Manipulating an Image by Applying a De-Identification Process

A method for manipulating an image, the method comprising:

• capturing image information representative of an image that comprises images of textual characters;
• recognizing the textual characters;
• finding textual characters of interest;
• applying multiple de-identification processes on the textual characters of interest;
• and
• generating modified image information representative of a modified image that includes images of the de-identification process results instead images of the textual characters of interest.

A system having image manipulating capabilities, the system comprising:

• an image information capture module adapted to capture image information representative of an image that comprises images of textual characters;
• an optical character recognition module, adapted to recognize the textual characters;
• a processor, adapted to determine an image layout, and apply at least one de-identification process on textual characters of interest to provide de-identification process results;
• and
• a modified image generator, adapted to generate modified image information that represents a modified image that comprises images of the de-identification process results instead images of the textual characters of interest.

A system for manipulating an image, the system comprising:

• an image information capture module adapted to capture image information representative of an image that comprises images of textual characters;
• an optical character recognition module adapted to recognize textual characters;
• a processor, adapted to apply a masking process on at least one textual character of interest and apply at least one other de-identification process on at least one other textual character of interest to provide de-identification process results;
• a modified image generator, adapted to generate modified image information representative of a modified image that comprises images of the de-identification process results instead images of the textual characters of interest.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

• capture image information representative of an image that comprises images of textual characters;
• recognize the textual characters;
• find textual characters of interest;
• apply multiple de-identification processes on the textual characters of interest;
• and
• generate modified image information representative of a modified image that includes images of the de-identification process results instead images of the textual characters of interest.

A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium including a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes the computer to:

• capture image information representative of an image that includes images of textual characters recognizing the textual characters by applying Optical Character Recognition;
• identify the layout of the image;
• and
• apply at least one de-identification process on textual characters of interest to provide de-identification process results.