Encoding a privacy masked image

A system comprising:

• circuitry configured to receive pixel divided image data of an image, wherein the pixel divided image data is grouped into a plurality of encoding units;
• circuitry configured to receive data defining an area and graphical characteristic of a privacy mask that masks part of the image, the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask indicating the manner in which pixel values of pixels located within the privacy mask are determined;
• circuitry configured to extend the privacy mask and the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask to be aligned with one or more encoding units having one or more pixels located within the privacy mask to form a redefined privacy mask;
• circuitry configured to generate a privacy masked image by applying the redefined privacy mask and the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask to the image;
• and
• circuitry configured to encode the privacy masked image into an encoded image frame of a video stream,
• wherein the encoding comprises disabling spatial prediction encoding of pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image on a condition that the spatial prediction encoding the pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image uses-image data related to pixels outside of the redefined privacy mask, and
• wherein the encoding comprises disabling temporal prediction encoding of pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image on a condition that the temporal prediction encoding the pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image uses image data related to pixels outside of one or more privacy masks of any reference frame in the video stream.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium having recorded thereon instructions, which when executed by a computing device is configured to cause the device to perform operations for encoding a privacy masked image, the operations comprising:

• receiving pixel divided image data of an image, wherein the pixel divided image data is grouped into a plurality of encoding units;
• receiving data defining an area and graphical characteristic of a privacy mask that masks part of the image, the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask indicating the manner in which pixel values of pixels located within the privacy mask are determined;
• extending the privacy mask and the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask to be aligned with one or more encoding units having one or more pixels located within the privacy mask to form a redefined privacy mask;
• generating a privacy masked image by applying the redefined privacy mask and the graphical characteristic of the privacy mask to the image;
• and
• encoding the privacy masked image into an encoded image frame of a video stream,
• wherein the encoding comprises disabling spatial prediction encoding of pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image on a condition that the spatial prediction encoding the pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image uses-image data related to pixels outside of the redefined privacy mask, and
• wherein the encoding comprises disabling temporal prediction encoding of pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image on a condition that the temporal prediction encoding the pixels within the redefined privacy mask of the image uses image data related to pixels outside of one or more privacy masks of any reference frame in the video stream.