AUTOMATIC REDACTION AND UN-REDACTION OF DOCUMENTS

A method and apparatus for redacting documents is provided herein. During operation, a call is received from a caller and an identity of the caller is determined. Electronic paperwork related to a particular incident is retrieved. Witness statements from the caller along with past correspondences of the caller are analyzed to determine the caller's knowledge of the incident. Redaction of the electronic paperwork then takes place based on the caller's knowledge of the incident. In particular, items such as addresses, phone numbers, times, places, . . . , etc. that are potentially unknown to the caller are redacted so that the called party will not inadvertently disclose this information to the caller.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Oftentimes public-safety officers will need to speak with various witnesses and victims about a particular incident. During these conversations, the officers regularly need to access documents such as incident reports, victim statements, . . . , etc. Many of these documents comprise information that should not be discussed with those who are not already aware of the information. It would be beneficial to be able to automatically redact such information from a document so that the information is not mistakenly provided to a person during a conversation. In a similar manner, it would be beneficial if information can be un-redacted from documents when it is revealed that a person has knowledge of the information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to address the above-mentioned need, a method and apparatus for redacting an un-redacting documents is provided herein. During operation, a call is received from a caller and an identity of the caller is determined. Electronic paperwork related to a particular incident is retrieved. Witness statements from the caller along with past correspondences of the caller are analyzed to determine the caller's knowledge of the incident. Redaction of the electronic paperwork then takes place based on the caller's knowledge of the incident. In particular, items such as addresses, phone numbers, times, places, . . . , etc. that are potentially unknown to the caller are redacted so that the called party will not inadvertently disclose this information to the caller.

In a further embodiment, the ongoing phone conversation with the caller is analyzed and un-redaction of the electronic paperwork then takes place based on the conversation with the caller. More particularly, if during the conversation, the caller reveals that they have additional knowledge of the incident, portions of the electronic paperwork related to the additional knowledge will be un-redacted.

Consider the following example: Officer Smith is sitting at her desk and receives a call from a person wishing to talk about a particular incident (e.g., a stolen car). The identity of the caller will be determined, and various databases will be analyzed to determine what the caller knows about the particular incident. If Officer Smith pulls up, for example, an incident report on their desktop, the incident report will be redacted based on what the caller knows about the particular incident. In a further embodiment of the present invention, if the caller and Officer Smith engage in conversation, that conversation will be analyzed to determine if the caller discloses further knowledge of the particular incident, and if so, that information within the incident report will be un-redacted. This is illustrated inFIG.1andFIG.2.

As shown inFIG.1an electronic document has various text redacted by blacking it out (although other forms of redaction and/or highlighting may be used). More particularly, the electronic document comprises redacted text101and non-redacted text102being displayed on graphical-user-interface (GUI)105which may comprise a computer monitor. As discussed above, the redacted text may be based on a caller's knowledge of the contents of the electronic document being displayed on GUI105such that information unknown to the caller (and not wishing to be disclosed) is redacted.

As the ongoing phone conversation progresses, material may be un-redacted if the caller indicates knowledge of the redacted content. This is illustrated inFIG.2where previously redacted content101has been un-redacted. For example, assume that redacted content101ofFIG.1comprises a description of a suspect of a crime. Assume that the caller provides the same description of the suspect. It is then known that the caller knows the information contained within the redacted content101, and such information may be un-redacted.

FIG.3is a block diagram of an apparatus300used for redaction. As shown inFIG.3, apparatus300comprises various databases such as, but not limited to, contacts database302, witness statement database303, and email database304. Contacts database302comprises a standard list of names and their associated phone numbers, email addresses, physical addresses, . . . , etc. Witness statement database comprises electronic documents of past witness statements identified by who made the statement and an incident that the statement is associated with. Finally, email database comprises past emails received from various individuals.

During operation, redaction circuitry301receives a call along with the phone number from the caller and routes it to headset307(speaker/microphone). Redaction circuitry301accesses contacts database to associate the phone number with an identity of a person, and then searches email database304and witness statement database303for emails and witness statements made by the identified person.

