[Infowarrior] - New System Blocks Unwanted Video & Still Photography

[Richard Forno]

New System Blocks Unwanted Video & Still Photography
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Science News         Keywords
DIGITAL CAMERA BLOCKING PIRACY CCD
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/521339/#imagetop

Newswise ‹ Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have completed
a prototype device that can block digital-camera function in a given area.
Commercial versions of the technology could be used to stymie unwanted use
of video or still cameras.

The prototype device, produced by a team in the Interactive and Intelligent
Computing division of the Georgia Tech College of Computing (COC), uses
off-the-shelf equipment ­ camera-mounted sensors, lighting equipment, a
projector and a computer -- to scan for, find and neutralize digital
cameras. The system works by looking for the reflectivity and shape of the
image-producing sensors used in digital cameras.

Gregory Abowd, an associate professor leading the project, says the new
camera-neutralizing technology shows commercial promise in two principal
fields ­ protecting limited areas against clandestine photography or
stopping video copying in larger areas such as theaters.

³We're at a point right now where the prototype we have developed could lead
to products for markets that have a small, critical area to protect,² Abowd
said. ³Then we¹re also looking to do additional research that could increase
the protected area for one of our more interesting clients, the motion
picture industry.²

Abowd said the small-area product could prevent espionage photography in
government buildings, industrial settings or trade shows. It could also be
used in business settings -- for instance, to stop amateur photography where
shopping-mall-Santa pictures are being taken.

James Clawson, a research technician on Abowd¹s prototype team, said
preventing movie copying could be a major application for camera-blocking
technology.

³Movie piracy is a $3 billion-a-year problem,² Clawson maintains -- a
problem said to be especially acute in Asia. ³If someone videotapes a movie
in a theater and then puts it up on the web that night or burns half a
million copies to sell on the street ­ then the movie industry has lost a
lot of in-theater revenue.²

Moreover, movie theaters are likely to be a good setting for camera-blocking
technology, said Jay Summet, a research assistant who is also working on the
prototype. A camera¹s image sensor -- called a CCD -- is retroreflective,
which means it sends light back directly to its origin rather than
scattering it. Retroreflections would probably make it relatively easy to
detect and identify video cameras in a darkened theater.

The current prototype uses visible light and two cameras to find CCDs, but a
future commercial system might use invisible infrared lasers and
photo-detecting transistors to scan for contraband cameras. Once such a
system found a suspicious spot, it would feed information on the
reflection¹s properties to a computer for a determination.

³The biggest problem is making sure we don¹t get false positives from, say,
a large shiny earring,² said Summet. ³We need to make our system work well
enough so that it can find a dot, then test to see if it's reflective, then
see if it's retroreflective, and then test to see if it's the right shape.²

Once a scanning laser and photodetector located a video camera, the system
would flash a thin beam of visible white light directly at the CCD. This
beam ­ possibly a laser in a commercial version ­ would overwhelm the target
camera with light, rendering recorded video unusable. Researchers say that
energy levels used to neutralize cameras would be low enough to preclude any
health risks to the operator.

Still camera neutralization in small areas also shows near-term commercial
promise, Abowd said. Despite ambient light levels far higher than in a
theater, still cameras at a trade show or a mall should be fairly easy to
detect, he said. That¹s because image sensors in most cell phones and
digital cameras are placed close to the lens, making them easier to spot
than the deeper-set sensors of video cameras.

Camera neutralization¹s potential has helped bring it under the wing of
VentureLab, a Georgia Tech group that assists fledgling companies through
the critical feasibility and first-funding phases. Operating under the name
DominINC, Abowd¹s company has already received a Phase 1 grant from the
Georgia Research Alliance (GRA) with VentureLab assistance.

Abowd said that funding availability will likely decide which technology --
small- or large-area -- will be developed first. DominINC will apply soon
for GRA Phase 2 money, Abowd said. Those funds would be used to aid
anti-piracy product development, as would any funding coming from the film
industry.

Other potential funding, from industry and elsewhere, would likely be used
to develop anti-espionage small-area applications.

Stephen Fleming, Georgia Tech¹s chief commercialization officer, said
motion-picture groups are actively looking for technology to foil piracy.
Movie distributors might even promote camera-neutralizing systems by
refusing to send films to theaters that don¹t install anti-piracy systems.

There are some caveats, according to Summet. Current camera-neutralizing
technology may never work against single-lens-reflex cameras, which use a
folding-mirror viewing system that effectively masks its CCD except when a
photo is actually being taken. Moreover, anti-digital techniques don¹t work
on conventional film cameras because they have no image sensor.

Good computer analysis will be the heart of effective camera blocking,
Summet believes.

³Most of the major work that we have left involves algorithmic development,²
he said. ³False positives will eliminated by making a system with fast,
efficient computing.²

Also involved in the camera-neutralizing project are Shwetak Patel, a
College of Computing PhD student; Khai Truong, a former Georgia Tech PhD
student who is now at the University of Toronto, and Kent Lyons, a College
of Computing post-doctoral student. A paper on this technology was published
and presented at the Ubicomp 2005 conference in Tokyo, Japan, last
September.

Writer: Rick Robinson