beams or HF radio beams via the emitting unit 1040.

[0093] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to provide coverage of the identifiable beams which exceeds the FOV of the camera.

[0094] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to present information to the user of the camera controller, informing the user about the situation with respect to possible anonymity of a capturable picture, wherein this information may be at least one of: an indication, indicating at least one region of a capturable picture, for which at least one request for anonymity has been received or an indication, indicating that no request for anonymity has been received within the FOV of the camera.

[0095] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to determine that an identifiable beam is about to move out of the region of a capturable picture for which a request for anonymisation has been received, and to adapt at least one of the camera and the beam, associated with the request, so that the identifiable beam is maintained within the region.

[0096] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to restrict capturing of the capturable picture until it has been determined that no request for anonymity has been received for any region of a second capturable picture, in response to determining that a request for anonymity has been received with respect to a specific region of a first capturable picture, the camera controller 1000.

[0097] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to store a captured capturable picture, wherein the captured picture is stored together with meta-data, associated with the captured picture, wherein the meta-data is indicative of that the captured picture comprise at least one region for which anonymity has been requested or of that the captured picture comprise no region for which anonymity has been requested.

[0098] The camera controller 1000 is, according to one embodiment, operable to determine direction of movement of the camera for obtaining a capturable picture comprising no region in which a request for anonymity is active, and to instruct the user of the camera controller of the determined direction of movement.

[0099] The camera controller 1000 may be configured as a separate entity, connectable to a camera or it may form part of a device, comprising communication functionality, wherein sucha device may be any of a digital camera, a camera of a smart phone, a mobile or fixed surveillance camera or a stationary communication device, comprising camera functionality.

[0100] A camera controller according to another aspect is described with reference to Fig. 11 where a camera controller 1100 comprise an emitting unit 1110, configured to transmit at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions, covering a FoV of the camera; a restricting unit 1130 configured to determine if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from the anonymizer via a communication unit 1120, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, via the communication unit 1120, wherein the restricting unit 1130 is configured to restrict capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity has been received. Unless the camera controller 1100 is a device connected to a camera 1150, it also comprises a camera 1150 to be controlled. A camera controller 1100, applying a time limit as described above, also comprises a timer 1140. In case the camera controller 1100 is capable of determining movement of the camera controller 1100, it also comprises a movement unit 1160, whereas if capable of adapting the beams, It also comprise an adaptation unit 1170. If the camera controller 1100 is capable of instructing a user on how to move a camera, the camera controller 1100 comprises an instructing unit 1180 and it may also comprise a storing unit 1190 for storing pictures together with associated meta-data, as described herein.

[0101] An anonymizer for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture will now be described in further detail, with reference to Fig. 12, where the anonymizer 1200 comprise processing circuitry 1210 and a memory 1220, where the memory 1220 contains instructions, executable by the processing circuitry 1210, such that the anonymizer 1200 is operable to identify an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller 1000, 1100 via communication unit 1230, after which the anonymizer 1200 is operable to determine, in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity has been initiated at the anonymizer 1200, and to transmit a response to the received identifiable beam via the communication unit 1230, indicating a request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam, to the camera controller 1000, 1100 in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.

[0102] The memory 1220 can be any combination of RAM and / or ROM. The memory 1220 also typically comprises persistent storage, which, for example, can be any single one orcombination of magnetic memory, optical memory, solid-state memory or even remotely mounted memory. The processing circuitry 1210 may comprise e.g. one or more CPU or DSP. The anonymizer 1200 may also comprise a computer program 1250, comprising instructions for executing a method according to any of the embodiments as described herein, storable in the memory 1220. Furthermore, the anonymizer 1200 may be capable of holding a computer program product 1240, comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium on which the computer program 1250 is stored.

[0103] The anonymizer 1200 may be configured as a separate entity which can be connected to another entity, having communication capability, or it may form part of a device, suitable for enabling anonymization of a person, animal or object.

