May 22, 2013

Fujitsu’s real-time facial imaging technology knows how hard your heart beats

by Gareth Mankoo

How useful could a mere video of your pretty face really be? Well, besides the inevitable swooning of the opposite sex, it finds its use in a very unique scenario. Fujitsu have developed a cool technology that can measure your pulse by analyzing a video of your face. Justifying the deed, the company stated, “As blood circulates through the body, the amount of light absorbed by the face varies, depending on how much blood there is in it. The first point about this technology is, it identifies minute changes in light intensity on the face, and converts them to a pulse. Also, it accurately detects people’s movements, to distinguish noise. Consequently, it can make a measurement in as little as five seconds.”. The system studies a still subject and detects changes in light intensity on their faces thus drawing a conclusion with an accuracy that is within three beats per minute!


Detecting ones pulse in real time has its uses. Various entities such as thieves, patients and other such cases can be smartly recognized and predefined. However, the need for the subject to be still for an accurate reading may betray the purpose.

[Via – Diginfo]