Image Processing Device for Privacy Mode Switching
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing security systems face challenges in balancing privacy and security, as they often require users to choose between protecting their privacy and maintaining security, leading to issues such as continuous alarms and incomplete security coverage when individuals are alone at home.
Innovation Solution
An image processing device and method that allows for setting privacy modes for registered objects, enabling the generation of processed images that obscure privacy zones upon request, ensuring both privacy and security without being one-sided by automatically switching to privacy mode when authorized individuals are present, using features like face recognition and voice authentication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If security cameras continuously monitor and record all areas, then security coverage is improved, but privacy invasion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating treatment of different spatial zones. The monitoring area is divided into public zones (fully monitored) and private zones (protected from monitoring). The camera system dynamically adjusts its monitoring behavior based on location, applying full security coverage to public areas while providing privacy protection in private areas such as bathrooms and bedrooms.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts monitoring behavior based on real-time conditions. When authorized persons are detected in private zones, the system automatically switches between monitoring modes, temporarily suspending recording in those zones. This dynamic adaptation allows the system to balance security needs with privacy rights based on current situational context.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If privacy protection is enhanced by obscuring images of authorized persons, then privacy invasion is reduced, but security monitoring capability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image processing into distinct functional components: detection (identifying authorized persons), classification (determining their presence in private zones), and selective processing (applying privacy protection only to specific regions and persons). This segmentation allows the system to preserve security monitoring capabilities while applying privacy protection only where necessary.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary processing layer between the camera and the recording/storage system. This intermediary component (the image processing device) acts as a mediator that receives raw images, applies selective privacy protection to authorized persons in private zones, and then passes the processed images to the recording system. This intermediary enables both security monitoring and privacy protection to coexist.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the system blurs or reduces picture quality around detected persons, then privacy is protected, but detection precision and security analysis are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary detection and identification of authorized persons before applying privacy protection. The detection phase occurs first, identifying persons and determining their authorization status and location. Only after this preliminary action is complete does the system apply blurring or quality reduction. This sequential approach ensures detection precision is maintained during the critical identification phase.
Solution Approach 2:
The privacy protection is applied locally and selectively rather than globally. Only specific regions containing authorized persons in private zones are blurred or have reduced picture quality. Other areas of the image maintain full resolution and clarity, preserving detection precision for security-relevant elements while protecting privacy where appropriate.
Data Source
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AI summary
Provided are an image processing device and an image providing method therefor. The image providing method performed by the image processing device includes setting a privacy mode of each of a plurality of registered objects; obtaining a first image of a monitoring zone from a camera; changing to a privacy mode of an object first appearing in the monitoring zone among the plurality of registered objects; and in the privacy mode, in response to a request for the first image from at least one of the remaining objects, generating a second image in which a privacy zone preset by the appearing object is processed in the first image.