[0104] The anonymizer 1200 is, according to one embodiment, operable to request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam by repeatedly transmitting such a request to the camera controller 1000, 1100.

[0105] The anonymizer 1200 is, according to one embodiment, operable to identify each beam via a unique identifier, which may e.g. be any of a beam unique identity, a beam unique signature, or a beam unique frequency.

[0106] The anonymizer 1200 is, according to one embodiment, operable to initiate the request for anonymity automatically, in response to identifying the identifiable beam.

[0107] The anonymizer 1200 is, according to one embodiment, operable to detect that a request for anonymity has been initiated manually at the anonymizer 1200.

[0108] The anonymizer 1200 is, according to one embodiment, operable to alert a user that an identifiable beam has been identified, in response to having identified the beam.

[0109] According to another aspect, an anonymizer 1300 is configured as comprising an identifying unit 1310, capable of identifying an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller 1000, 1100 via a communication unit 1320; a determining unit 1330, capable of determining, in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity is initiated at the anonymizer 1300, wherein the request for anonymity may have been initiated manually via a conventional user interface or automatically. The anonymizer 1300 is also capable of transmitting a response to the received identifiable beam to the camera controller1000, 1100 via the communication unit 1320, where the response is indicating a request for anonymity, associated with the identifiable beam, in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method at a camera controller, connectable to a camera, for controlling capturing, by the camera, of content of a capturable picture, the method comprising: -transmitting (3: 10) at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions covering a field of view (FOV) of the camera;-determining (3:20) if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, and-admitting (3:30) capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received, or restricting (3:40) capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity for at least one region has been received.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein each of the identifiable beams comprise one of:-a beam unique identity;-a beam unique signature, or-a beam unique frequency.

3. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the request for anonymity comprises one of:-a beam unique identity of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received;-a beam unique signature of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received, or-a beam unique frequency of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the at least one specific region of a capturable picture is identified by determining the direction in which at least oneidentifiable beam, for which a request for anonymity has been received, has been transmitted.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the at least one region is representing one of an individual, a part of an individual or a group of individuals, in the capturable picture.

6. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein one of the at least one region of the capturable picture is distinguishable from the other regions by executing pose detection on the visual content of the capturable picture.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the restricting (3 :40) comprises one of-blurring a specific region of the capturable picture;-blurring an individual at least partly located within a specific region of the capturable picture;-blurring a group of distinguishable individuals associated with a specific region of the capturable picture;-blurring all distinguishable individuals of the capturable picture, and -prohibiting capturing of the capturable picture.

8. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the capturing of the capturable picture is restricted (3:40), by default, in response to determining that capturing of a capturable picture has been initiated (5: 10).

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein it is determined that a capturing of a capturable picture has been initiated (5: 10), when it is determined that at least one of an actuator of the camera and a viewfinder has been activated.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a restriction (3:40) of capturing of the capturable content is maintained until any of:-determining that there is no valid request for anonymity (3:20) for any region of the capturable picture, or-determining (3:80) termination of a timer, initiated (3:50) upon determining the intention to capture the capturable picture.

11. The method according to any of the preceding claims wherein the identifiable beams are any of laser beams and High Frequency (HF) radio beams.

12. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the coverage of the identifiable beams exceeds the FOV of the camera.

13. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising presenting, to the user of the camera controller, at least one of:-an indication, indicating at least one region of a capturable picture, for which at least one request for anonymity has been received, and-an indication, indicating that no request for anonymity has been received within the FOV of the camera.

14. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: -determining (3:60) that an identifiable beam is about to move out of the region of a capturable picture for which a request for anonymisation has been received, and -adapting (3:70) at least one of the camera and the beam, associated with the request, so that the identifiable beam is maintained within the region.

15. The method according to any of the preceding claims wherein, in response to determining (3 :20) that a request for anonymity has been received with respect to a specific region of a first capturable picture, capturing of the capturable picture is restricted (3:40) until it has been determined (3:20) that no request for anonymity has been received for any region of a second capturable picture.

