Image Processing Apparatus for Sensitive Data Concealment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing image processing methods fail to effectively conceal sensitive information in documents while maintaining the clarity of non-sensitive content, often resulting in degraded image quality or unnecessary processing time due to incorrect identification of regions to be concealed.
Innovation Solution
An image processing apparatus comprising a definition reducing section, a color region extracting section, a concealing image generating section, and an image combining section, which generates a low-definition image, extracts color regions marked by a user, converts them into concealing regions, and combines the original image with a concealing image to obscure sensitive information without degrading the image quality of non-sensitive regions.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If existing image processing methods are used to conceal sensitive information, then the sensitive information can be obscured, but the image quality of non-sensitive regions is degraded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the image into sensitive regions (to be concealed) and non-sensitive regions (to be preserved). The definition reducing section processes the entire image to create a low-definition version, while the color region extracting section identifies specific color regions corresponding to sensitive areas. The concealing image generating section then applies concealment only to these identified regions, leaving non-sensitive regions unchanged, thus resolving the contradiction between concealment effectiveness and image quality preservation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different processing qualities to different regions of the image. The concealing image generating section creates a concealing image with low definition only for the color regions identified as sensitive, while the image combining section merges this with the original high-definition image. This results in local quality variation where sensitive areas are concealed but non-sensitive areas maintain their original clarity, resolving the contradiction between concealment and overall image quality.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If existing image processing methods are used to conceal sensitive information, then the sensitive information can be obscured, but processing time is increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by first generating a low-definition image of the entire document before identifying specific regions for concealment. The definition reducing section creates this low-definition version in advance, which then serves as the basis for color region extraction. This preliminary processing allows the subsequent concealment operation to be more efficient, as the system already has a simplified representation of the image to work with, thereby reducing overall processing time while maintaining effective concealment.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If existing image processing methods are used to conceal sensitive information, then the sensitive information can be obscured, but patchy image issues occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a copying approach where the concealing image generating section creates a concealing image based on the low-definition image, and then the image combining section merges this concealing image with the original high-definition image. This copying and merging process ensures that the concealment is applied uniformly across the entire sensitive region rather than creating patchy results. The low-definition image serves as an intermediate copy that guides the concealment process, ensuring uniform coverage while preserving the quality of non-sensitive areas.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing apparatus includes a definition reducing section, a color region extracting section, a concealing image generating section and an image combining section. The definition reducing section, based on a received image, generates an image having a lower definition than the received image. The color region extracting section extracts a color region from the low definition image generated by the definition reducing section. The concealing image generating section, based on the color region extracted by the color region extracting section, converts the color region into a concealing region for concealing a part of the received image and, generates a concealing image including the concealing region. The image combining section combines the received image with the concealing image generated by the concealing image generating section.