Screen Sharing Eligibility Filtering and Sensitive Data Masking
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Solution Overview
Problem
During screen-sharing sessions, hosts often need to remove or close unwanted items from their desktop to prevent them from being shared, which is inconvenient and impractical, and they also face the challenge of securely masking confidential information like credit card numbers or personal identification numbers.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that identify and capture only eligible open windows on a host computing system, limiting the screen capture to visible portions of these windows, and using embedded program code to determine eligibility based on process information, URL filtering, and field masking techniques to secure sensitive information.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the host removes or closes unwanted items from the desktop before screen-sharing, then confidential information is protected, but the operation becomes inconvenient and impractical
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and isolates only the specific window content that needs to be shared, separating it from the rest of the desktop environment. The screen capture is limited to the visible portion of the selected window, automatically excluding desktop icons, taskbar, and other unwanted elements. This extraction approach protects confidential information while maintaining ease of operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different quality levels to different regions of the screen. The selected window content is captured with full quality, while other regions (desktop, taskbar, minimized windows) are either excluded or masked. This local differentiation allows selective sharing of information without requiring the host to manually manage the entire desktop.
2Loss of information
If all open windows are captured during screen-sharing, then complete screen content is shared, but unwanted items and confidential information are exposed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary layer between the screen capture process and the transmitted content. This intermediary (the server system with embedded program code) selectively processes the captured screen content, identifying and masking confidential information such as credit card numbers and personal identification numbers, while allowing legitimate content to pass through. This mediator resolves the conflict between complete content sharing and confidential information protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the potential harm of capturing confidential information into a benefit by using the same screen capture mechanism to identify and protect sensitive data. The embedded program code analyzes the captured content, detects patterns indicating confidential information (such as formatted numbers in input fields), and automatically masks them. Thus, the comprehensive capture process becomes a protective mechanism rather than a vulnerability.
3Reliability
If manual removal of items is required before screen-sharing, then screen-sharing security is improved, but time and effort are wasted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions automatically during the screen-sharing setup process. The embedded program code pre-configures the screen capture parameters, identifies the selected window, and prepares the masking rules for confidential information before the actual sharing begins. This preliminary automation eliminates the need for manual desktop cleanup while maintaining security, reducing preparation time significantly.
Solution Approach 2:
The system provides self-service functionality by automatically managing the screen capture content without requiring manual intervention from the host. The host simply selects which window to share, and the system autonomously handles the capture, filtering, and masking operations. This self-service approach maintains screen-sharing security while eliminating the time-consuming manual removal of items.
Data Source
AI summary
Described are systems and methods for screen sharing between host and agent computing systems. At a time before capturing the screen of the host computing system, each open window corresponding to a browser process is identified. Certain information is acquired about each browser process. It is determined, in response to the certain information acquired about each browser process, whether the open window corresponding to that browser process is eligible for screen capture. For each eligible open window, each visible portion of that eligible open window is captured. Capture of an image on the screen of the host computing system is limited to each visible portion of each eligible open window.