Any electronic paperwork sent, or displayed by GUI105(e.g., an incident report) will have content such as names, addresses, descriptions of individuals and suspects, . . . , etc. redacted unless these items have been mentioned by the person in past email correspondences or witness statements. With this in mind, redaction circuitry sends instructions to GUI105to configure the electronic paperwork to redact appropriate material. In an alternate embodiment, redaction circuitry301makes such redactions before sending the electronic paperwork to GUI105.

In another embodiment of the present invention, redaction circuitry301will analyze the ongoing call and attempt to determine if the caller has knowledge of any content that was redacted. If so, the paperwork will be modified to un-redact the additional knowledge. For example, if an address has been redacted, and the caller mentions the address, then the address can be un-redacted within the electronic paperwork.

FIG.4is a more-detailed block diagram of apparatus300. In various examples, apparatus300may comprise a computer, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, or any device capable of performing redaction and/or un-redaction as described above. Apparatus300is also capable of executing instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by the apparatus.

Apparatus300may include various components connected by bus405. Apparatus300may include a hardware processor (logic circuitry)401such as one or more central processing units (CPUs) or other processing circuitry401able to provide any of the functionality described herein when running instructions. Logic circuitry401serves as a redaction server. Memory409is also utilized to store email database304, contacts database302, and witness statement database303.

Processor401is connected to memory409that may include a non-transitory machine-readable medium on which is stored one or more sets of instructions. Memory409may include one or more of static or dynamic storage, or removable or non-removable storage, for example. A machine-readable medium may include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding, or carrying instructions for execution by processor401, such as solid-state memories, magnetic media, and optical media. Machine-readable medium may include, for example, Electrically Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), or flash memory.

The instructions may enable apparatus300to operate in any manner thus programmed, such as the functionality described specifically herein, when processor401executes the instructions. The machine-readable medium may be stored as a single medium or in multiple media, in a centralized or distributed manner. In some embodiments, instructions may further be transmitted or received over a communications network via a network interface407utilizing any one of a number of transfer protocols (e.g., frame relay, internet protocol (IP), transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), etc.).

Network interface407may thus enable apparatus300to communicate with a caller through any network (not shown). Network interface407may include electronic components such as a transceiver that enables serial or parallel communication. The wireless connections may use one or more protocols, including Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Wi-Fi 802.11, Long Term Evolution (LTE)/4G, 5G, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), or peer-to-peer (P2P), for example, or short-range protocols such as Bluetooth, Zigbee, or near field communication (NFC). Wireless communication may occur in one or more bands, such as the 800-900 MHz range, 1.8-1.9 GHz range, 2.3-2.4 GHz range, 60 GHz range, and others, including infrared (IR) communications. Example communication networks to which apparatus300may be connected via network interface407may include a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), a packet data network (e.g., the Internet), mobile telephone networks (e.g., cellular networks), and wireless data networks.

Apparatus300may further include one or more graphical user interfaces (GUIs)105for displaying redacted content and non-redacted content. For example, GUI105may provide a way of conveying (e.g., displaying) electronic paperwork received from memory409. Part of this information may comprise electronic content that has been redacted as described herein. In order to provide the above features (and additional features), GUI105may comprise any combination of a touch screen, a computer screen, a keyboard, or any other interface needed to receive a user input and provide information to the user.

Apparatus300also includes natural-language processor (NLP)403that comprises well known circuitry to analyze, understand, and derive meaning from human language in a smart and useful way. By utilizing NLP, automatic summarization, translation, named entity recognition, relationship extraction, sentiment analysis, speech recognition, and topic segmentation can take place.

Headset307comprises a standard speaker and microphone combination that serves to receive a call from a caller, and provide a means for a user to engage in a conversation with the caller. It should be noted that in alternate embodiments headset307may be replaced by any other technology such as, but not limited to, a smart phone, a landline phone, . . . , etc.

During operation GUI105receives a phone call from a calling party. Logic circuitry401(serving as redaction server301) accesses memory409(contacts database302) to determine a caller's identity. Logic circuitry401then retrieves electronic paperwork from memory409. As described above, the electronic paperwork may comprise redacted and non-redacted content, and may be redacted, or further redacted by logic circuitry401.

