Whitelist-Based UI Data Collection for Privacy Protection

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing user interface recording and playback technologies face challenges in protecting user privacy while accurately capturing user interactions, particularly with sensitive content like banking web pages, where private data should not be collected or shared.

Innovation Solution

The method involves providing configuration data to specify whitelisted views on a client device, collecting and transmitting only user interface data from whitelisted views, and using masking elements to represent non-whitelisted content during playback, ensuring private data is not shared and user interactions are accurately recorded.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Measurement precision

If all user interface content is collected for playback, then playback accuracy is improved, but user privacy is compromised due to collection of sensitive data

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveplayback accuracyVSAvoiduser privacy exposure
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

The user interface content is segmented into whitelisted and non-whitelisted portions. The system divides the content collection process into separate handling paths: whitelisted content is collected and transmitted for playback, while non-whitelisted content is excluded. This segmentation allows the system to achieve accurate playback of permitted content without compromising user privacy.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

A whitelist mechanism acts as an intermediary between content collection and playback. The whitelist serves as a filtering layer that mediates which content should be collected and transmitted. By introducing this intermediary, the system can selectively capture necessary UI data while blocking sensitive information, thus resolving the contradiction between playback accuracy and privacy protection.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

2Measurement precision

If comprehensive user interface data is collected, then playback quality is improved, but data transmission volume increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveplayback qualityVSAvoiddata transmission volume
Core Design Contradiction:
Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The system extracts only the necessary whitelisted content from the complete user interface data set. By taking out only the relevant portions specified in the whitelist and excluding unnecessary sensitive data, the system reduces the overall data transmission volume while maintaining sufficient playback quality for analysis purposes.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

3Reliability

If privacy protection mechanisms are implemented, then user data security is improved, but system complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedata securityVSAvoidsystem complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The whitelist configuration is established in advance before data collection begins. By performing the privacy protection setup beforehand, the system avoids complex real-time processing decisions during data capture. The pre-configured whitelist provides clear guidelines for what to collect and what to exclude, simplifying the overall system architecture while maintaining strong privacy protections.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4022481B1Protecting user privacy in user interface data collection for native applications
Publication Date: 2023.10.25 FULLSTORY INC
  • EP4022481B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4022481B1 patent drawingFigure 2A~2B
  • EP4022481B1 patent drawingFigure 3

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 views of a publisher. User interface data for a user session is received from a client device. The user interface data includes view data specifying a structure of the one or more user interfaces presented during the user session, user interaction data specifying user interactions with the one or more user interfaces, and content of one or more first presented user interface elements that (i) were presented by the one or more user interfaces and (ii) were generated from a view that matches a whitelisted view specified by the configuration data. Playback of the user session is generated based on the user interface data.