User Interface Data Collection Whitelisting for Privacy Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing technologies for recording and replaying user interactions with user interfaces do not adequately protect user privacy, as they may capture sensitive or private content that is not relevant for assessing user interface quality or functionality.
Innovation Solution
The method involves providing configuration data to a client device specifying a set of whitelisted user interface elements from which content can be collected and transmitted. Event data is collected during user sessions, including interface data, user interaction data, and content from whitelisted elements. Non-whitelisted content is masked during playback to protect user privacy.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If all user interface content is collected and transmitted for playback, then complete user session recreation is achieved, but user privacy is compromised due to capture of sensitive content
Solution Approach 1:
The user interface is segmented into whitelisted and non-whitelisted elements. The system divides content collection into two categories: permitted content that can be transmitted for playback, and protected content that must be masked. This segmentation allows selective data transmission that preserves session information while protecting privacy.
Solution Approach 2:
A whitelist configuration acts as an intermediary mechanism between the user interface and the playback system. This intermediary filters content before transmission, determining which elements should be captured and which should be protected. The whitelist serves as a controlled interface that enables information collection while preventing privacy exposure.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If sensitive content is masked during playback, then user privacy is protected, but complete accuracy of user session recreation is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
Different quality treatments are applied to different portions of the user interface. Whitelisted elements maintain their original content and visual fidelity for accurate playback, while non-whitelisted elements receive masking treatment. This local differentiation preserves overall session accuracy while protecting specific sensitive areas.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of transmitting actual sensitive content, the system creates masked representations or copies of protected elements. These copies maintain the structural and visual properties needed for accurate session recreation but replace actual sensitive data with anonymized or obscured versions, preserving form while protecting content.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If a whitelist configuration is implemented, then user privacy is protected from sensitive content, but system complexity increases due to configuration management
Solution Approach 1:
The whitelist configuration is prepared and established in advance before user session collection begins. By pre-defining which elements should be whitelisted, the system avoids complex real-time decision-making during playback. This preliminary configuration simplifies the overall system architecture by separating the configuration management phase from the execution phase.
Data Source
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AI summary
Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for generating playback of user sessions. In one aspect, a method includes providing, to a client device, configuration data specifying a set of whitelisted user interface elements of a publisher. Each whitelisted user interface element is a user interface element from which content is eligible to be collected and transmitted from the client device. Event data that includes interface data specifying a structure of the user interface(s) presented during the user session, user interaction data specifying user interactions with the user interface(s), and content of one or more first presented user interface elements that (i) were presented by the user interface(s) and (ii) match a whitelisted user interface element specified by the configuration data is received from the client device. Playback of the user session is generated based on the event data.