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Cell Phones Learn to Recognize Their Owners' Faces

Posted by samzenpus on from the smile-and-dial dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Oki Electric this week began marketing a technology that inexpensively adds face recognition to camera-equipped cell phones. Oki's 'Face Sensing Engine' middleware decodes facial images within 280 milliseconds on a 100 MHz ARM9 processor, and can restrict access to mobile devices by recognizing their owners. Its purpose is to safeguard sensitive personal data -- such as email addresses and phone numbers -- in the event of loss or theft of their devices. The technology works by locating and mapping key facial features -- such as eyes, eyebrows, and mouth -- and adapts to changing facial conditions such as winking and smiling, according to Oki."

5 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. many special cases to ponder by has2k1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I see a bruised accident victim denied access to make an emergency call.

  2. I am not a secret agent. by tuna_boat_tony · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All of this security is great if you're a secret agent, but I am not employed by the CIA. If I were to loose my phone, I would hope the finder would use the information in there to try to return the phone. What happens when someone with good intentions finds my phone and can't return it because I presumed him/her to be a theif and "safe"guarded it with this new technology?

    1. Re:I am not a secret agent. by Kaimelar · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If I were to loose my phone . . . What happens when someone with good intentions finds my phone and can't return it?

      Dude, what to you think will happen if you just turn your phone loose like that? Keep it on a leash and you won't have to worry about someone returning it. ;-)

      All in good fun. Now let me post something on-topic so I don't seem like a jerk. My last PDA had a feature that would show a certain screen when locked -- the idea being that if it was lost, your data was still behind a password, but you could put a message saying, "If you find this device, please contact John Doe at . . . " on the chance that the finder would have the good intentions you speak of and return it. Perhaps phones could have something similar? Of course, a similar solution in your case would simply to not turn this security feature on.

  3. Very interesting idea by ReformedExCon · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It's easy to offhandedly say who cares about the phone numbers of my friends and family. But for a sales force, keeping their contacts' information secure is one very important aspect of the job. If it is possible to create this security without requiring large lagtimes (like entering a PIN) or fault-prone hardware (fingerprint scanners), security becomes easier and safer than before for the average user.

    I'd be anxious to see how well it works in the real world before trying it out, but if it is an inexpensive piece of middleware, I wouldn't be surprised if it started turning up on the high-end phones in Japan and Korea. I'd be surprised if they started showing up here in the U.S., but I'd be surprised if any sort of cutting-edge technology showed up for general consumption here.

    I wish they had a demo.

    --
    Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
  4. Uh, great. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    And what if for some reason I need to use my cell phone in the [i]dark?[/i]