Face Recognition Comes to Cameraphones

An anonymous reader writes "If you have a camera phone, you may soon have to take a picture of yourself before making a call or accessing data stored on the device. A Japanese company has developed face recognition software for camera phones that it says can authenticate users within one second of clicking the shutter. Omron (Japanese) will demonstrate its Okao Vision Face Recognition Sensor at tomorrow's Security Show Japan in Tokyo."

How particular is the software?

[erick99]

I am wondering how particular the recognition software is. There could be some considerable day-to-day differences in a face if, say, one was ill, or had a bad fall, etc. Could I, for example, take a friends camera, take a pic of a good photo of my friend and then gain access to his phone/pda/device? The article didn't really address that though I don't think it was intended to be within it's scope. Still, it's something to think about.

Emergency Calls?

[Fez]

But what if you have to call an ambulance after getting into a car accident that damaged your face? :)

Skeptical

[Ironsides]

Omron claims that the camera need not be held in the same position each time, and that the sensor will detect the owner regardless of the location of the user's face in the frame.

Given the current state of computers, I wonder how they can do this. If I take a picture of my face from the front right as a reference, and the next time from the front left, how will it stil recognize me? Same goes for a number of different angles. I'd also think that haircuts, glasses and a few other things could mess this up.

Be interesting to see how well it works in the field instead of in the lab. Anyone here have access to Akibahara for when this is released?

1 Megapixel

[steve6534]

Considering that most camera phones are 1 MP, How accurate could this possibly be ?

Re:How particular is the software?

[LEgregius]

What if I grow or shave off a beard? What if I'm mugged and the mugger takes my phone, then takes a picture of my face before running off? It would need both a work around for if it got confused, and it would need to be combined with a pin of some sort.

SO...

[Anonym1ty]

How would this help? If I stole someone's wallet with their family picture in it, could I not then use the cellphone?

Hmmm.. Another idea...

[Garion911]

I want the facial recon to filter out calls.. Kinda like the firefox cookie blocker:

1. Ed calls John.
2. John's phone asks Ed's phone for a picture
3. Ed takes a picture of his face.
4. Ed's phone sends it to John's phone.
5. John's phone does facial recon to determine if his face is in the whitelist, if so, then it rings.
6. Otherwise forward to voicemail automaticly

You could have various settings, like "Theatre mode" where it only rings if that person is on the emergency list.. "Ex-Girl/Boyfiend" mode, where it just forwards to "this number has been disconnected"

How hard to fool?

[Jtheletter]

The article was extremely brief and didn't mention anything about how this software actually decides it's looking at the real user's face. what happens if I hold up a picture of the correct owner and snap a shot of that? I have a feeling the device will happily log me in unless it has some method of detecting 2D vs 3D.

Re:Emergency Calls?

[Anonymous Coward]

That is very true as I learned this the hard way.

My son (2 years) came up to visit me from his mother and always had an eye on my cell phone. I didn't see any harm in letting him play with it as I had it locked and I was trying to teach him to embrace technology. Twenty minutes later I heard someone on the other end of the line.
It turns out he managed to dial 911 three seperate times. Fortunatly the dispatcher understood.

Re:Begins with 'G' ends in about 6 months

[afidel]

I use voice dial all the time. It's much better if I can keep my eyes on the traffic ahead if I need to use my cellphone while driving (about twice a month). That and my phone has slow arse menus and I have a ton of numbers stored so for frequently dialed numbers it's faster to use voicedial then find someone in say the S's.

Re:How particular is the software?

[pluggo]

Here's hoping the software can recognize when there is a piece of duct tape over your mouth

Actually, this was my one thought when I first saw the article: what if you're in an emergency and you need to use your phone, and there's bad lighting or your face is dirty or something like that, and the thing won't let you call for help? You could look pretty bad after a car accident or something like it.

Re:IR is too transient

[Kosi]

I'm wondering why passwords have gone out of style?

Noone of the marketing guys had a good idea how to sell this as something new yet. Just wait some more time.