16. The method according to any of the preceding claims further comprising:-storing (6:20) a captured (6: 10) picture, wherein the captured picture is stored together with meta-data, associated with the captured picture, wherein the meta-data is indicative of that the captured picture comprise at least one region for which anonymity has been requested or of that the captured picture comprise no region for which anonymity has been requested.

17. The method according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising: -determining (7: 10) a preferred direction of movement of the camera for obtaining a capturable picture comprising no region in which a request for anonymity is active, and -instructing (7:20) the user of the camera controller of the determined preferred direction of movement.

18. The method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the camera controller form part of or is connected to any of:-a digital camera;-a camera of a smart phone;-a mobile or stationary surveillance camera, or-a stationary communication device, comprising camera functionality.

19. A computer program product (1060) comprising a computer program (1070) comprising instructions for executing a method according to any of claims 1-18.

20. A method, at an anonymizer, for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture at a camera connected to a camera controller, the method comprising:-identifying (8: 10) an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller;-determining (8:20), in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity has been initiated at the anonymizer, and-transmitting (8:30), to the camera controller, a response to the received identifiable beam, indicating a request for anonymity, associated with the identifiable beam, in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the anonymizer is any of -augmented reality (AR) glasses;-a mobile phone;-a headphone;- smart watch;-an loT device;-a smart textile or-a wearable22. The method according to claim 20 or 21, wherein the request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam is repeatedly transmitted 8:30 to the camera controller.

23. The method according to any of claims 20-22, wherein each identifiable beam is identifiable via one of:- a beam unique identity;-a beam unique signature, or-a beam unique frequency.

24. The method according to any of claims 20-23, wherein the request for anonymity is initiated automatically, in response to identifying the identifiable beam.

25. The method according to any of claims 20-24, wherein the request for anonymity is initiated manually.

26. The method according to any of clams 20-25, wherein the method further comprises alerting (8: 15) the user of that an identifiable beam has been identified, in response to having identified the beam.

27. A computer program product (1240) comprising a computer program (1250) comprising instructions for executing a method according to any of claims 20-26.

28. A camera controller (1000), connectable to a camera (1050), for controlling capturing, by the camera (1050), of content of a capturable picture, the camera controller (1000) comprising processing circuitry (1010) and a memory (1020), the memory (1020) containing instructions, executable by the processing circuitry (1010) such that the camera controller (1000) is operable to:- transmit at least two identifiable beams, wherein each beam is transmitted in different directions, covering a field of view (FoV) of the camera (1050);- determine if a request for anonymity of at least one specific region of a capturable picture is received from an anonymizer, in response to transmitting the at least two identifiable beams, and- admitting capturing of the capturable picture, in case no request for anonymity of any region of the capturable picture has been received, or restricting capturing of the capturable picture, in case a request for anonymity has been received.

29. The camera controller (1000) according to claim 28, wherein each of the identifiable beams comprise at least one of:-a beam unique identity;-a beam unique signature, or-a beam unique frequency.

30. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28 or 29, wherein the request for anonymity comprises at least one of:-a beam unique identity of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received;-a beam unique signature of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received, and-a beam unique frequency of the beam directed towards a region for which the request for anonymisation has been received.

31. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 26-28, wherein the camera controller (100) is operable to identify the at least one specific region of a capturable picture by determining the direction in which at least one identifiable beam, for which a request for anonymity has been received, has been transmitted.

32. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 26-29, wherein the camera controller (100) is operable to apply a specific region such that it is representing one of: an individual, a part of an individual or a group of individuals, in the capturable picture.

33. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 26-30, wherein the camera controller (100) is operable to distinguish a specific region of the capturable picture from other regions by executing pose detection on the visual content of the capturable picture.

34. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-33, wherein the camera controller (100) is operable to restrict by executing any of:-blurring a specific region of the capturable picture,-blurring an individual at least partly located within a specific region of the capturable picture,-blurring a group of distinguishable individuals associated with a specific region of the capturable picture,-blurring all distinguishable individuals of the capturable picture, and -prohibiting capturing of the capturable picture.

35. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-34, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to restrict capturing of the capturable picture by default, in response to having determined that an intention of capturing a capturable picture has been initiated.

36. The camera controller (1000) according to claim 35, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to determine that an intent of capturing a capturable picture has been initiated when it has been determined that a viewfinder of the camera (1050) has been activated.

37. The camera controller (1000) according to claim 35 or 36, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to maintain restriction of capturing of the capturable content until it has:-determined that there is no valid request for anonymity for any region of the capturable picture, or-determined that a timer, initiated upon determining the intention to capture the capturable picture has terminated.

38. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-37, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to transmit the identifiable beams in the form of laser beams or High Frequency (HF) radio beams.

39. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-38, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to provide coverage of the identifiable beams which exceeds the FOV of the camera (1050).

40. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-39, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to present, to the user of the camera controller (1000), at least one of:-an indication, indicating at least one region of a capturable picture, for which at least one request for anonymity has been received, and-an indication, indicating that no request for anonymity has been received within the FOV of the camera (1050).

41. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-40, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to:-determine that an identifiable beam is about to move out of the region of a capturable picture for which a request for anonymisation has been received, and-adapt at least one of the camera (1050) and the beam, associated with the request, so that the identifiable beam is maintained within the region.

42. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-41, wherein, in response to determining that a request for anonymity has been received with respect to a specific region of a first capturable picture, the camera controller (1000) is operable to restrict capturing of the capturable picture until it has been determined that no request for anonymity has been received for any region of a second capturable picture.

43. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-42, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to:-store a captured capturable picture, wherein the captured picture is stored together with meta-data, associated with the captured picture, wherein the meta-data is indicative of that the captured picture comprise at least one region for which anonymity has been requested or of that the captured picture comprise no region for which anonymity has been requested.

44. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-43, wherein the camera controller (1000) is operable to:-determine direction of movement of the camera for obtaining a capturable picture comprising no region in which a request for anonymity is active, and-instruct the user of the camera controller (1000) of the determined direction of movement.

45. The camera controller (1000) according to any of claims 28-44, wherein the camera controller (1000) forms part of any of:-a digital camera;-a camera of a smart phone;-a mobile or stationary surveillance camera or-a stationary communication device, comprising camera functionality.

46. An anonymizer (1200) for controlling capturing of content of a capturable picture at a camera connected to a camera controller (1000), the anonymizer (1200) comprising processing circuitry (1210) and a memory (1220), the memory (1220) containing instructions, executable by the processing circuitry (1210) such that the anonymizer (1200) is operable to:-identify an identifiable beam, received from the camera controller (1000);-determine, in response to having received the identifiable beam, if a request for anonymity is initiated at the anonymizer (1200), and-transmit, to the camera controller (1000), a response to the received identifiable beam, indicating a request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam, in case a request for anonymity has been initiated.

47. The anonymizer (1200) according to claim 46, wherein the anonymizer forms part of any of:-augmented reality (AR) glasses;-a mobile phone;-a headphone;-a smart watch;-an loT device;-a smart textile, or-a wearable.

48. The anonymizer (1200) according to claim 46 or 47, wherein the anonymizer (1200) is operable to request for anonymity associated with the identifiable beam by repeatedly transmitting such a request to the camera controller (1000).

49. The anonymizer (1200) according to any of claims 46-48, wherein the anonymizer (1200) is operable to identify each beam via one of:- a beam unique identity;-a beam unique signature, or-a beam unique frequency.

50. The anonymizer (1200) according to any of claims 46-49, wherein the anonymizer (1200) is operable to initiate the request for anonymity automatically, in response to identifying the identifiable beam.

51. The anonymizer (1200) according to any of claims 46-50, wherein the anonymizer (1200) is operable to detect that the request for anonymity has been initiated manually.

52. The anonymizer (1200) according to any of clams 46-51 wherein the anonymizer (1200) is operable to alert the user that an identifiable beam has been identified, in response to having identified the beam.

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