Methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for image-based sensitive-text detection
The present disclosure describes a method, an apparatus, and a non-transitory computer-readable medium for detecting sensitive text information such as privacy-related text information from a signal and modifying the signal by removing the detected sensitive text information therefrom. The apparatus receives the signal such as an image, a video clip, or an audio clip, and recognizes a text string therefrom. The apparatus then detects, from the text string, a substring based on a similarity between the substring and a regular expression, and modifies the signal by removing information related to the detected substring from the signal.
1. A method comprising:
recognizing a text string from a signal;
detecting, from the text string, a substring of a sensitive-text type based on a similarity between the substring and a regular expression, the regular expression defining a pattern for searching a text string and finding substrings matching the pattern; and
modifying the signal by removing information related to the detected substring from the signal;
wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if an edit distance between the substring and the regular expression is smaller than a predefined threshold.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the signal comprises an image, a frame of a video clip, or an audio clip.
3. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
processing the signal for correcting distortion to remove noise in the signal.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the detecting the substring further comprises:
verifying correctness of the detected substring.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the edit distance is a Levenshtein distance between the substring and the regular expression.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if a smallest Levenshtein distance between the substring and a final state in a Thompson's nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) corresponding to the regular expression is smaller than the predefined threshold.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the regular expression corresponds to a predefined type of text.
8. An apparatus for executing instructions to perform actions comprising:
recognizing a text string from a signal;
detecting, from the text string, a substring of a sensitive-text type based on a similarity between the substring and a regular expression, the regular expression defining a pattern for searching a text string and finding substrings matching the pattern; and
modifying the signal by removing information related to the detected substring from the signal;
wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if an edit distance between the substring and the regular expression is smaller than a predefined threshold.
9. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the signal comprises an image, a frame of a video clip, or an audio clip.
10. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the actions further comprise:
processing the signal for correcting distortion thereof and/or removing noise therein.
11. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the actions further comprise:
verifying correctness of the detected substring.
12. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein the edit distance is a Levenshtein distance between the substring and the regular expression.
13. The apparatus of claim 8 , wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if a smallest Levenshtein distance between the substring and a final state in a Thompson's nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) corresponding to the regular expression is smaller than the predefined threshold.
14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the regular expression corresponds to a predefined type of text.
15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause a processing structure to perform actions comprising:
recognizing a text string from a signal;
detecting, from the text string, a substring of a sensitive-text type based on a similarity between the substring and a regular expression, the regular expression defining a pattern for searching a text string and finding substrings matching the pattern; and
modifying the signal by removing information related to the detected substring from the signal;
wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if an edit distance between the substring and the regular expression is smaller than a predefined threshold.
16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the edit distance is a Levenshtein distance between the substring and the regular expression.
17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein said detecting the substring comprises:
detecting, from the text string, the substring if a smallest Levenshtein distance between the substring and a final state in a Thompson's nondeterministic finite automaton (NFA) corresponding to the regular expression is smaller than the predefined threshold.