Controlled access to image metadata

Abstract

A system and method for controlling access to image metadata is disclosed, where metadata elements are defined for an image. The method and system include associating users who will access the image with roles, and associating the roles with individual metadata elements. In response to receiving a request for access to the metadata by a particular user, the user's role is determined from the request and the user's role is compared to the roles associated with the metadata elements to determine which metadata elements to make available to the user.

1 . A method for controlling access to image metadata, comprising: 
 defining metadata for an image;    associating a user who will access the image with a role;    associating the roles with an element of the metadata;    receiving a request for access to the metadata element by the user; and    comparing the user's role to the roles associated with the metadata element to determine whether to grant the user's request for access to the metadata element.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  further including assigning access privileges for the metadata element to the associated role.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2  further including allowing the user to read, write, or modify the metadata element based on the assigned access privileges.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  further including assigning a user ID to the user.  
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4  further including receiving the user ID in the request and using the user ID to determine the user's role.  
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further including associating a list with the metadata element, the list including one or more roles associated with the metadata element and corresponding access privileges.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6  further including denying the request if the role associated with the user does not match any of the roles associated with the metadata element.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7  further including denying the request if the requested access does not match an access privilege for the metadata assigned to the role.  
     
     
         9 . A system for controlling access to image metadata comprising: 
 means for defining metadata for an image;    means for associating a user who will access the image a with role;    means for associating the role with an element of the metadata;    means for receiving a request for access to the metadata element by a the user; and    means for comparing the user's role to the role associated with the metadata element to determine whether to grant the user's request for access to the metadata element.    
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9  wherein access privileges for the metadata element are assigned to the associated roles.  
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein the user is allowed to read, write, or modify the metadata element based on the assigned access privileges.  
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9  wherein a user ID is assigned to the user.  
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 12  wherein the user ID is received in the request and using the user's ID to determine the user role.  
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 9  wherein a list is associated with the metadata element, the list including one or more roles associated with the metadata element and corresponding access privileges.  
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the request is denied if the role associated with the user does not match any of the roles associated with the metadata element.  
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 15  wherein the request is denied if the requested access does not match an access privilege for the metadata element assigned to the role.  
     
     
         17 . A computer readable medium containing program instructions for controlling access to image metadata, the instructions for: 
 (a) defining metadata for an image;    (b) associating a users who will access the image with a role;    (c) associating the role with an element of the metadata;    (d) receiving a request for access to the metadata element by the user; and    (e) comparing the user's role to the roles associated with the metadata element to determine whether to grant the user's request for access to the metadata element.    
     
     
         18 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17  further including the instruction of assigning access privileges for the metadata element to the associated roles.  
     
     
         19 . The computer readable medium of  claim 18  further including the instruction of allowing the user to read, write, or modify the metadata element based on the assigned access privileges.  
     
     
         20 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17  further including the instruction of assigning s user ID to the user.  
     
     
         21 . The computer readable medium of  claim 20  further including the instruction of receiving the user ID in the request and using the user user ID to determine the user's role.  
     
     
         22 . The computer readable medium of  claim 17  further including the instruction of associating a list with the metadata element, the list including one or more roles associated with the metadata element and corresponding access privileges.  
     
     
         23 . The computer readable medium of  claim 22  further including the instruction of denying the request if the role associated with the user does not match any of the roles associated with the metadata element.  
     
     
         24 . The computer readable medium of  claim 23  further including the instruction of denying the request if the requested access does not match access privilege for the metadata element assigned to the role.  
     
     
         25 . A method for controlling access to image metadata, comprising: 
 (a) defining metadata for an image file;    (b) associating a role with an element of the metadata;    (c) assigning access privileges for the metadata element to the associated role;    (d) assigning a roles to a user who will access the image;    (e) after the image file is populated with data and stored, receiving a request from the user to access the image and its metadata; and    (f) comparing the role associated with the user to the role associated with the metadata elements in the image file to determine whether to grant the user's access request for reading, writing or modifying the metadata element.    
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 25  further including associating a list with the metadata element that indicates one or more roles that are allowed to access the metadata element and the access privileges defining a type of access allowed.  
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26  further including determining whether to grant or deny access to the metadata by: 
 for the metadata element, querying the corresponding list to determine if the list includes the role associated with the user;    if the user's role is not included in the list, denying access to the metadata element;    if the user's role is included in the list, then determining if the type of access requested matches one of the access privileges in the list;    if the type of access requested matches one of the access privileges in the list, returning data corresponding to the metadata element to the user as requested; and    if the type of access requested does not match one of the access privileges in the list, denying the request to access the image metadata.    
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  further including storing the roles and access privileges associated with the metadata element in the image file.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27  further including storing the roles and access privileges associated with the metadata element in a file separate from the image file.  
     
     
         30 . (canceled)  
     
     
         31 . (canceled)  
     
     
         32 . (canceled)  
     
     
         33 . (canceled)