Confidentiality Preserving Document Analysis System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Organizations face challenges in converting unstructured or semi-structured documents into structured formats for batch processing, especially when confidentiality is a concern, as existing methods may reveal sensitive information during transmission or processing by service providers.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that encodes documents with structural information and content information separately, allowing service providers to process structural data without accessing the textual content, using techniques like asymmetric encryption to maintain confidentiality.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If documents are transmitted in unencrypted format for processing, then service providers can access structural information for batch conversion, but sensitive information may be disclosed during transmission or by the service provider
Solution Approach 1:
The document is segmented into structural information (metadata, layout, formatting) and content information (textual content, data). The service provider receives and processes only the structural information, while the content information remains encrypted and is handled locally by the user's device. This segmentation allows the service provider to perform batch conversion operations without accessing sensitive content.
Solution Approach 2:
The content information is extracted from the document and kept separate in an encrypted state. Only the structural information is transmitted to and processed by the service provider. The processed structural information is then combined with the locally-held encrypted content information to produce the final converted document, ensuring content never leaves the user's secure environment.
2Reliability
If encrypted channels are used to protect sensitive information during transmission, then confidentiality is improved, but the service provider cannot access structural information for processing
Solution Approach 1:
The document transmission is segmented such that only structural information is sent over the network to the service provider, while content information remains encrypted and local. This allows the service provider to efficiently process structural data for batch conversion without needing to decrypt or transmit content information, maintaining both security and processing efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The service provider performs partial processing on only the structural portion of the document rather than attempting to process the entire encrypted document. This partial action approach enables batch conversion operations to proceed efficiently on structural metadata while the content remains protected and is processed locally afterward.
3Reliability
If full document encryption is applied, then confidentiality is maintained, but the service provider cannot perform structure processing without decryption
Solution Approach 1:
The document is divided into structural information and content information, with only the content information being encrypted. The structural information remains unencrypted and can be freely processed by the service provider. This eliminates the need for complex encryption/decryption operations on the entire document while still protecting sensitive content through selective encryption of only the content portion.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and system for document processing allow a service provider to process a document without having access the textual content of the document. The system includes memory which receives an encoded source document from an associated client system. The encoded source document includes structural information and encoded content information. The encoded content information includes a plurality of encoded tokens generated by individually encoding each of a plurality of text tokens of the source document. The structural information includes location information for each of the plurality of text tokens. A processing module processes the encoded document to generate a modified document, without decoding the encoded tokens. A transmission module transmits the modified document to an associated client system whereby the client system is able to generate a transformed document based on the modified document and the plurality of text tokens.