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Measure your pulse in real-time with Fujitsu’s facial imaging technology
Fujitsu has developed technology which can measure a person’s pulse in real time by analyzing video of their face.
“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.”
When the user is sitting still, the system continuously detects changes in light intensity on the users face, as shown by the green waveform. The red waveform shows the resulting wave with noise associated with movement removed. Fujitsu has found that that accuracy of the system is within about three beats per minute.
“The main point about this technology is, it can make the measurements naturally. All the person needs to do is be in front of the camera, without operating a device. For example, when you’re working on a computer, you often stop moving for at least five seconds while you’re thinking. We think that, by detecting those moments and measuring your pulse rate, this system could be used to support health management, by recording changes throughout the day.”
“In the case of a security camera, it might be possible to detect suspicious persons, based on the assumption that people about to do something risky have a high pulse rate. However, we don’t think that can be done using this technology alone. We think it might be possible through all-round analysis, by combining this with other technologies.”
“We’d like to release this as a device embedded in our products. Right now, we’re working to bring such products out this year, including smartphones as well as PCs.”
tags: Prototype, Research
