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Fujitsu’s new projection technology adds a gesture interface layer to any object

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Fujitsu Laboratories, the R&D arm of the Japanese electronics giant, recently unveiled a new technology that recognizes your finger gestures and allows you to add a sort of intelligent layer onto physical objects. The technology that makes this possible is a combination of a projector and several overhead cameras, letting you use gestures on an object as if it were a tablet or smartphone device. The company plans to develop a commercial version of the system by the fiscal year 2014. They say it could be used to show detailed information at a travel agency, or when you fill in forms at a city office. This technology, as well other futuristic developments like Google Glass or Telepathy One, have led some people to comment on social networks that the sort of interfaces seen in the movie Minority Report are almost a reality. To learn more about how it works, check out the following Diginfo News video report.

fujitsu-laboratories

Fujitsu Laboratories, the R&D arm of the Japanese electronics giant, recently unveiled a new technology that recognizes your finger gestures and allows you to add a sort of intelligent layer onto physical objects. The technology that makes this possible is a combination of a projector and several overhead cameras, letting you use gestures on an object as if it were a tablet or smartphone device.

The company plans to develop a commercial version of the system by the fiscal year 2014. They say it could be used to show detailed information at a travel agency, or when you fill in forms at a city office.

This technology, as well other futuristic developments like Google Glass or Telepathy One, have led some people to comment on social networks that the sort of interfaces seen in the movie Minority Report are almost a reality.

To learn more about how it works, check out the following Diginfo News video report.

Fujitsu can take your pulse with nothing more than a camera

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Photo by ITpro Fujitsu Laboratories has announced that it has developed technology to measure a person’s pulse from video taken by the camera in a smartphone, tablet, or PC webcam — and it can do so in as fast as five seconds! If you want to monitor your health, it’s obviously a good idea to keep track of your pulse. But putting the usual monitoring equipment on your arms and wrists can be a pain. Fujitsu’s technology improves this process significantly through the use of video. The technology also can estimate hemoglobin levels in the blood by calculating RGB color components from a person’s face, measuring the approximate ‘brightness’ of their skin. The margin of error for this new pulse-measuring technology is only about ±3 beats. Currently, Fujitsu is working to support Windows operating systems, with plans to commercialize the technlogy sometime this year. Support for Android and iOS is in the works as well. While it would certainly be a useful consumer technology, it might also be used in the medical industry to monitor patients, or it could be used at security gates in corporate buildings or airports. We may even see it used for ad targeting in the…

Fujitsu-pulse-ITproPhoto by ITpro

Fujitsu Laboratories has announced that it has developed technology to measure a person’s pulse from video taken by the camera in a smartphone, tablet, or PC webcam — and it can do so in as fast as five seconds!

If you want to monitor your health, it’s obviously a good idea to keep track of your pulse. But putting the usual monitoring equipment on your arms and wrists can be a pain. Fujitsu’s technology improves this process significantly through the use of video. The technology also can estimate hemoglobin levels in the blood by calculating RGB color components from a person’s face, measuring the approximate ‘brightness’ of their skin.

Fujitsu-pulse-calculation

The margin of error for this new pulse-measuring technology is only about ±3 beats. Currently, Fujitsu is working to support Windows operating systems, with plans to commercialize the technlogy sometime this year. Support for Android and iOS is in the works as well.

While it would certainly be a useful consumer technology, it might also be used in the medical industry to monitor patients, or it could be used at security gates in corporate buildings or airports. We may even see it used for ad targeting in the future — for example — recognizing a person with a high pulse rate, identify them as a likely runner, and then display ads for sport drinks.