Patent Document ID: 20120151601
Application ID: 13377716
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. An image distribution apparatus which distributes a captured image to a client device, the image distribution apparatus comprising: a communication section for communicating with the client device; an image acquisition section for acquiring the captured image; a private area storage section for storing private areas relating to the privacy of users; an identification section for identifying a user based on information contained in an image distribution request received from the client device via the communication section; a cutout area storage section for storing, as a cutout area, an area requested by the identified user to be distributed; an image processing level storage section for storing an image processing rule that defines an image processing level for each of areas having different levels of privacy; an image processing area generation section for acquiring the cutout area of the identified user from the cutout area storage section, acquiring, from the private area storage section, a private area of the identified user and a private area of a person other than the identified user, which private areas are contained in an image of the acquired cutout area, acquiring the image processing rule from the image processing level storage section, and determining an image processing method for each area in the cutout area in accordance with the acquired image processing rule; and an image processing section for processing the image acquired by the image acquisition section in accordance with the image processing method determined by the image processing area generation section.