Adaptive Privacy Controls for Lossy File Segmentation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing systems fail to provide effective, user-defined access permission settings for lossy file types, particularly multimedia files like JPEG images, which are difficult to modify or protect due to their single-layered nature, limiting the ability to apply fine-grained privacy controls and encryption.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of Adaptive Privacy Controls (APC) that allow users to hide and encrypt specific portions of lossy files, converting them into multi-layered formats in memory for secure sharing, enabling authorized recipients to decrypt and reconstruct the original content while maintaining the integrity of the underlying file.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If lossy file types (e.g., JPEG) are used for compression and sharing, then file size is reduced and transmission efficiency is improved, but the ability to apply fine-grained privacy controls and encryption is lost due to their single-layered nature
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the single-layered lossy file into multiple logical layers by embedding hidden layers within the file structure. These hidden layers contain encrypted or protected content that can be selectively revealed to different recipients based on their authorization levels, thereby enabling fine-grained privacy controls while maintaining the compressed lossy file format.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a nested structure where hidden layers are embedded within the visible layers of the lossy file. The hidden layers contain encrypted content that is nested inside the file structure, allowing multiple levels of privacy protection within a single file, similar to nested dolls where smaller objects are contained within larger ones.
2Adaptability or versatility
If multiple layers are added to enable privacy controls, then adaptability and privacy control capability are improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates a universal file structure that can function both as a standard lossy file for general viewing and as a multi-layered protected file for secure sharing. The same file structure serves multiple purposes: it maintains compatibility with standard viewers while simultaneously supporting encrypted hidden layers for authorized recipients, eliminating the need for separate file formats for different security levels.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying techniques where hidden layers are embedded as copies within the file structure. The encrypted content is copied into the file in a compressed or encoded form that doesn't significantly increase the overall file size, allowing multiple layers of protection without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Reliability
If encryption and hiding techniques are applied to protected portions, then security and privacy protection are improved, but the ease of operation and accessibility for unauthorized users worsen
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different quality levels to different portions of the file. The visible layers maintain high quality and full accessibility for all users, while only the hidden layers contain encrypted or protected content. This localized application of security measures ensures that unauthorized users can still access and view the majority of the file content without restriction, while protected portions remain secure.
Data Source
AI summary
Users desire a communications system that allows the users to apply customized privacy settings (and, optionally, encryption keys) differently to particular portions of a document—even if the document is of a ‘lossy’ file type, e.g., a JPEG image. The custom access permission settings may be implemented by obfuscating portions of the original file and then embedding “secret,” e.g., hidden and/or encrypted, versions of the obfuscated portions in parts of the data structure of the original lossy file in the form of “layers” (e.g., the bit-equivalent of PNG layers). The individual encrypted layers may then be decrypted according to each recipient's permissions and layered on top of the original lossy file ‘in memory’ before being displayed to the recipient. The use of multiple encrypted layers allows for the visual revelation of the content of the original lossy file without modifying the actual underlying image content of the original lossy file.