Object Tracking via Virtual Avatars for Privacy Preservation
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Solution Overview
Problem
There is a need to track physical assets in real-time while maintaining the anonymity of the asset, as existing technologies primarily focus on digital information protection and lack methods for obscuring physical information during direct observation.
Innovation Solution
The system determines a primary object and associated accessory objects, generates virtual signatures for each, and creates an avatar that changes as the accessory objects change, ensuring continuous identity confirmation while preserving personal identifiable information (PII) by deleting it after a prescribed interval.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If real-time tracking of physical assets is implemented, then asset monitoring capability is improved, but personal identifiable information exposure increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates virtual copies (avatars) of physical assets that represent them in the tracking system. Instead of directly observing and storing identifiable physical features, the system generates virtual signatures and avatar representations that preserve tracking functionality while eliminating direct exposure of personal identifiable information. The avatar serves as a proxy that maintains asset identification capabilities without revealing sensitive physical characteristics.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces virtual signatures and avatars as intermediary elements between the physical asset and the tracking system. These intermediaries enable asset monitoring by providing a representation layer that decouples the tracking function from direct observation of identifiable features. The virtual signature acts as a mediator that preserves asset identity for tracking purposes while preventing unwarranted exposure of personal information.
2Measurement precision
If virtual signatures and avatars are generated for each object, then asset identification accuracy is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system segments the asset identification process into distinct components: generating virtual signatures from accessory objects, creating avatar representations, and maintaining separate tracking records. This segmentation allows each component to be optimized independently and simplifies the overall system architecture by breaking down the complex task of asset identification into manageable modular operations that can be processed separately and combined.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus are described herein for tracking objects and managing data. One or more objects may be determined in a first image. An avatar may be generated which is associated with the one or more objects in the first image. A second image may be received. The second image may comprise a change in at least one object of the one or more objects. Based on the change, in the at least one object, the avatar may be updated and the information kept for a predetermined period of time.