As discussed above, the electronic paperwork may have had the redactions made based on past statements from the calling party, or logic circuitry401may redact, or further redact the electronic paperwork. When redaction takes place, logic circuitry401will access a contacts list to associate the caller's number with a particular person. Past emails and witness statements to/from the caller will be analyzed to determine a knowledge base for the caller, and the electronic paperwork will be redacted as described above prior to providing the paperwork to GUI105. More particularly, if a piece of knowledge was mentioned in any past statements by the caller, then the material will be un-redacted, or not redacted from the electronic paperwork.

It should be noted that the electronic paperwork may be stored redacted or un-redacted and redaction, further redaction, and un-redaction may take place at various times. For example, if paperwork is stored after having been redacted, then logic circuitry401may un-redact the paperwork based on past statements stored in memory409, and also un-redact the paperwork based on an ongoing conversation with a caller.

When un-redaction takes place based on an ongoing conversation, NLP403will provide logic circuitry401words and phrases mentioned by the caller. Logic circuitry401will then determine if such words or phrases have been redacted from the electronic paperwork, and if so, logic circuitry will un-redact the words or phrases from the electronic paperwork, so that GUI will display the un-redacted content in real time as the call progresses.

With the above in mind,FIG.4shows an apparatus comprising a network interface configured to receive a call from a caller, a graphical-user interface configured to display electronic paperwork with redacted and non-redacted content, and natural-language processing circuitry configured to determine words and phrases mentioned within the call. Logic circuitry is provided and configured to determine if the words or phrases mentioned within the ongoing call have been redacted from the electronic paperwork and un-redact those words or phrases that have been redacted from the electronic paperwork based on the words or phrases being mentioned in ongoing the call.

A witness-statement database may be provided, and the logic circuitry may be further configured to redact words and phrases from the electronic paperwork based on past statements by the caller such that if the caller mentioned the word or phrases in a past statement, they will not be redacted from the electronic paperwork.

An email database may be provided and the logic circuitry may be further configured to redact words and phrases from the electronic paperwork based on past emails to and from the caller such that if the caller mentioned the word or phrases within a past email, they will not be redacted from the electronic paperwork.

As discussed above, electronic paperwork may be stored as redacted content, and un-redacted based on various past statements and a current conversation. When this is the case apparatus300comprises a network interface configured to receive a call from a caller, a database comprising past statements from the caller, a graphical-user interface configured to display electronic paperwork with redacted and non-redacted content, and natural-language processing circuitry configured to determine content of a conversation with the caller. Logic circuitry is provided and configured to redact the electronic paperwork analyze the database and un-redact words and phrases from the electronic paperwork based on past statements by the caller such that if the caller mentioned the word or phrases, they will not be redacted from the electronic paperwork, determine if the caller mentions words or phrases that have been redacted from the electronic paperwork, and un-redact those words or phrases that have been redacted from the electronic paperwork based on the words or phrases being mentioned in the call.

FIG.5is a flow chart showing operation of the apparatus ofFIG.1. The logic flow begins at step501where network interface407receives a call from a caller and routes it to headset307. At step503, GUI105displays electronic paperwork with redacted and non-redacted content. Logic circuitry401then determines words and/or phrases mentioned within the call (step505) and determines if the words or phrases mentioned within the call have been redacted from the electronic paperwork (step507). Finally, at step509logic circuitry401un-redacts those words or phrases that have been redacted from the electronic paperwork based on the words or phrases being mentioned in the call so that GUI105now displays the un-redacted content.

As discussed above, logic circuitry401may also redact words and phrases from the electronic paperwork based on past statements by the caller such that if the caller mentioned the word or phrases in a past statement, they will not be redacted from the electronic paperwork.

Additionally, the past statements by the caller may comprise a past statements made in an email, or made within a witness statement.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have been described. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. For example, instead of redacting text by blacking it out, one of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that such text may simply be highlighted in a particular color, underlined, or otherwise distinguished from normal text. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intended to be included within the scope of present teachings.

Those skilled in the art will further recognize that references to specific implementation embodiments such as “circuitry” may equally be accomplished via either on general purpose computing apparatus (e.g., CPU) or specialized processing apparatus (e.g., DSP) executing software instructions stored in non-transitory computer-readable memory. It will also be understood that the terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.