Apple developing new auto blur images tech for live video conferences

1.9K Apple is working on a new technology that automatically blurs sensitive images in live video conferences, understandably, to protect privacy. Unarguably, this is yet another exciting tech development due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The usage of video conferencing has surged to highest ever with organizations trying to get the work done from home and schools taking to Zoom and Google Hangouts to keep in touch with the students.

The video conferences are filled with several accidents, such as an undressed colleague walking in the background to a girl using a restroom unaware of the webcam’s wide-angle view.  We all know how the Zoom video conferences went so much wrong for schools during the classroom session, leading to a huge embarrassment for kids and teachers. While it is possible that Zoom and Google could be working on some countermeasures to avoid such incidents in the future, Apple is already right in the game.

Blurring on the background is not something entirely new. In fact, the technology is currently available for application on Zoom and Skype now. In this case, the entire user environment is blurred, leading to too much obstruction. Apple has filed a patent “Per Pixel Filter,” US Patent Application No. 20200184608, which is like a dynamic version of the blurred backgrounds where the algorithm automatically identifies and blocks only the sensitive area of the image, instead of everything.

Video conferencing is immensely useful, says the patent application, and “provides a better user experience than just transmitting or receiving voice data.”

“However, some users decide not to transmit video in order to avoid the risk of transmitting certain (e.g., undesirable) information,” it continues. “For example, users that are located in areas with confidential information often decide not to transmit video during video calls in order to reduce the risk of leaking the confidential information.”

The patent also says that the program first identifies the sensitive area of the frame and creates a grouped object. The grouped object can then be replaced with a blur or anything the user wants, like, for instance, the company using the tech could replace the sensitive object with the company logo, and things like that.

It will be interesting to see how quickly this much-needed tech evolves and gets applied to the various video conferencing tools available in the market today. Or will it be only on FaceTime?

VIA: Apple Insider