Systems and methods for privacy-preserving optics

Abstract

Systems and methods for privacy-preserving optics are described. An embodiments includes a method of preserving-privacy on captured images while performing a computer vision task that includes generating an optimal set of parameters to parameterize an encoding optical element to produce optical distortions such that acquired images by the camera are distorted, where the optimal set of parameters is learned via end-to-end learning that jointly optimizes from a camera optics model to a computational process that performs a computer vision task on the distorted images acquired by the camera, where the distorted images visually obscure a privacy attribute of people to protect their privacy but still preserve features to perform the computer vision task, acquiring several distorted images, and performing a computer vision task directly on the distorted images where the distortions generated by the camera are optimal and allow obtaining high performance on the computer vision task.