Videoconferencing Image Processing for Border Intrusion Masking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing videoconferencing solutions fail to effectively handle situations where unauthorized individuals intrude into the video frame, compromising privacy and professional integrity.
Innovation Solution
An image processing method that analyzes input images by comparing border pixels with a reference image, applying masks to obscure deviations exceeding a threshold, and optionally detecting and masking unauthorized persons, using transparency coefficients and filters to produce output images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If image blurring or virtual background superposition is applied, then privacy protection is improved, but unauthorized individuals intruding into the video frame cannot be effectively handled
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the video frame into multiple regions (central region and border regions) and applies different processing strategies to each. The central region maintains normal video feed while border regions are monitored for intrusions and selectively blurred or replaced, enabling targeted privacy protection that adapts to unauthorized intrusions.
Solution Approach 2:
Different quality levels and processing methods are applied to different parts of the video frame. The central region where authorized participants are located maintains high quality and clarity, while border regions where intrusions may occur are subject to blurring, masking, or virtual background replacement, achieving local adaptive privacy protection.
2Reliability
If the entire video frame is blurred or masked, then unauthorized individuals are hidden, but authorized individuals may also be obscured
Solution Approach 1:
The video frame is divided into a central region containing authorized participants and border regions where intrusions occur. Only the border regions are subjected to blurring or masking operations, while the central region remains clear and visible, preventing information loss of authorized individuals.
Solution Approach 2:
Privacy protection operations (blurring, masking) are applied locally only to border regions where intrusions are detected, while the central region maintaining normal video quality. This ensures that authorized individuals in the central region remain visible and identifiable.
3Reliability
If continuous monitoring and masking operations are performed on the video frame, then unauthorized individuals are effectively masked, but computational complexity and processing time increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent limits intrusion detection and masking operations to border regions only, rather than processing the entire video frame. This segmentation reduces the number of pixels requiring continuous monitoring and masking operations, thereby reducing computational complexity while maintaining effective intrusion detection in critical areas.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of applying full-frame masking operations, the patent applies partial masking only to border regions where intrusions are likely to occur. This partial action approach reduces processing complexity and computational resources required while still providing effective intrusion detection and privacy protection where needed.
Data Source
AI summary
An image processing method for videoconferencing comprising a step of analyzing a sequence of input images obtained from a camera, the input images being composed of a plurality of pixels, characterized in that the analysis step includes: a comparison, on an image border area, of the pixels of each image of the input image sequence with the same pixels of a reference image, an operation aimed at masking the pixels located in the image border area of the input image when said pixels exhibit, with respect to the same pixels of the reference image, a deviation greater than a first threshold.